Winners will be honored at Futures Night on September 20.
This Week in the Minors is our weekly look at notable performances from all over the system, from big-name prospects and less-heralded guys alike. The mission is to answer this simple question: “Who had a good week?”
The 2024 minor league regular season has officially closed at all levels except Triple-A. The Low-A and High-A seasons wrapped up the week prior, and the Double-A slates followed suit on Sunday. For the Naturals, it marked the true end of the season. They ended the second half 31-37 with an overall season record of 66-71. The Omaha Storm Chasers have one week to play, however, they will appear in this year’s postseason after winning the first half. They set the modern franchise record for wins with 86 by the end of last week. They’ll look to extend that franchise record in the season’s final week.
Before the Triple-A postseason kicks off, the Royals announced the organization’s 2024 Award Winners. The winners of each award will be honored at Kauffman Stadium for Futures Night on September 20. The winners are below.
Other notable standouts this season include Noah Cameron. He was named the Omaha recipient of the Steve Pivovar Prospect of the Year Award. Evan Sisk was named the 2024 Omaha Pitcher of the Year and John Rave was named both the Omaha Hitter of the Year and the Omaha Fan Favorite for 2024.
The Storm Chasers have one final week to play before they open the International League Championship Series on September 24. The three-game series will pit Omaha against whichever team wins the second half. Last week, the Storm Chasers were led by a big offensive performance from Nelson Velázquez. He slashed .438/.550/1.125 with three home runs and a team-high nine RBI. After a standout 2023 season, the 25-year-old outfielder posted a 111 wRC+ this season for Omaha with just seven home runs.
Tyler Gentry had five hits, including four singles and a double. Beyond Velázquez and Gentry, the rest of the Omaha offense was rather quiet on the week. On the mound, things were a bit better for the Storm Chasers. Lefty Noah Cameron got back on track with yet another quality start. He struck out seven without allowing a walk over six innings of work. Cameron allowed one run on four hits.
Rehabbing starter Michael Lorenzen pitched 3.1 innings, striking out four while allowing one home run. Angel Zerpa was promoted last week, but not before he put together 3.1 scoreless innings of work in Omaha. Zerpa struck out four without allowing a free pass on the week.
The Royals promoted prospect Asbel Gonzalez to Northwest Arkansas for the season’s final week. Gonzalez played sparingly but did notch his first Double-A hit. Gonzalez is a center fielder with good speed and defense. He played well in the Complex League this season. Fellow top prospect Carter Jensen stood out all week as he finished his season strongly. Jensen slashed .333/.348/.762 with a double, a triple, and two home runs. The 20-year-old Jensen finishes his first Double-A stint with a 112 wRC+ over 41 games.
First baseman Josh Lester struck out eight times but also brought in a team-high seven RBI. He slashed .320/.333/.480 on the week.
Starter Ben Kudrna wrapped up his 2024 campaign in a strong fashion. Kudrna pitched five scoreless innings while striking out nine. He finishes the year with a 5.29 FIP across nine appearances for the Naturals. Nicholas Regalado settled in after a rough Double-A debut the week prior. He made two appearances last week. Regalado allowed just one base runner (a hit batter) across 3.1 IP while striking out three.
The River Bandits lost their postseason series against Wisconsin. It was a best of three series and Quad Cities dropped games one and two. Much of that was due to poor offense. The lineup couldn’t get going. Justin Johnson was the lone bright spot, putting together four hits in the two games, slashing .444/.500/.444. Jac Caglianone got on base twice with two singles. His professional debut finishes with a 96 wRC+ over 126 plate appearances for Quad Cities this season.
The Bandits' arms did their best to keep the team in it. Ryan Ramsey notched a career-high nine strikeouts in game one. He allowed just one hit and one run to score over six full innings of work. Ramsey finishes the year as one of the team’s best arms in terms of hard-hit rate, swinging strike rate, whiff rate, and zone contact rate. He’s old for the level but has a chance to prove his worth at Double-A and beyond in 2025.
Ethan Bosacker allowed two runs to score in five innings of work in game two. He struck out five and allowed one walk in what turned out to be a losing performance behind a struggling River Bandits lineup.
The Fireflies didn’t play last week. Their season wrapped up the week prior and they failed ot make the postseason this year.
