One of the things that has been pretty awesome to see since starting “KC Chase to the Pennant” and beginning our partnership with “Farm to Fountains” is that we have been able to conduct some interviews with some important prospects in the Royals farm system.

Last week, Cristian and Preston Farr talked with Chandler Champlain, one of the better pitching prospects in the Royals system and a Top-20 guy in the Royals system according to pretty much every prospect service out there.

This week, Cristian and I talked with Javier Vaz, a former Vanderbilt Commodore and 15th-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft who made it all the way up to Double-A.

Here’s the video of the interview which runs about 22 minutes.

First off, Javy is such a good dude. He was easy to talk to and friendly, which was cool for me since this was my first interview with a player, especially a higher-profile prospect like Javy. If you’re not rooting for him to make his MLB debut in the next year or two, I don’t know what to tell you. You’re just a bitter Royals fan at that point.

Second, there were a few things that stuck out to me from Javy’s comments. Here are some of those key points and my own perspective on them.

• Low-A Ball Like Summer Ball: Javy talked about debuting in Columbia shortly after being drafted in 2022. One of the things that stuck out was that he said, “There wasn’t much data” and it was akin to playing sandlot or pickup baseball, essentially. I thought that was really interesting. Some Royals fans of the jaded variety may see that comment and say “See! JJ isn’t doing anything different than Dayton!” However, it makes sense when you look at the demographics of the age. In 2022, when Vaz debuted, the average hitter in the Carolina League age was 20.8. Most of the guys in the league aren’t old enough to buy alcohol. Furthermore, if you look at the Columbia roster itself, a lot of the players were transitioning directly from the Dominican Summer League within the past calendar year. That’s a huge culture shock to go from the Dominican Republic to South Carolina. Therefore, I’m guessing the Royals, and other teams, try to keep things simple baseball-wise to not overwhelm these young players, many of whom are still teenagers. He did talk a lot about data being utilized daily when he got to Quad Cities and Northwest Arkansas last year.
• Ties Still Strong to Vanderbilt: Vaz talked about how last offseason he still worked extensively at Vanderbilt as he finished his degree. That really stuck out to me and shows why some of the top players in the nation choose Vanderbilt. It seems like Vaz loves the university and the program and he’s still super connected. It also shows the resources that Vandy has. The fact that he feels like he can get sufficient training and resources shows that SEC programs may have as much, if not more, than some Minor League clubs.
• Royals Care About the Whole Person: I asked Javy if he heard from former teammates about what other organizations were like and the difference between those teams and the Royals. The first thing he mentioned right away was that the Royals really “cared about you as a person” more than other organizations. We hear a lot about that with the Royals organization, and how they seem to care more about players not just on a baseball end, but a human end as well. That was obvious back in 2020 when the Royals led the charge in ensuring to pay their Minor League players during the pandemic (which a lot of organizations didn’t do initially or at all). There are plenty of reasons to be angry with the Royals right now, and this stadium hoopla is promoting a narrative that the Royals ownership is not much better than the Athletics’ group (which is bogus but people are going to stick to their side regardless). However, Javy’s comments show that we can feel good about what the Royals are doing with their players in the system and how they’re treating them not just as prospects but as people.

Check out this special interview with Javy on YouTube or Spotify and tune in tomorrow as Cristian and I get back to our normal Monday night schedule this week on January 22nd at 6 p.m.

Photo Credit: LSU Eunice Athletics