Burlington Royals Release 2019 Opening Day Roster

Burlington, N.C. - The Burlington Royals have released their roster for the 2019 season. New manager Chris Widger and his staff look to help erase last year's 25-43 season from memory. They'll do so with a B-Royals roster consisting of 26 players: 13 pitchers, three catchers, five infielders, and five outfielders.
11 players were drafted by the Kansas City Royals in this year's MLB Draft. Fourth-round pick Michael Massey (156th) and fifth-round pick John Rave (113th) were ranked among the top 200 draft-eligible players by MLB.com. 
The pitching staff includes five right-handers and seven lefties. It also includes five 2019 draftees.
Dante Biasi is the highest-draft hurler on Burlington. The lefty was taken in the sixth round out of Penn State University and is the brother of 2017 B-Royals pitcher Sal Biasi. Tall right-hander Noah Murdock was taken not too long after, with Kansas City selecting the 6-foot-8 stud out of the University of Virginia in the seventh round. The other draftees on the Burlington staff are Alex Smith , a 24th-round pick from the University of Memphis, Zack Phillips, a 27th-rounder out of Ole Miss, and Patrick Smith, a 33rd-round selection out of Purdue.
The staff also includes two returners as Malcolm Van Buren and Marlin Willis come back for a second straight season in Burlington. Adrian Alcantara, Noah Bryant, Delvin Capellan, Adan Frias, Rylan Kaufman  and Angel Zerpa round out the pitchers on the Royals to start the 2019 campaign.
The three catchers on the roster are Jesus Atencio, William Hancock and Logan Porter. Atencio, who signed with the Royals as an international free agent in 2012, played with the B-Royals in 2017 and returns after spending the 2018 season in Idaho Falls. Hancock and Porter spent most of the 2018 season with the Arizona League Royals. However, Hancock earned a call-up to the Class A Lexington Legends towards the end of the campaign while Porter got to play a game for the Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
Four of the five infielders, including Massey, were acquired by the Royals in the 2019 draft. Vinnie Pasquantino was selected in the 11th round out of Old Dominion, Jacob Means was drafted in the 22nd round out of Indiana State and Jay Charleston was taken in the 26th round out of Tennessee.
The fifth infielder, Maikel Garcia, was signed as an international free agent in 2016 and spent last season with the Arizona League Royals and Dominican Summer League Royals.
Along with Rave, Burle Dixon was acquired in this year's MLB Draft, an 18th-rounder out of Consumnes River College. David Hollie, Kevon Jackson and Raymond Lopez round out the players starting the season with the B-Royals.
Widger starts his first season at the helm in Burlington, also his first managing any MLB-affiliated professional club. He spent the last three seasons as the bench coach for the Class A Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Carolina League. Before that, he coached with the Camden Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League for four seasons, spending three as its pitching coach and one as its manager. Widger is joined by pitching coach Carlos Martinez, who is spending his eighth summer in Burlington and 23rd with the Royals organization, as well as hitting coach Andy LaRoche, who makes his professional coaching debut after a six-year major league career as a player.
The Royals season begins at 6:30 P.M. today on the road against the Bristol Pirates. Opening Night at Burlington Athletic Stadium is at 6:30 P.M. on Monday, June 24th against the Kingsport Mets. Single game tickets are on sale now!