In some ways, covering the Kansas City Royals the last three seasons has been the perfect job for me. My seven years as a minor league baseball play-by-play broadcaster helped prepare me for covering a team like the Royals, which is relying on homegrown talent to end a nearly three decade playoff drought. There’s no question the Royals have a tremendous amount of talented prospects in their minor league system; Baseball America ranked the Royals farm system baseball’s best before the 2011 season and the second-best prior to this season. Already, the Royals have seen several of those fantastic prospects help them at the Major League level, but there still is plenty of work left to be done. And, having worked in the minors, I have a better understanding than most of how challenging it is for players to turn minor league success into Major League production.
My last four years in the minors was spent as the voice of the Binghamton Mets, the New York Mets’ Double-A affiliate, two rungs below the Majors. All four years, the Mets sent Binghamton a talented centerfielder who seemed destined for Major League stardom. Those three centerfielders have all since played in the Majors. But, none of them have been able to establish themselves as everyday players; two aren’t even in the Majors right now.
My first year, 2005, featured Lastings Milledge, who joined Binghamton for the season’s second half. In 2006, Carlos Gomez spent the entire year with Binghamton. The 2007 and 2008 seasons brought Fernando Martinez to Binghamton. Martinez and Milledge both were named the top prospect in the Mets’ system by Baseball America two years in a row and Gomez was ranked as high as third. Milledge was a first-round draft pick and Martinez was signed out of the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old for $1.3 million; Gomez was the only one in the trio who wasn’t highly touted before he joined the Mets system.
There were reasons for concern about all three during their time with Binghamton, concerns that carried over to their Major League careers. Milledge often was overaggressive at the plate and, consequently, had difficulty handling good off-speed pitches. Gomez was incredibly raw and often got himself in trouble trying to do too much in the field and at the plate. Martinez was also guilty of trying doing too much at the plate and not trusting his lightning-quick hands; he also had trouble staying healthy and was often encouraged not to play unless he was 100%. But, while there were reasons for concern, there were also reasons to believe all three would figure things out enough to, at the very least, turn into serviceable Major League regulars. However, Milledge and Martinez combined to play in just 13 Major League games last season, as both spent the majority of the year at Triple A (Martinez also logged quite a bit of time on the disabled list, a common theme for him). This season, Milledge is playing in Japan and Martinez is at Triple A Oklahoma City in the Houston Astros chain. Gomez has managed to stick in the Majors, but as a part-time player with the Milwaukee Brewers.
So, what went wrong? It’s hard to say. Placing all the blame on the Mets organization and accusing them of being atrocious at developing players doesn’t explain it. And, I can say with certitude that, while the Mets may not have been the best organization when it came to player development during that period, they weren’t the worst, either. Player development isn’t an exact science, but even the most ragtag player-development outfit would find it difficult to miss on three straight “can’t miss” centerfield prospects like the Mets did.
While I certainly wish Martinez, Milledge and Gomez had more success at the Major League level, their lack of success – and the success of players who weren’t expected to do much in the minors or Majors – is part of why I love baseball so much; in no other major professional sport do athletes have so far to go from being signed to the Majors. As a result, predicting the success of even the most talented prospects can be a guessing game; they’re educated guesses but guesses nonetheless. Even once players get to the Majors, their timetables are different; some players settle into a productive starting, bench or bullpen role right away, others take a few years and many never figure it out or get much of an opportunity to succeed.
Ultimately, I think the Royals will succeed; I think they’ll produce enough homegrown talent to at least challenge for playoff spots on a regular basis. But, I also know there’s a very real possibility the Royals will come up short. So, I marvel at the athletes and the power hitters and the power arms the Royals have developed or are developing. I’m impressed by the attention to detail of their player development staff, which has helped the Royals’ top-shelf talent develop high baseball IQs. I’m impressed with the depth in the Royals system; unlike the Mets, who seemed to be banking on a handful of coveted prospects when I was covering them, the Royals have an impressive amount of quality young talent at every level of their system. But, I also know some of those talented players will struggle to gain a foothold in the Majors and that, if enough of those players fail, the Royals plan will fall flat, since the plan doesn’t include spending money on high-priced free agents to offset the areas the farm system was unable to fill.
I’m not trying to scare fans of the Royals or fans of other teams who are using a similar approach to try and end years of losing. But, trying to win with homegrown players requires lots of time; it generally takes even the best players a few years to achieve significant success and to develop a consistent approach. And, it can be a tricky balancing act determining which struggling young players need more time and which ones are unlikely – or unwilling – to figure it out. More than anything, patience is required. Sometimes, that patience pays off. Sometimes it doesn’t. But, that patience is necessary, regardless.
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