My trip to visit the Quad Cities River Bandits

With Hill out, the Bandits finally came alive in the fifth, plating four runs. Nolan Sailors led off with a single. Mitchell drew a walk. Ramon Ramirez, who’s hitting .305 on the year, mashed a home run to dead center. Pelzer doubled, then came home on a Charles sac fly. Now we’ve got a game. The Bandits tied it in the sixth when Erick Torres led off with a double, moved to third on a fielder’s choice, and scored on a Mitchell sacrifice fly. That was the only contact Mitchell made in five plate appearances.

The Kernels put the game away with two in the eighth inning, coming on a Brandon Winokur home run, and three more in the ninth on a Rayne Doncon dong, his second of the day. Final score: Cedar Rapids 10, Quad Cities 5.

What about the baby Royals? One game is such an incredibly small sample size that it’s impossible to make long-term predictions, but that’s never stopped me.

They have a second baseman, Tyriq Kemp, who hails from the Netherlands. KC had another player a few years back, Darryl Collins, who was from the Netherlands. Seems like the Royals can’t figure out how to make first-round draft choices, but they’ve got the Netherlands market cornered.

About that number one pick: Mitchell has the body and the look of a ballplayer. His work behind the plate was adequate, but that bat? Woof. He ended the day 0-for-3 with one walk and three strikeouts. He’s hitting below his weight, currently sitting at an even .200. Who knows? He’s young, and maybe he eventually figures out how to make more contact. Or not. Everyone connected in some way to the Royals wishes for Mitchell to be the next Royals star. That’s a given. Right now, he looks like a kid who would’ve been better off playing three or four years of college ball.

The Royals, as noted on these pages many times before, aside from Bobby Witt Jr., have had an abysmal record with their first-round choices over the last decade. It’s almost statistically impossible to be that bad with first-round picks. I understand that baseball is probably the hardest sport to scout. I couldn’t do it, yet it seems our professional scouts can’t either. Either way, it looks to me like the catcher of the future is Ramon Ramirez. He’s got a catcher’s build, plus he can handle the bat. He’s hitting .305 for the season and has enough track record to show it’s not a fluke. Plus, he’s almost a year younger than Mitchell.

Austin Charles is a prospect. He’s huge for a shortstop at 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds, and he’ll probably put on another 15-20 pounds as he matures and gets his man strength. The problem is that the Royals hopefully won’t need another shortstop in the next ten years, which leaves Charles without a position. If I were in the organization, I’d immediately move him to one of the corner outfield spots. He looks athletic enough to handle the change of scenery. He’s hitting .311 for the season. Keep an eye on him.

The other guy who impressed me was Pelzer. He’s only 5-foot-10 but a solid 195 pounds. He has decent speed and is hitting .303 this season. I’d make the bet we’ll see him in Kansas City before Gavin Cross. Pelzer is already 23, and if he continues to play well, the Royals need to get him to Northwest Arkansas this summer. I see no reason to have a 23-year-old with college experience wasting away in Single-A.

The Bandits rolled through five pitchers in this game, and the only one who really showed me anything was a lefty named Mason Miller. He went 2.2 innings, gave up just one hit, and struck out three. He also walked three. If he ended up being half as good as the other Mason Miller, I’d be overjoyed.

If you’re in the Quad Cities area, make plans to see a game at this ballpark. It’s a jewel. There’s plenty of parking nearby, and there’s a nice strip of bars and restaurants just a short walk away. If you’ve got small children, they’ll love it. We took a ride on the Ferris wheel late in the game, which was one of the more unusual baseball experiences of my life. Minor league baseball remains one of the great sporting values.