RC's Top 40 Royals Prospects

Below are the Top 40 Royals prospects, as determined by Royals Corner staff.

A quick word about list eligibility. We like the standard we set back in October, and we’ve decided to keep it, with one exception (discussed below). To be eligible for our list, position players must not have played in 50 games or had 300 plate appearances. Pitchers are broken down into two categories. The threshold for starting pitchers is 100 innings or 20 starts, while relief pitchers must not have reached 20 appearances or 50 innings pitched. In addition, anyone with over one year of Major League service time is ineligible, even if the majority of that time was spent on the DL.

Of course, RC always reserves the right to use our own discretion on an individual basis, and we’ve decided to include Leo Nunez on this list, even though he exceeded our threshold for relief pitchers last season. Since Nunez is so young, and since he’s slated for significant time in the minors this season, we believe his prospect status remains intact.

RC's Top 40 Prospects:

Rank	Player	Position	Club
1.	Alex Gordon	3B	WCH
2.	Billy Butler	LF	WCH
3.	Justin Huber	1B	OMA
4.	J.P. Howell	SP	OMA
5.	Chris Lubanski	OF	WCH
6.	Luis Cota	SP	HDM
7.	Jeff Bianchi	SS	N/A
8.	Chris McConnell	SS	BUR
9.	Mitch Maier	OF	WCH
10.	Esteban German	IF/OF	KCR
11.	Billy Buckner	SP	HDM
12.	Daniel Christensen	SP	HDM
13.	Shane Costa	OF	KCR
14.	Donnie Murphy	2B	WCH
15.	Andres Blanco	SS	OMA
16.	Chris Nicoll	SP	BUR
17.	Leo Nunez	RP	WCH
18.	Brent Fisher	SP	N/A
19.	Angel Sanchez	SS	WCH
20.	Joel Peralta	RP	KCR
21.	Joe Dickerson	OF	N/A
22.	Jose Duarte	OF	BUR
23.	Mike Aviles	IF	OMA
24.	Brian Bass	SP	OMA
25.	Wilver Perez	IF	HDM
26.	Adam Donachie	C	HDM
27.	Juan Cedeno	SP	WCH
28.	Kila Kaaihue	1B	WCH
29.	Kiel Thibault	C	BUR
30.	Mario Lisson	IF	BUR
31.	Erik Cordier	SP	N/A
32.	Rayner Oliveros	SP	BUR
33.	Jeffrey Howell	C	BUR
34.	Mike Stodolka	1B	HDM
35.	Brian McFall	OF	HDM
36.	Matt Tupman	C	WCH
37.	Matt Campbell	SP	N/A
38.	Paul Raglione	SP	N/A
39.	Matt Kniginyzky	SP	BUR
40.	Brady Everett	C	HDM