The Royals “Twitter”-sphere can be a small one at times, but overall, I think it’s a pretty supportive one relatively speaking. As I have said on this blog before, when I used to sort of run a Giants blog back in 2009, I remember things being really competitive and didn’t exactly give me the most positive impression of “blog writing”. Now, I think independent baseball writers have a much better approach and look to support one another rather than try to tear one another down, which is honestly, how it should be.

Last evening, I was able to be on Royals Farm Report and their podcast, which is run by Alex and Joel. For those who follow Royals baseball, Royals Farm Report is just a great operation, and they have always produced excellent content. Furthermore, I think they have done a great job not just helping Royals fans learn more about prospects in the Royals system, but understand more about Minor League development and prospects in general. “Prospecting” can be a weird and challenging undertaking for baseball writers, and I’m always impressed with those who dive into this part of the game as well as the players who are far too often overlooked by general baseball and sports fans.

The podcast isn’t published just yet, but RFR did share the announcement on Twitter and I just wanted to share it for those who were interested. Definitely check it out when it drops!

Our next podcast should be out in the next couple of days, covering our top 50 prospects list and where some of the guys fit into top 100’s. @jtpenfield and Alex were lucky to be joined by a former scout for the LA Angels and @RoyalReportKev to talk about his “21 in 21” list.

— Royals Farm Report (@RoyalsFarm) February 16, 2021

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Also, we talked mostly about my “21 in 21” series, where I have covered about seven prospects in the Royals system thus far (well…now technically six, since Khalil Lee was traded to the Mets in the Andrew Benintendi deal). However, as I prepared for the podcast, I decided to extend my “prospect list” a little further, as I ranked the “Top 40″ prospects” in the Royals system, not just the top 21. Granted, I am not going to go into individual writeups on the additional 19 added to my list, because honestly, I am not a prospect blog, and I am kind of behind anyways on my 21 in 21 profiles (I am working on a Nick Loftin piece that I hope to publish by tomorrow or Thursday sometime). So, I am just going to publish my ‘Top 40″ list on the “21 in 21” page, but just leave profiles to those who cracked in the “21 in 21”.

Here is my prospect list, embedded here on this post. I will post and update the list on the “21 in 21” page later this evening:

A couple of key things to note: this isn’t a “pure” prospect list in terms of projection, but more of a “ranking” of Royals players to watch based on how interesting they will be to follow in 2021. I leave the pure prospect projection to Royals Farm Report and other qualified folk out there who follow prospects and the Minor Leagues more closely than me.

That being said, all the prospects on the list made it to due different criteria. Some may be on their last legs as prospects in the Royals system (i.e. Gabriel Cancel and Emmanuel Rivera) and 2021 could be a make or break season. Some are super raw prospects who will be most likely playing rookie level ball in either Arizona or the Dominican Republic. Some are surprise non-roster invites (i.e. Jon Heasley and Clay Dungan). That being said, I think this is a pretty comprehensive list of 40 guys Royals fans should be following in the minors this year in some way, shape, or from.

Also, Royals fans should note that I removed Lee from the prospect list and bumped everyone up, which included moving Alec Marsh to the Top 21. Since Marsh is now in the “21 in 21”, I will be doing a writeup on him (I also may throw Angel Zerpa in the mix in that wrtieup too, who knows).

So that’s the update on the “21 in 21”. Look for the RFR podcast sometime this week, as it is my Royals podcast “debut” (I used to have a general sports podcast out of college, but that was lost to the internet, thank God).

(Photo Credit: 2019 Alika Jenner/Getty Images)