The Kansas Metropolis Royals are largely operating it again subsequent 12 months. Their make-up can be related: by way of pitching energy, the singular expertise of Bobby Witt Jr., and sufficient competence elsewhere on the diamond, Kansas Metropolis can be constantly aggressive and attempt to preserve video games to a low rating.
“Sufficient competence elsewhere on the diamond” can be exhausting to come back by, nonetheless. Sure, you’ll be able to in all probability depend on Salvador Perez, Jonathan India, and Vinnie Pasquantino to be moderately productive on the plate, and you may depend on Kyle Isbel to offer nice protection in heart subject. Past that, there are query marks in all places.
Some excellent news is that the Royals could have a variety of plate appearances to offer to different, hopefully higher gamers. Final 12 months, the Royals gave Nelson Velazquez, Adam Frazier, Garrett Hampson, Paul DeJong, Tommy Pham, and Yuli Gurriel simply over 1,000 plate appearances, and of the 21 Royals who had a minimum of one plate look, 9 are now not with the group.
Now, chunk of these 1,000 misplaced PAs will ideally go to Vinnie and India, however not all will. Some will go to a backup outfielder. Enter: Joey Wiemer. Wiemer is the kind of participant that in previous seasons can be anticipated to start out in heart subject all 12 months as a result of nobody higher was round. The Royals, nonetheless, are good, and so Wiemer will probably be a bench man and should even begin the season in Triple-A Omaha.
However the Royals acquired Wiemer for a motive, and that motive is that, although Wiemer has underwhelmed the previous few seasons, he was a High 100 prospect as not too long ago as 2023. Right here’s what Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin needed to say about Wiemer within the Fangraphs High 100 prospect listing in February 2023:
Wiemer is an influence/pace freak who may bust or be a power-hitting anomaly. Wiemer has a uncommon dimension/athleticism mixture and wields an elaborate swing that produces big pull-side energy. He crushes errors, and has 48 profession bombs in a few season-and-a-half’s price of professional video games. Whereas his peak exit velocities have lengthy been tops amongst his friends, faculty and professional, he didn’t actually begin launching homers till after he was drafted, when it seems his swing and method modified. Fixed max-effort hacking usually results in a lot of strikeouts, however Wiemer had largely saved his Ks in verify till 2022, when he punched out 30% of the time at Double-A Biloxi. His strikeout fee improved upon promotion to Triple-A, albeit in a smaller pattern.
Look underneath the hood and there’s trigger for concern. Wiemer usually swings inside pitches on the outer third of the strike zone, and his in-zone swing and miss charges are on par with the underside handful of massive league outfielders who noticed a minimum of 300 PA in 2022, amongst names like Joey Gallo and Christopher Morel. Whereas not fairly as mountainous as talent set-cousins Gallo or Jorge Soler, Wiemer’s dimension and physicality set him other than different gamers, even massive leaguers, and he appears prone to get to energy in massive league video games by advantage of how a lot uncooked thump he has. He tasks as a slugging five- or six-hole hitter in a typical contending lineup, with contact points that may create some whiff-prone stretches and important year-to-year variance.
Royals followers, I’m certain you even have picked up on just a few key phrases like “energy/pace freak,” “max-effort hacking,” and “elaborate swing” and have rightfully drawn comparisons from the 6’4”, 220ish lb Wiemer to the opposite distinguished 6’4”, 220ish lb Royals outfielder in current reminiscence, Bubba Starling.
Whereas broad strokes comparisons are affordable, Wiemer has been considerably higher at realizing his potential within the minors than Starling. Put it this fashion: when Wiemer encountered Triple-A for the primary time in his age-23 season, he slashed .287/.368/.520 for a wRC+ of 132. When Starling encountered Triple-A for the primary time in his age-23 season, he slashed .181/.213/.265 for a wRC+ of 21.
The swing-and-miss a part of Wiemer’s sport has actually been current in his massive league profession—he’s struck out 28.5% of the time in 438 plate appearances during the last two years. The ability, nonetheless, can also be there, as his 13 house runs and 19 doubles point out. You’ll be able to see the extension and torque he can generate within the under video of Wiemer’s longest MLB house run from June 2023.
Moreover, Wiemer is a superb defender. He’s a superb runner who reacts rapidly, takes good routes, and has the arm energy and accuracy to throw out runners. That provides him a baseline worth that gamers like MJ Melendez simply don’t have.
So, how might the Royals purchase him as a secondary piece within the Brady Singer/India commerce? Properly, it’s fairly easy: the possibilities of Wiemer placing all of it collectively to turn into an efficient participant are quite slim. He simply turned 26, and his Triple-A numbers the final two seasons have been underwhelming. There are only a lot of athletic freaks on the market who by no means fairly put it collectively as a result of hitting may be very exhausting.
Wiemer might nonetheless make an impression on the workforce, and albeit it’s far more attention-grabbing to see a man like him attempt to smash a dong quite than seeing guys like Hampson or Frazier do no matter it’s they excel at. If Wiemer ever takes one other step, he may be the Royals’ finest outfielder this 12 months. Miserable? Yeah. Intriguing? Completely.
