The Triple Play is back for a fifth season! This regular feature is broken down by senior writer Phil Barrington and he is joined by a rotating panel of some of the best Dynasty Baseball writers in the business. If you’re new to the Triple Play, this series breaks down an arm, a bat, and a prospect within each organization for your reading pleasure!

Follow Phil (@barrington_phil), Brian Shanks (@Brian59044), and Sam Wirsching (@SamFBB1) on Twitter and read their analysis here at the site!

Bobby Witt Jr, Age: 22, Position: SS

Analysis by: Phil Barrington

As this is the Dynasty Guru, and here we focus on players that help your Dynasty team, right? The Royals do not have a lot on the big-league roster right now however, that have not recently joined the big league team (MJ Melendez, Vinnie Pasquantino, Nick Pratto). There are those do not have much, if any value, in Dynasty Leagues (Michael Taylor, Nicky Lopez, Brian Dozier), or are part of the six total HR + Steals club in 2022 (Kyle Isabel and Andrew Benintendi), or would get a Covid shot if they were on a contender and thus has no integrity, and is declining in the one stat (steals) that made him fantasy relevant (Whit Merrifeld). So, who does that leave? One Bobby Witt Jr. Let’s celebrate the next great Royal, shall we?

“All our souls are written in our eyes”

Robert Andrew Witt Jr., son of former big-league hurler of the same name, was the second overall pick in 2019 draft, taken immediately after fellow rookie Adley Rutschman. With JJ Bleday’s recent call up by the Marlins, I cannot remember the last year (and doing no further research on it) when the top seven picks in an MLB draft made the majors less than three seasons later. That’s the aforementioned three, plus Andrew Vaughn, Riley Greene, CJ Abrams, and Nick Lodolo. Wow.

Swashbuckling

Witt’s facial hair gives off the vibe of Christian de Neuvillette, friend of Cyrano de Bergerac (who was a real person who lived in the 1600s, but his legend was made famous by Edmond Rostand’s play written in 1897). See?

Anyway, Witt played 37 games for the Arizona League Royals in 2019; after which he joined the Royals complex for the 2020 season, then split his season between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting 33 homers, 29 steals, slashing .290/.361/.575 and showing the minor leagues were no match for him.

Panache

Witt has had some kind of a rookie season thus far; 14 home runs, 19 steals (in 22 attempts), five triples, and while a slightly below average .256 batting average, that comes with only a .298 BABIP. His walk rate at 6% is a bit low, but his 23% K rate is also below the norm. He is in the top 93 percentile in of Max Exit Velocity, has the fastest sprint speed in the league and top 82 percentile in Avg Exit velocity. He is hitting the ball hard when he hits it. Though he is pulling the ball a lot; all but two of his homers are to left field, and all but four of his 19 doubles. Witt has things to work on, but at only 22 he has time to figure it out. Witt is the fourth youngest player in the AL, and the only real issue in his game are the errors; 14 total leads the league, but unless you play in a league that counts defense, this does not matter to you or me.

He played the first 24 games at 3B due to Adalberto Mondesi’s occupying of short until his season ending injury. Witt has played shortstop every since and that is where he should stay for his Royals career, so I would not count on the dual position eligibility to continue past next season in most leagues, as Mondesi returning to the shortstop position is highly unlikely.

I’ll trade you for him

Witt has been a top three prospect since last season; and he is even improving; his last month has seen his slash line improve to .296/.337/.469 with a K rate of only 17%. I cannot imagine many Dynasty teams trading him; but it still may be prudent to send out feelers. If a really good team has too many shortstops and they need pitching, it would be prudent to send over an offer. In one of my leagues in the preseason he was traded straight up for Walker Buehler, and while we were a bit shocked at the time (Witt had not made the big-league team yet), it looks to be a good move, of course if Buehler is healthy it becomes a bit more even, but still. The future is very bright, though if Witt struggles to end the season he may drop a bit in rankings and then would be the time to make your best offer.

Brady Singer, Age: 26, Position: SP

Analysis by: Brian Shanks

Learning to Sing

Born August 4th, 1996, in Leesburg Florida, Brady Singer was first drafted out of high school in 2015 by the Toronto Blue Jays but honored his commitment to the University of Florida before getting selected in the first round, number 18 overall, by the Kansas City Royals in 2018. Just a few of the accolades while Brady was an amateur include being named Baseball Americas best prospect, All-SEC Second Team as a sophomore when the Florida Gators won the National title and won pitcher of the year in the SEC while also bringing home the Dick Howser Trophy which is awarded to the national college baseball player of the year. 

Singer debuted in 2019 with the Single A(Advanced) affiliate Wilmington Blue Rocks.  Results were nothing less than stellar as he turned in a 1.87 ERA, went 5-2 as a starter, pitched 57.2 innings striking out 52 and only walking 13 for a WHIP of 1.11. He was then promoted to Double-A and with another 16 starts, Singer went 7–3 with a 3.47 ERA, striking out 85 and only walking 26. 

The Masked Singer

2020 saw Singer get his first chance at the big league level as he made the opening day roster for the Royals. All and all Brady’s first taste of Major League hitters was fairly impressive for a 23-year-old. He started 12 games and held his own with a 4.06 ERA, 1.166 WHIP and an 8.5 K per 9. I was certainly one of the many jumping hard on his bandwagon. Unfortunately, he couldn’t follow up that impressive rookie performance. 2021 wasn’t a complete disaster for this young pitcher but that’s because I’m being a touch nice. It wasn’t pretty. His ERA inflated to 4.91 in 27 starts and it looked like he had lost all confidence in his pitches. The most alarming things from the stat line of 2021 was the 1.55 WHIP and the slugging percentage against him, .414.  He just wasn’t effective at keeping people off the bases but who are we kidding nobody on the Royals staff was much better leading to a bit of a long leash to work through the struggles. The premature screams of bust were becoming a realization that one such as myself had to at least listen to. Good for me, I am way too bullheaded to listen to such dribble about a former superstar college pitcher who is still only (soon to be) 26.

Singing in the rain 

Mid way through the 2022 season and we are beginning to see the flashes of stardom out of Singer. Coming off a 12-strikeout performance against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 23rd, in which the Rays deployed eight left-handed hitters, Singer’s numbers are moving in the right direction. With a 3.82 ERA, 4-3 record in 12 games started over 77.2 innings he has compiled 82 k’s vs 20 walks for a whip of 1.21 and a 9.4 K per 9. Brady is throwing his changeup and slider more than any other pitch he has in his arsenal, and he is starting to build his confidence back. Look for Singer to have a great second half and the Royals as a whole to finish strong. They are young and developing, the future looks bright in Kansas City.

Michael Massey, Age: 24, Position: 2B, Level: AAA (Omaha)

Analysis by: Sam Wirsching

The Kansas City Royals have no shortage of fun prospects to write about even with Bobby Witt and MJ Melendez graduating out of prospect status. Vinnie Pasquantino and Nick Pratto are pretty well known in dynasty circles so I thought we could highlight another prospect who is rising quickly and should be a force to reckon with in both real baseball and fantasy baseball: Michael (Mike) Massey.

Gotta Start Somewhere

Mike Massey is a 2B currently at Triple-A Omaha after getting to play in Toronto during last weekend’s series against the Blue Jays. From 2017-2019 however he was a 2B with the University of Illinois that hit for average, avoided strikeouts, had some pop, and played defense better than he hit. This led him to be a 4th round pick in the 2019 draft. 2020 was lost and so our first look at him as a pro happened in 2021 where he spent a whole season in High-A.

Gaining Momentum

He had a great season there in High-A. Some things really stood out for me when looking at the statlines. The first is he found more power in his lost season. That year he hit 21 home runs with 27 doubles in 99 games with a .289/.351/.531 slash line. In addition Mike has a K rate under 16%. His walk rate wasn’t great, but 7.5% isn’t terrible either. He was making a lot of contact and showing more power than he had in college. Second, he only committed three errors all year. Talent, and the potential for playing time, were coming together nicely.

Doing work where it matters

This year KC started him at Double-A. There he continued to hit from where he left off the previous year. His slash line was .305/.359/.496 with nine homers and nine steals in 248 at-bats. But as good as he was at the plate, he was better in the field.  He committed no errors at Double-A in the field. After 54 games against better competition Massey held his own and so he was promoted up to AAA. There he has continued to hit and actually has seemed to unlock another level. He is hitting .357/.423/.663 with seven home runs and three stolen bases in Omaha. And his strikeout rate this year? 22.3%.

As noted above he got a cup of coffee before the ASG going 3/8 with one strikeout. The Royals had an interesting set of circumstances and called up a number of players from Omaha for that series. The Royals more then likely are going to make him finish the year in AAA. Honestly I think next year he will start in KC if he has a solid spring training or if they trade  Whit Merrifield. As a fantasy asset he has everything going for him: great defense, great patience at the plate, good power. In an organization that will play youth. For me he is a top-50 prospect now with room to continue to rise.