Saturday June 2nd, 2012

Sam Evans: A couple of years ago, the Kansas City Royals had not only the best farm system at the time, but maybe one of the best farm systems in the history of baseball.  Fast forward a few years later and the Royals still have a bright future, and a lot of their prospects have graduated to the major league level. One of their top prospects, Wil Myers, is on the verge of the major leagues after tearing up both Double-A and Triple-A in 2012. If he can stay healthy, he has the potential to become a perennial All-Star.

Wil Myers was born in High Point, North Carolina in December of 1990. After four seasons of baseball at Wesleyan Christian High School, Myers committed to the University of South Carolina, which was at the time, was one of the best baseball programs in the country. After the Royals selected Myers in the third round of the 2009 Amateur draft, it took a $2 million signing bonus to get Myers to turn professional. Despite the high cost, it was evident that the Royals got a very talented player in the third round of a strong draft.

In terms of physical appearance, Myers looks like a prototypical catcher, or outfielder, for that matter. Pair this with Myers’ athleticism, and you find the reasoning behind coaches trying Myers at multiple positions. In high school, Myers played third base, first base, catcher, shortstop, outfielder, and pitcher. Can you say athletic? As a pitcher, Myers could dial his fastball all the way up to 92 MPH. For Myers’ first two years in professional baseball, the Royals organization tried to turn Myers into a catcher, but after the 2010 season, they finally gave up.

Myers struggled as a catcher blocking pitches and with release times throwing out runners on the bases. In 2010, Myers’ last year as a catcher, he had a 32% caught stealing rate. The Royals probably made the right choice switching Myers from catcher, because it not only gave him more of a chance to focus on hitting, but his strong arm was really his only above-average skill behind the plate. As a corner outfielder, Myers has the potential to win gold gloves. Does the name Alex Gordon ring a bell? However, I don’t see him as a future center fielder, which is where he has played this season. He’s just not fast enough to cover that much ground.

In terms of hitting, Myers has always been advanced compared to other players at his level. Not only does he have great bat speed, but he proved to the Royals as a teenager that he possesses excellent plate discipline.

In 2011, Myers ran into his first serious struggles as a professional. Even then, he was still an above-average hitter for his league. After Myers had played just fifty-eight games at High-A, the Royals promoted him to Double-A for the start of the 2011 season. In ninety-nine games at Double-A, Myers hit .254 with a .353 OBP and a 104 wRC+. Myers struggles were not taken as too big of a deal because the fact remained that he was only twenty years old in Double-A.

Wil Myers has gotten off to a tremendous start in 2012. The Royals smartly decided to start Myers at Double-A, and the choice paid off. Myers hit .351 with a .421 OBP in thirty-five games for Northwest Arkansas. Not only did starting Myers at Double-A likely increase his confidence and get him into a groove, but it ensured that the Royals would not be rushing Myers to the majors- therefore not messing with his development. In only fifteen games since his promotion to Triple-A Omaha, Myers has continued to find success. At the same time, Myers has also shown why the Pacific Coast League is the most offensive-minded league in the minors. Myers is hitting .330 with four homers.

Last year, Wil Myers hit only twelve home runs over the course of 122 games. This year, Myers has already hit nineteen homers in only fifty games. It’s  still only the start of June, so it’s time Royals fans get excited about Myers’ recent developments. Not only has Myers shown that he can continue to get on-base in the higher levels of the minors, but he has also shown the power projection that was always there. I recently saw a Myers home run where the ball not only cleared the left field fence, but also the passageway behind the left field fence. Myers has such quick hands through the zone, that he can catch up to practically any fastball on the inside half of the plate.

The average age of Pacific Coast League players is over twenty-six years old. The fact that Myers has made it to the PCL by the age of twenty-one is extremely impressive, and even more impressive if you consider he had to undergo a major position change along the way in his still young career.

I was wary of Wil Myers and his future coming into the year. Now that I’m looking back at it, I should have given such a young player more time to develop against a better quality of pitchers before I jumped to conclusions. For all of the doubters that Myers’ 2011 season invoked, you could make an argument that Myers’ 2012 season has gained him just as many, if not more believers. Overall, Wil Myers is going to be a very good player in the major leagues because of his ability to draw walks and hit for a nice combination of average and power. The Royals are looking at another potential strong offensive weapon joining their line-up very soon. Royals fans can’t wait.

***Today’s feature was prepared by our Sam Evans, Baseball Writer.  We highly encourage you to leave your comments and feedback at the bottom of the page and share in the discussion with our readers.  You can also follow Sam on Twitter***

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