Roni Cabrera latest addition to growing talent for Royals Dominican team

The Dominican royals should have your attention.

• From
  
  Preston Farr
  

• At July 4, 2023 12:00 p.m

The Kansas City Royals opened the MLB trade season last week, trading away player Aroldis Chapman for two Texas Rangers players. Cole Ragans, a former first-round pick, was assigned to Triple-A Omaha and will reportedly be stretched out as a starter. He was named the 2022 Nolan Ryan Pitcher of the Year and awarded to Rangers’ top minor league pitcher each season. He was ranked fourth on Rangers’ top prospect list for 2018, according to MLB Pipeline.

Roni Cabrera, the second player acquired under the Texas contract, is a 17-year-old outfielder who currently dominates the Dominican Summer League (DSL). It serves as a clarification for Kansas City’s trade strategy this summer. An article earlier this season in the Kansas City Star highlighted the front office’s desire to bring on players “major league ready, or close to major league ready” by the deadline. That quote doesn’t tell the whole story, and Cabrera is proof of that. A team official I spoke to quoted General Manager JJ Picollo about the team’s deadline strategy.

“[The Royals] are looking for the best haul, and the partner team system helps determine if that means they are ready for the big league or lower levels. Different systems have different strengths and [the Royals] want the best return.”

Cabrera has a robust .320/.469/.620 slash in his first 15 games in the DSL this season. His walking speed during this period is an impressive 18.8%. That gets even more impressive when you factor in his 10.9% strikeout rate. It will take some time for the player to keep track. He may not reach the United States until next season, which would mean he may not reach Low-A until 2025. However, it is a nice addition to the farm system and to an increasingly impressive group of players already playing for the Dominican Royals.

Emmanuel Reyes was named the Royals’ 2022 DSL Pitcher of the Year after dominating with a 0.91 ERA. He hit an impressive 54 strikeouts in just four walks. He’s been excelling in the Arizona Complex League this season, but the Royals have filled his spot with many other promising youngsters. A 20-year-old left-hander, Victor Pena, has 16 strikeouts and just two walks in his first 10.1IP of the season with a microscopic ERA of 0.84. Another promising young arm, Marwys Jorge, was ranked No. 1. 49th international youngster in this year’s top 50 and trains with former Royal Edinson Volquez. He has good control of the ball and throws fastball, curveball and changeup.

In terms of performances on the plate, the Dominican royals have even more to offer. Outfielder Tony Ruiz — the team’s top signing in the 2022-23 class — had a strong start to the year despite an extremely high strikeout rate. Outfield colleagues Asbel Gonzalez and Daniel Lopez have also caused a stir.

Highlights of the Royals 2023 DSL

For the royals, it’s a welcome sign after a few years of lesser international success. Sure, there are plenty of current royals who have joined the organization from abroad, including Salvador Perez, Maikel Garcia and Carlos Hernandez. However, there are other “not-so-successful” stories like Seuly Matias, Elier Hernandez, and Erick Peña. First, it’s important to examine how the royals got to where we are now. The story behind the royals’ recent lack of success on the international stage begins with the 2015 squad.

This year, the royals exceeded their bonus pool by more than 15% when they signed Seuly Matias, Esteury Ruiz, Sebastian Rivero, Jeison Guzman and others. For exceeding the bonus pool, the team was penalized by Major League Baseball and was unable to sign international prospects for more than $300,000 in the following two contract periods. This penalty hampered the team’s ability to populate their farm system with international prospects.

The team has been doing a little better since 2018, when that penalty was lifted, but lately they’ve stepped up their efforts abroad. The Royals changed their approach, signaled by the 2021-22 Recruiting Division – the largest in team history at 28 players. The team has signed 30 additional international free agents as part of the 2022-23 signing period. This front office has been much more active on the world stage over the past two years and the early returns seem to be paying off.

Many of the aforementioned players – Emmanuel Reyes, Daniel Lopez, Tony Ruiz, Asbel Gonzalez and Marwys Jorge – have brought an impressive amount of talent to the Kansas City low minors. This talent could prove crucial in turning the farming system around as a whole. We’ve seen the Tampa Bay Rays reinvent themselves by finding greater success in the international market. If this trend continues, the royals appear to be on track to do the same.

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