00:00Another guy we should talk about here, Carter Jensen of the Kansas City Royals, and Kansas City is sort of kind of in the mix right now, but they call up a guy that has been very, very good in minor league baseball so far this year. He was making minced meat of the minor leagues at this point, and he was even better in AAA.
00:1668 games in AA, Carter Jensen, the Royals catching prospect, 68 games with AA Northwest Arkansas, hit 292 with six homers, and then he jumps to Omaha, AAA level, 43 games, hit 288s with 14 homers.
00:32He had a 404 on base percentage and a 1051 OPS. This guy has been one of the better hitters in all the minor league baseball to this point. Oh, by the way, he's made strides as a catcher, and that's why he is the number 35 prospect in baseball, according to you.
00:48This is, I think, the most underrated raw power in the minor leagues. Average exit velocity of 93 miles per hour. There's only a handful of big leaguers, and I understand that's in AAA, but there's only a handful of big leaguers that are posting higher numbers than that.
01:03He is getting into his power consistently, and then you're seeing that start to really translate now into the game power and slug. 55% hard hit rate is stupid, stupid, and that's why he's hit 20 home runs this year.
01:20So we'll see if he can get up there and immediately provide a spark. There could be an acclimation process, especially for a catcher prospect, but one great reps for him as the Royals look towards next year.
01:32And if they don't make a run this year and are still going to be favorites to potentially make the playoffs, assuming they make a couple more additions as well, because it's a good young team, but two, he can be that microwave for you, given how hard he hits the ball and how talented he is to maybe jolt this lineup a little bit.
01:48So I love it. And again, sneaky, just 22 years old, and he won't turn 23 until July of next season. This is a really good prospect, and I'm glad he's getting some opportunity now because he's cut the strikeout rate down big time.
02:01Are you in the never say never camp as it pertains to Kansas City right now? They're three back in the final wildcard spot. Seattle currently holds that. Texas has won five in a row, eight at 10, so they're two and a half back.
02:13But then Kansas City is right there at three games back in the final wildcard spot. It feels like Seattle is the better team at this point.
02:20But can Jensen possibly be that jolt to get them to cut a three-game deficit in half in two weeks, maybe entirely in two weeks?
02:31I don't think it's crazy. Also, they've got that Caglione guy coming back off the IL as well, and I know he wasn't good at the major league level.
02:39But now you've got two irons in the fire of elite power that, like, just one of them. Go nuts. If both of them do, then a different story here. But I think the reset for Cags is huge as well.
02:52But you've got two guys with huge, huge power that, from the left side, they could just get hot for you. And you think about how top-heavy that Royals lineup is, and some of the guys that they've been rolling out there consistently.
03:01You don't need Cags or Jensen to be going nuts. If they're just giving you an above-average offense, it's going to be a big, I think, jolt from what they were getting from some of the other guys that were getting consistent ABs in the back end.
03:16I still think they can do it. And the Royals gave that, the front office gave that team a little bit of an indication that, hey, we believe in you.
03:23And I think that goes a long way for the final month when everyone's getting tired here and slowing down, that, hey, we went and got Mikey Skramski.
03:29Hey, we went and got Grichuk. I think this team still believes.
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