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| Mike Moustakas in action last season (Photo: Omaha Storm Chasers) |
Mark Nasser hosted the annual Omaha Storm Chasers’ Preview Show yesterday on KOIL-1180 AM. He spoke with Dayton Moore, Mike Jirschele, Martie Cordaro, Alex Gordon, Tim Collins and J.J. Picollo about the upcoming season and the minor league farm system.
The Royals announced that several players were assigned to minor league camp, including pitchers Louis Coleman, Luis Mendoza and Zack Miner; and infielders Lance Zawadzki and Irving Falu. All but Miner will probably begin the season with Omaha. Miner is recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Right-handed pitcher Vin Mazzaro, who is expected to be the number five starter for Kansas City, was optioned to Omaha because the Royals won’t need a fifth starter until April 16.
“It’s a very young 40-man roster,” said Royals’ General Manager Dayton Moore on the Preview Show. “The neat thing about it is, our 40-man roster is only going to get younger and more talented because the bulk of our highly touted prospects – Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, John Lamb, Dwyer, Duffy, etc. – they’re not even on the 40-man roster yet.
“Obviously, a lot of those players you’ll see in Omaha this year. So, we’re excited. The chemistry is very, very strong.”
Accolades for this particular youth movement have been pouring in, including one from Baseball America that deemed the Royals’ farm system as the best in baseball.
“It’s good and it can be bad,” Moore said. “Players cannot live up to the hype in today’s media
driven society. They just can’t.
“We put a lot of pressure and expectations on them and they put a lot of pressure and expectations on themselves naturally, so to have outside influences to fuel those expectations sometimes are negative, but the good players and the intelligent players and the tough minded players deal with that. They’re going to have to deal with it if we’re going to win championships so all in all, it’s just part of the game today.”
Nasser asked Moore whether Hosmer and Moustakas needed to wait for an opportunity in Kansas City versus making an opportunity for themselves by forcing Moore’s hand.
“I think if they force our hand, it’s something we’ll look at,” Moore said. “It’s similar to what Kila [Ka’aihue] did last year. The year before [2009], some people felt he should have been on the team. He wasn’t. He didn’t have a great year. He didn’t force our hand. And last year in 2010, it became very apparent we needed to get him on the club.”
He went on to say that with Billy Butler signing a 4-year contract recently in addition to having Ka’aihue on the roster, they will have to figure something out if they are going to make room for a player like Hosmer, saying, “That’s our job as the leadership team in Kansas City – to create the opportunity for the players who are going to impact us the most.”
Nasser asked Omaha manager Mike Jirschele about how well some of the players who are expected to start the season with the Storm Chasers have been playing this spring, starting with Mike Moustakas, who hit just .227.
“Moose has had an up and down spring, really,” Jirschele said. “He really didn’t get the bat going in big league camp. But he’s getting to the point where he’s swinging the bat good. He had a little bit of problems with his arm – didn’t feel the greatest, so we shut him down a while there just to get him back to 100%.
“In fact, today he’s back in the lineup at third base. He’s going to be ready to go once we kick off the season, but I’m looking for big things out of Moose. I think that experience he had there last year is really going to help him and he’s going to just settle right in. I see him having a great year this year.”
Jirschele says Moose has been working hard on his defense, taking a lot of ground balls this spring at third base.
Hosmer hit .450 this spring with a .520 OBP. Nasser pointed out that Hosmer is the total package.
“Yeah, he is,” Jirschele said. “Defensively he’s solid. I see this guy as, down the road, probably an All-Star in the big leagues. I mean he can swing it. When he came to big league camp – I sat by George [Brett] a lot in the dugout and any time Eric Hosmer came up to hit, we got up and watched because he’s just that exciting. I think the fans in Omaha are going to love him. Hopefully we’ll get to keep him for a while.”
Even if the Storm Chasers lose Hosmer to Kansas City, they will still have Clint Robinson behind him at first base. Robinson won the Triple Crown in the Texas League last season playing for NW Arkansas. His numbers included 29 HR, 98 RBIs, .335 AVG with a .410 OBP. Jirschele says Robinson will start the season as the team’s designated hitter and back up Hosmer at first base.
Johnny Giavotella is expected to be the starting second baseman for the Storm Chasers. The 23-year-old spent the 2010 season in NW Arkansas where he .322 with 9 HR and 65 RBIs in 134 games.
“He does a nice job,” Jirschele said. “He’s another guy who continues to work on his defense – the double play turn, a lot of back hands, and other things he needs to work on, but he also went to big league camp this year and opened some eyes over there. They really feel that he could be the next second baseman for the Kansas City Royals.”
The starting shortstop job is up in the air. Joaquin Arias, Irving Falu and Lance Zawadzki may battle it out. Although, Arias pulled a hamstring this spring and hasn’t seen much playing time, so the battle may come down to Falu and Zawadzki.
The starting catching position has not been settled yet either. Manny Pina and Cody Clark are in the mix. Lucas May is not currently on the big league roster and he may be on waivers or on the verge of being designated for assignment. If May clears, he’ll end up in Omaha too.
So far, we know the outfield will consist of Lorenzo Cain (CF) and David Lough (LF). They are the only two outfielders on Omaha’s roster right now. Gregor Blanco is in a similar situation to May. If he clears, he may end up in Omaha. Jirschele may also have the chance to choose between Paulo Orlando and Tim Smith, both of whom played the outfield in NW Arkansas last season.
The starting rotation will include three lefties: Mike Montgomery, Danny Duffy and Everett Teaford. Jirschele says Montgomery has an above average fastball and a good curve ball, while needing to work on commanding the strike zone. Duffy, who had a good outing in camp recently, needs to command his change up better according to Jirschele.
Louis Coleman is expected to begin the year as the closer, even though Jirschele doesn’t usually use one closer. Kansas City wants to see Coleman pitch in pressure situations. The rest of the bullpen is still taking shape, but it includes players such as Blake Wood and Greg Holland.
Looking at his roster as it continues to take shape, Jirschele told Nasser, “If something happens as the big league level, we finally have guys we can send up there and help them right now ... It’s by far the best team I’ve come to Omaha with.”
The Storm Chasers being regular season play at Albuquerque on April 7. Their first home game is scheduled for April 15 against Nashville at 7:05 pm.
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Special thanks to the Omaha Storm Chasers for permission to use material from the annual Omaha Storm Chasers Preview Show.
