Thursday, October 23

Welcome to this edition of the Royals Beat newsletter. My name is Anne Rogers, and I’ll be delivering news and insight to your inbox all offseason long. Thanks for following along!

One of the most important days of the Royals’ 2025 season was when they called up their top prospect, Jac Caglianone, who had been drafted less than a year earlier and was bringing his big-time power to a lineup that desperately needed it.

By the end of the season, Caglianone had weathered a tough welcome to the big leagues, hitting .157 with a .532 OPS. It wasn’t the debut season he and the Royals were hoping for, but the belief in Caglianone hasn’t waned within the organization. And Kansas City will need him in 2026. 

While the front office is preparing to scour the market this offseason for an impact bat, this is still a team that will rely on homegrown players to make up the core of the roster.

Who else could join Caglianone in that regard next year? Here are three prospects to watch:

1. Carter Jensen, C

We’ve gotten a glimpse of what Jensen can do for this club with his standout September. The 22-year-old Kansas City native posted a slash line of .300/.391/.550 in 20 games over the final month of the season. Jensen, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Royals’ No. 1 prospect following Caglianone’s graduation, came up at the beginning of September with the Royals still in the playoff hunt, and it was clear they viewed him as the third catcher who might not play much.

Then he started hitting and didn’t stop. By the end of the month, especially with the Royals out of the race, Jensen was playing nearly every day.

Jensen flashed his power. (You remember that 482-foot home run.) He showed plate discipline, with nine walks and 12 strikeouts in 69 plate appearances. And he showed he can handle the pitching staff.

“It’s just exciting,” Jensen said on the final day of the season. “I’m looking forward to next year. The work is just starting. Everything is cool right now, but I think being out of the playoffs leaves a little sour taste in your mouth. I’m getting that firsthand experience. Next year, we’ll be ready to go, and I’m excited.”

There’s a ton to like about Jensen’s skillset, and he has the potential to emerge as a clubhouse leader as he matures. But he still has to earn his spot on the Opening Day roster, and he has to perform. There are questions about the workload balance between Jensen and Salvador Perez, too.

But September was as strong of an impression as Jensen could have given the Royals. Just take it from the captain.

“He’s the future of the Kansas City Royals,” Perez said on Sept. 14.

You’ll also be able to catch Jensen playing for the Águilas Cibaeñas in the Dominican Winter League this offseason.

2. Ben Kudrna, RHP 

The Royals already have two local players on their roster in Jensen and Noah Cameron (St. Joseph, Mo.). They could have another next season.

Kudrna, the Royals’ No. 7 prospect, was selected in the second round of the 2021 Draft -- one round before Jensen -- out of Blue Valley Southwest HS in Overland Park, Kan. Like Jensen, he grew up a Royals fan. And like Jensen, Kudrna is eager to help this team win.

The 22-year-old righty posted a 4.21 ERA across 20 games (19 starts) in Double-A Northwest Arkansas this season and made his final four appearances (three starts) in Triple-A Omaha. It was a tough stretch to end the year, as he allowed 18 runs in 11 1/3 innings, but it was important for Kudrna to get that experience before he likely goes back to Triple-A in 2026.

Kudrna is built like a durable starter and has solid secondary pitches but is still searching for the peak velocity he flashed in high school. He’d be further down on the Royals’ starting depth chart, but he could help out in the bullpen if they need it next year, too.

And he would likely be available on the roster to do so. Kudrna, along with 2021 first-rounder Frank Mozzicato, are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this winter. The Royals must add them to the 40-man roster in November to avoid exposing them to other teams in the December Draft.

3. Luinder Avila, RHP

Another player who made a strong first impression in the big leagues this year, Avila is one of the more intriguing pitchers to watch for in Spring Training because of his role.

The club’s No. 14 prospect, Avila has been a starter for the majority of his professional career. He nearly debuted as a starter with Kansas City this year -- joining the team in San Francisco in May on the taxi squad, only to be not needed at the time. And in his next Triple-A start, he injured his shoulder. That cost him a little over two months of the season.

After his rehab, Avila joined the Royals in the bullpen and was somewhat of a revelation, even with a small sample size. He posted a 1.29 ERA across 13 appearances and struck out 16 batters in 14 innings. He did not allow a hit on any of the 64 four-seam fastballs he threw and just four hits on his sinker, with both of those pitches averaging 95.8 mph. But the standout pitch was his curveball, which completely missed bats – registering a 50% whiff rate – with its biting, downer action. It was a total beauty.

It’s not a stretch to say that Avila will be an important piece in 2026, but how the Royals use him is yet to be determined. He’ll report to camp as part of the starting depth -- teams build up as many pitchers as they can for protection when the injuries inevitably come -- but there’s no denying that Avila’s stuff ticked up in the bullpen this year. And that might mean that the Royals have an emerging weapon in their bullpen.

To subscribe to Royals Beat, visit this page and mark "Royals Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Royals or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2025 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.