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3 Former Burlington Royals Among KC Organizational All-Stars

November 1, 2019

Royals Organization All-Stars

Royals Organization All-Stars

First baseman -- Vinnie Pasquantino Burlington (57 games): Pasquantino wasted no time making his presence felt after the Royals selected him in the 11th round of this year's Draft. The Old Dominion product mashed 14 homers in 57 games for Burlington, the best mark of anyone in the Appalachian League. He's not just a slugger, though, as he posted a line of .294/.371/.592 with 17 doubles and 53 runs driven in. He rolled that success into the postseason, where he batted .385 with one long ball in six games as Burlington fell to Johnson City in the Appy League championship.
"Excellent first impression ... really happy with what he did," Picollo said. "He does have really impressive power. We don't see any regression in his power against left-handed pitching. That was something we saw in the Draft, our scouts identified in the Draft."
Second baseman -- Gabriel Cancel  (Burlington 2016), Northwest Arkansas (123 games): After his homer numbers took a dip last season, Cancel returned to form in 2019 by belting a career-high 18 big flies over a full season with the Naturals that ranked as one of the best in the Texas League. His 18 long balls tied him for third place on the circuit, while he finished knotted for second in doubles with 30 and sixth in RBIs with 69. The power of the Royals' No. 29 prospect may catch the eye, but more than anything, the team is excited about adding his ability to tap into it on a dependable basis to the big league lineup.
"It's always steady numbers," Picollo said. "There's not much variance in what he does night to night. So very consistent. We have moved him around playing different positions, and the only reason we've done that is because we think his bat is going to be ready sooner rather than later. ... We just want to get him exposure so if that opportunity comes at first base or third base or left field, he's played them all, and he's an option for us."
Michael Gigliotti  (Burlington 2017), Lexington (59 games), Wilmington (24 games), AZL Royals (four games): On the heels of a 2018 season in which he missed all but six games with an ACL injury, Gigliotti turned in a strong bounceback performance before his year once again was cut short. The club's No. 12 prospect batted .309/.394/.411 and stole 29 bases with the Legends to prompt a promotion to the Blue Rocks, where he hit .203 over 19 games. But he wound up on the injured list, not returning to Wilmington for more than a month for the final five games and the postseason.
The Royals were frustrated by the lost development time, but when Gigliotti was able to play, they loved what they saw -- both on the field and in the clubhouse.
"He brought sort of as much as you can have like a veteran type of presence," Picollo said. "He brought that just because he's always been a really mature kid. ... Guys going through Lexington for the first time, he became the guy that they were leaning on for some direction."