On Monday, my co-host Cristian Martinez and I were joined by Farm to Fountains founder and Royals prospect expert Preston Farr and Royals pitching prospect Noah Cameron on a special episode of “KC Chase to the Pennant”.

Cameron finished the 2023 season as the Royals’ 18th-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline and is currently considered the 24th-best prospect in the Royals system in 2024, according to Baseball America.

In his second full season in Minors last year, he struggled a bit in Double-A Northwest Arkansas, posting a 6.10 ERA and 5.41 FIP in 17 innings and 72.1 IP. That said, his K/BB ratio of 2.85 with the Naturals was still solid, and his 4.50 xFIP in Double-A shows that some positive regression may be on the way as well in 2024. He also proved to be lights out in seven starts and 35 IP to begin the year in High-A Quad Cities, as he posted a 6.44 K/BB ratio, 3.60 ERA, and a 1.91 xFIP.

Below is our interview with Cameron, as he was an awesome guest who was open and honest about a lot of his experiences not just last season but overall in the Minor Leagues and in his time at Central Arkansas leading up to the draft.

Here are a few things that stuck out to me in our half-hour interview with the St. Joseph, Missouri native.

• It was interesting to hear that “improving velocity” was the priority for Cameron this offseason. That was one thing Preston and I planned on asking him about specifically, and he came out early in our interview and mentioned that he knew his velocity dipped at times last year and that contributed to his struggles, especially in Double-A. What’s even more intriguing is the fact that the org is helping him in that process. Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t feel like something we heard very often with the Royals’ pitching development team during the Dayton Moore era.
• When asked about data, Cameron mentioned that he utilizes it but also understands that sometimes overanalyzing it can be detrimental. “Paralysis by analysis” as they say. Interestingly enough, it was also something Chandler Champlain mentioned in his interview with Cristian and Preston on the pod. I totally get it from a pitcher’s perspective. You can only control so much and if your stuff and command isn’t there, it isn’t there, regardless of what data is shown to you. On the flip side, it did seem like location charts with certain pitches were very important to him and gave him an idea of where to pitch with certain pitches. It’s simple, but that kind of stuff is encouraging to see with pitchers in the Royals system.
• Cameron seemed genuinely jazzed to have been drafted by the Royals out of Central Arkansas in 2021. Granted, he grew up with the 2015 World Series champion Royals, so I imagine it was easy to root for the club as a kid (especially compared to those who grew up in the 2000s Royals years). Nonetheless, I think it’s always cool when a hometown kid actually gets drafted by his favorite club growing up. Ironically, it sounded like it was something he didn’t know would be a possibility until draft day, as he was unsure of what round he would go in because of his lost 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery. One has to wonder if the Royals would’ve been able to draft him had he been fully healthy that season. Nonetheless, it all worked out for Cameron as well as the Royals thus far.

Another great interview, and thanks to Preston and Jared Perkins from Farm to Fountains for helping us get these interviews set up. We look forward to having more on the podcast soon!

Listen and subscribe on YouTube or Spotify if you haven’t already.

Photo Credit: Quad Cities River Bandits/St. Joseph Press