Wilmington, DE -- The Wilmington Blue Rocks released their 2018 roster on Tuesday. The team is comprised of 12 returning players from the 2017 season, providing experience in the Carolina League, to go along with some of the top prospects in the Kansas City Royals' farm system.
Wilmington, DE -- The Wilmington Blue Rocks released their 2018 roster on Tuesday. The team is comprised of 12 returning players from the 2017 season, providing experience in the Carolina League, to go along with some of the top prospects in the Kansas City Royals' farm system.
Similar to last season's initial team, the 2018 Opening Day roster will feature five of the top 30 prospects in the Royals' system per Baseball America. Outfielder Khalil Lee (No. 2) highlights the group and will be making his Class-A Advanced debut at just 19-years-old. Catchers Chase Vallot (No. 12) and Meibrys Viloria (No. 24), right-handed pitcher Gerson Garabito (No. 16) and infielder Emmanuel Rivera (#27) are the other four ranked prospects that will begin the season in Wilmington. In addition, the Blue Rocks have a lot of speed on the roster with five different players stealing double-digit bases a season ago, including returning second baseman D.J. Burt, who finished fifth in the Carolina League in 2017 with 32 stolen bases.
The Blue Crew will be led by Darryl Kennedy, who enters his third stint as the skipper in Wilmington. Kennedy previously managed the Blue Rocks in 2014 and also in 2008 when he led them to a postseason berth. Prior to joining Wilmington, Kennedy was at the helm of the Royals Arizona League Rookie team the past two seasons. The Haines City, Florida native has an overall managerial record of 851-786 good for a .520 winning-percentage. Another newcomer to the coaching staff is pitching coach Doug Henry. For the last five seasons, Henry served as the Royals' bullpen coach in Kansas City. Prior to that, he was the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers' pitching coach for three seasons. He spent 11 seasons in the majors with Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Houston and the New York Mets. Abraham Nunez returns for his fourth season as the hitting coach while Wilmington native Chris Widger returns for his third season as the bench coach.
Pitchers:
The pitching staff for the Blue Rocks will feature a pair of hurlers that enjoyed success in the Carolina League a season ago. Southpaw Cristian Castillo returns for his second year with the Blue Rocks after he was named a Carolina League All-Star in 2017. The Monterrey, Mexico native went 7-12 with a 4.13 ERA in 26 starts. His 26 starts and 141.2 innings were career-highs and he was one of the best pitchers in the CL during the months of May and June. During that stretch, the lefty went 5-1 with a 2.32 ERA in 11 starts. Joining Castillo will be second-year, sinker-ball pitcher Jace Vines. The righty joined Wilmington from Low-A Lexington in late July and acclimated well to Advanced-A. Vines posted a 3-2 record in six starts with a 3.82 ERA in 33 innings and allowed three earned runs or less in all but one of his six starts.
Jared Ruxer, Walker Sheller, Grant Gavin and Justin Camp also return to the Riverfront in 2018. Ruxer started last season in the bullpen for the Blue Rocks before joining the rotation in mid-June. Overall, Ruxer went 5-7 in 24 appearances including 17 starts with Wilmington and posted a 3.45 ERA. Sheller joined Wilmington in early June last season and posted a 4-1 record in 18 relief appearances and yielded a 4.02 ERA. He racked up 34 strikeouts in 31.1 innings with the Blue Rocks and between Lexington, Wilmington and Double-A Northwest Arkansas, Sheller had 66 strikeouts to 26 walks. Gavin turned some heads last season after posting a composite 1.65 ERA in 36 relief appearances between Lexington and Wilmington. A 29th round pick out of Central Missouri, the hard-throwing righty has 124 strikeouts in 49 career appearances. Camp made 11 appearances and went 0-2 with a 3.63 ERA in Wilmington after dominating the South Atlantic League. He allowed just a single earned run in 26.2 innings of work to post a dazzling 0.34 ERA in Lexington.
Garabito leads a talented group of newcomers on the mound. After going 2-11 with a 4.80 ERA in 18 starts in his first year in full-season baseball in 2016, the 22-year-old repeated in Lexington last season and bounced back nicely. The righty went 4-5 in 15 starts, and more importantly, lowered his ERA to a 2.81 mark. Another right-handed newcomer is Ofreidy Gomez . Last season with Lexington, Gomez went 7-12 with a 5.18 ERA in 28 games including 22 starts. The Dominican Republic native had a solid strikeout to walk ratio with 108 punchouts and just 46 walks.
Arnaldo Hernandez spent the majority of last year with Lexington and went 2-1 with a 3.63 ERA in 15 games with five being starts. Hernandez also made two starts for Triple-A Omaha and picked up a win and allowed just two earned runs in 10.1 innings of work. Bryan Brickhouse is a third round selection by the Royals in 2011 who has not pitched since 2015 due to injuries. In his career, Brickhouse has made 37 starts and has an 8-9 record with a 4.27 ERA in 156 innings pitched. Righty Anthony Bender features a fastball that scouts say clocks near triple digits and made 23 total appearances in Low-A. The Petaluma, California native went 5-5 with a 3.93 ERA and earned four saves in five opportunities. He also made one start in Wilmington at the end of last season.
Newcomers Nolan Becker, Vance Tatum and Matthew Wynne will round out the pitching staff. Becker was signed by Kansas City this offseason after spending the 2017 season in Independent Baseball. The former Cincinnati Reds farmhand went 5-1 with a 1.14 ERA and earned 24 saves with Les Capitales de Quebec in the Canadian-American Association. Becker last pitched in affiliated baseball in 2016. Tatum made a team-leading 34 appearances with Lexington a season ago and posted a 3-5 record and a 4.63 ERA. Wynne was right behind Tatum in relief appearances with 28 for the Legends and had a 3-4 record with a 5.40 ERA.
Catchers
Wilmington will carry three catchers to start the season. Vallot highlights the group as a returner and the 12th-best prospect in the system. At age 20, the backstop was one of the younger players in the Carolina League last year. He was second on the team with 12 homers, two of which were grand slams. Vallot also finished the season tied for the most walks on the team with 64. Like Vallot, Viloria was one of the youngest catchers in the South Atlantic league in 2017 at the age of 20. The bilingual catcher, who speaks both English and Spanish, hit .259 with eight homers and 52 RBI. He finished third on the team with 25 doubles and third in RBI. Xavier Fernández will be the third catcher on the roster and missed last season due to injury.
Infielders
Rivera put together a career-year last season in Lexington after posting subpar campaigns in his first two professional seasons. He won the South Atlantic League batting title last year thanks to his .310 batting average. Furthermore, the third baseman was top-five in numerous offensive categories including hits (1st, 144), total bases (3rd, 217), slugging percentage (T-4th, .468) and on-base percentage (5th, .364). Across the diamond will be returner Chris DeVito . The slugging lefty showcased his power last season in both Lexington and Wilmington. With the Blue Rocks, he finished third on the team with 10 home runs and paced the club with 53 RBI. He also finished second within the organization with 91 total RBI between Lexington and Wilmington. DeVito became the only player in the Carolina League last season to hit for the cycle, which he accomplished on June 2 at Winston-Salem.
Burt returns after his 2017 campaign was cut short due to injury. The second baseman played in 103 games for the Blue Crew and hit .227 with 19 doubles and five triples. Angelo Castellano played in 116 games with the Legends in 2017. The 23-year-old hit .245 with eight homers and 43 RBI and stole 19 bases. Castellano finished third on the team in stolen bases and fourth with 106 hits. Gabriel Cancel rounds out the rest of the infield for the Blue Rocks. The middle infielder put together a solid 2017 campaign, hitting to the tune of .277 with 14 home runs and 49 RBIs. The seventh round pick in 2015 finished first on the team with 30 doubles and second with 111 hits.
Outfielders
All four of the team's outfielders are left-handed hitters. Lee highlights the group. Originally born in Newark, Delaware, the athletic pitcher turned outfielder is one of the highest touted prospects in the organization. He made his full-season debut at just 18-years-old and led the Legends and finished tied for second in the South Atlantic League with 17 home runs. He also finished third with 65 walks despite leading the league with 171 strikeouts. With pure athleticism and a combination of speed and power, Lee is projected to be one of the more exciting players in the Carolina League this season.
Nick Heath and Kort Peterson are two names that will be familiar to fans. Heath showcased his speed on the bases with the Blue Rocks once he joined the team at the end of June. The centerfielder swiped 21 bases in 60 games with Wilmington and has 61 career stolen bases in 128 career games. He hit .250 with seven doubles, a homer and 12 RBI. Peterson played in just 11 games with Wilmington before suffering a season-ending injury. However, the UCLA product was off to a hot start hitting .333 (13-for-49) with six extra-base hits including a home run. Speedster Rudy Martin completes the quartet of outfielders on the roster. The Olive Branch, Mississippi native played in just 37 games a year ago with the Legends, but hit .277 and stole 26 bases. Martin has 62 career stolen bases and has only been caught 11 times.
Roster Breakdown:
Returners: 12
Newcomers: 14
2016 Team:
Lexington: 11
Wilmington: 12
Did Not Play: 2
Outside the Organization: 1
Youngest: Khalil Lee (19)
Oldest: Nolan Becker (26)
Tallest: Nolan Becker (6'6")
Shortest: Rudy Martin (5'7")
On Royals' 40-Man Roster: 1 (Meibrys Viloria)
Around the Globe: Six countries of origin are represented. United States 17, Puerto Rico (2, Fernandez and Rivera), Dominican Republic, (2, Garabito and Gomez), Venezuela (2, Castellano and Hernandez), Mexico (1, Castillo), Colombia (1, Viloria)
The Blue Rocks open their season on Thursday, April 5 at Potomac and start their home slate at Frawley Stadium on Thursday, April 12 against the Lynchburg Hillcats. Individual tickets, season seats, mini plans and group packages for the 2018 season are on sale now at BlueRocks.com
www.bluerocks.com
