Last week, Royals Review Editor-in-ChLast week, Royals Review Editor-in-Chief Max Rieper asked us to highlight a minor leaguer to watch this spring. I immediately volunteered to write about a guy with a fantastic name who has been racing through the Royals’ system: Carson Roccaforte.
View Link
Advertisement
Roccaforte was drafted by KC in the 2023 Competitive Balance B round, 66th overall. He comes from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, where he slashed .325/.409/.550 in three seasons. He’s not known for his power, but he still popped 10 home runs in 2024 at High-A Quad Cities and 18 more last year between Quad Cities and Northwest Arkansas.
What stands out to me about Roccaforte is how he didn’t miss a beat after his promotion. He slashed .237/.364/.466/.830 (136 wRC+) for Quad Cities, then slashed .290/.387/.475/.862 for NWA (141 wRC+). Those numbers put him between Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen in terms of how well he hit in NWA. There’s some caution – he sported a .410 BABIP. But he has a lot of speed (he stole 43 bases between both teams last year) and he does a very good job of pulling the ball without overdoing it, so it’s reasonable to expect him to carry a somewhat high BABIP, even if that’s still a bit too high. He was also nearly a year younger than his competition at AA, which is one of the best signs of potential among minor league players.
He brings a ton of plate discipline with a solid walk rate while avoiding strikeouts. Probably part of the reason he doesn’t show more power is that he has a very short swing, which allows him to make sure he gets the bat on the ball, but might be the reason for his somewhat low bat speed.
View Link
Advertisement
That said, we have some statistics from the Arizona Fall League that show he doesn’t chase, but does an excellent job of getting the barrel on the ball. While he was there, he slashed .279/.393/.485/.878 and whacked two home runs and eight doubles in only 18 games.
View Link
He’s likely to start the year by returning to Northwest Arkansas, but with Jac Caglianone heading to the World Baseball Classic, he might have a chance to get some more playing time in Spring Training than normal. If he has a very good spring, he might have a shot to start the year in Omaha, where the Royals are known to have a somewhat weak outfield group.
It’s almost impossible to envision Roccaforte breaking camp with the big league club, but he can play all three outfield positions – he won the Royals’ Minor League Defensive Player of the Year award while playing center in 2024. If he continues to rake as he did last year, all it would take is an injury or some ineffectiveness from any of the Royals’ current group of outfielders to see him make his debut sometime around midseason or later.
Advertisement
Even if he doesn’t debut for KC this season, he should find himself in a prime position to compete for a roster spot at the beginning of 2027, perhaps to take over from Kyle Isbel ahead of his age-30 season. The ceiling isn’t nearly as high as that of Jac Caglianone, of course, but if he can continue to improve his hitting, he could be something of a faster Luis Arráez with better defense at a more premium defensive position. And I think we’d all enjoy watching that guy patrol centerfield for years to come.
Read the full article here
