*** Official 2018 Royals Repository ***

[duncan_idaho]

The season is upon us, even if spring is not.

2018 MLB Draft Picks
#18
#33 - Compensation (Eric Hosmer)
#34 - Compensation (Lorenzo Cain)
#40 (Competitive Balance Round A)

018 Draft Names to Watch

RHP Kumar Rocker, N Oconnee HS, Georgia.

Spoiler!

Possibly goes top 10 but is a big, physical SP with ace potential. Moore and co. will be all over him if he slips a bit and could offer top 10 money at No. 16

OF Jarred Kelenic, Waukasha West HS, WI

Spoiler!

Kelenic is the top prep bat, toolsy OF. Royals would be ecstatic to have shot at him.

1B Triston Casas, American Heritage HS (FL).

Spoiler!

Tremendous raw power, best in HS bats. Royals typically like HS arms or HS bats with "special" tools. He qualifies.

RHP Carter Stewart, Eau de Gallie HS (Ga).

Spoiler!

Another big, physical specimen with huge upside. More likely to be available mid-first than Rocker.

ANY Any, Any (Any). Any current top projected pick who slides for injury concerns. Includes current top prospect prospect SP Brady Singer, U of Florida.

Current Prospects to Watch:

OF Seuly Matias - Huge tools. Hit 2 HR in Lexington (A) season opener.

1B Nick Pratto - Top pick in 17 has advanced approach and good glove; needs to start tapping into power in first full year in minors. Also at Lexington.

OF Michael Gigliotti - Good defender in CF, good OBP skills, plus baserunner. Next mainstay in CF for KC, IMO. Advanced college bat also starting at Lexington.

OF Khalil Lee - Probably has highest upside in Royals' system. Could hit 30 HR in majors, could steal 30 bases. Plus defensive ability in RF. Nice test at Wilmington this year.

3B Emmanuel Rivera - Really nice approach and good contact skills. Power is still developing. Also getting a good test at Wilmington.

SP Foster Griffin - Made nice strides in 2017. Needs to continue to progress in 2018. Could be a lefty version of Jakob Junis (good breaking ball that he can really manipulate, OK fastball, good command).

1B Samir Duenez - Duenez still is intriguing, hoping for a step forward in his power production this year at Northwest Arkansas, which would turn him into a legit prospect.

Others to keep an eye on:
SP Gerson Garabito (Wilmington), OF Marten Gasparini (Lexington), C MJ Melendez (Lexington), RP Tyler Zuber (lexington), RP Richard Lovelady (Omaha), SP Dan Tillo (Lexington), SS Nicky Lopez (NWA), SP Scott Blewett (NWA), OF Brewer Hicklen (Idaho Falls),

In general, Lexington and Wilmington are the most interesting spots to watch. Nice depth and a lot of interesting pieces at both.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

6-year-olds dude.

I can cheer for a guy who lost his temper in the heat of the moment, hasn't repeated his mistake, and shows real remorse and contrition. You don't molest a child in the heat of the moment.

Same reason the Chiefs don't play that Gary Glitter song anymore.

Yea, that’s basically what Pro sports has decided is the Demarc line

Beating women ok

Diddling little girls not ok

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Should the Royals take a chance and sign Luke Heimlich?

Worth the backlash? Worked for the Chiefs with Tyreek.

Fans will forgive if the results show up on the field. Or was the crime too heinous?

Nobody in town really cares about the Royals right now they wont be good for 3-4 years st the earliest. It's a great time to do it if they are going to.

[KCUnited]

2018 Royals Baseball, when you’d rather debated the severity of kid diddling.

[Ebolapox]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Yea, that’s basically what Pro sports has decided is the Demarc line

Beating women ok

Diddling little girls not ok

Both are heinous... but to rank, domestic abuse is bad but people’s lives can heal with therapy... child molestation marks a child for life and even therapy doesn’t help sometimes. It also tears families apart in ways that run of the mill domestic abuse (assuming it isn’t fatal) generally doesn’t. I’d say child molestation is the worst of the two evils.

[Deberg_1990]

For what it’s worth, Heimlich is now claiming he didn’t do it. His parents coerced him to sign an admission of guilt.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Ebolapox

Both are heinous... but to rank, domestic abuse is bad but people’s lives can heal with therapy... child molestation marks a child for life and even therapy doesn’t help sometimes. It also tears families apart in ways that run of the mill domestic abuse (assuming it isn’t fatal) generally doesn’t. I’d say child molestation is the worst of the two evils.

Yep. Guy loses his temper, hits a woman, he can be rehabbed.


Sexually abuse a child, I throw away the key.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

For what it’s worth, Heimlich is now claiming he didn’t do it. His parents coerced him to sign an admission of guilt.

Which strains credibility.

[Sassy Squatch]

30+ posts about a self admitted child molester. Why?

[SPchief]

http://amp.kansascity.com/sports/spt...mpression=true




On Chiefs star Tyreek Hill, shamed baseball prospect Luke Heimlich, and second chances
BY SAM MELLINGER

smellinger@kcstar.com

June 07, 2018 05:03 PM


The first plan here was for words about the Chiefs' offense, and that will come, because goodness it could be a terrifically entertaining offense. There will be many words written. But the mind has a way of wandering, and so it was that mine locked in on Tyreek Hill, but not for the obvious reasons.

Baseball's amateur draft concluded this week. Exactly 1,204 players were selected, from presumptive future ace Casey Mize first overall to a shortstop named Tyler Webb with the final selection.

One of the biggest talents available was not selected anywhere in between, despite a second-round projection from many evaluators, a 96 mph fastball and a history of success at the highest amateur level.

The young man's name is Luke Heimlich. He's a star left-handed pitcher at Oregon State, and if you've heard of him, it's probably because he pleaded guilty in 2012 to one felony charge of molesting his 6-year-old niece. Heimlich was 15 at the time.


News broke just before last year's draft, and baseball teams scattered. Many took his name off their draft board entirely. Others studied, debated, met with Heimlich, asked questions and hired others to ask more. Even in the coldly bottom-line world of professional sports, no team deemed it a worthwhile risk to draft him even when a top-shelf talent was available for presumably generic pricing in the 20th, 30th, even 40th round.


Because the initial reaction to Heimlich's crime is revulsion. Of course it is. Anger. Fury. Disgust. You hear about a child — a kindergartner — being violated like that and the outrage comes shortly after. There is often no way to make the victim in such cases whole again. Get this despicable human out. It's natural. Easier, in some ways, but that's also a problem.

The Chiefs drafted Hill two years ago, and if you'd heard of him before that, it was probably because he pleaded guilty nine months earlier to choking and punching his pregnant girlfriend while he was a star football player at Oklahoma State. The plea agreement included a deferred sentence, no jail time and a probation that expires this summer.

After he was drafted by the Chiefs on Saturday, Tyreek Hill was asked by The Star's Terez A. Paylor how he explained to NFL teams what happened at Oklahoma State, where Hill was dismissed following an arrest that led to Hill pleading guilty to dom McClatchycfickett@kcstar.com

The initial reaction to the Chiefs drafting Hill was revulsion. Of course it was. Anger. Fury. Disgust. You hear about a woman — a pregnant woman — being abused like that and the outrage comes shortly after. There is often no way to make the victim whole again. The reaction was natural. Easier, in some ways, but that's also a problem.



This is where my mind wandered.

Because Hill has changed my thinking on this sort of thing, and not because he is now one of the NFL's best 10 or so receivers.

One baseball man put it like this: "He (Heimlich) went through the legal process. In the eyes of the law, he's no different than you or me. So what's he supposed to do? Quit? Work at a tollbooth? He's a baseball player."

Two things about those words are worth noting. First, in conversations with industry sources about Heimlich this week, several used some form of that logic. Second, none of their teams selected him. So far, at least, none have even signed him as an undrafted amateur free agent.

This is all so delicate, so precarious, so uncomfortable. The easy thing — the thing I've done in the past — is to not think about it. The easy thing is to cast these situations, these people, aside, to decide that the legal system did not do enough. But it is so obviously delusional to pretend that professional sports are somehow only for the moral.


Many good people work in professional sports, like all fields. Many awful people do, too, like all fields. Drug dealers. Cheaters. Liars. Absentee fathers, racists, jerks, and, yes, domestic abusers and child molesters.

Chiefs general manager John Dorsey and coach Andy Reid explained why they drafted Tyreek Hill, who pleaded guilty to domestic abuse by strangulation. They spoke at a news conference Saturday, April 30 with Reid joining by phone. McClatchy

Once the legal system has its say, everything else is public relations, and that's not said to dismiss. It's said to organize. To articulate. To be honest about what we're dealing with.

Because here's a thought that comes through from some in the game: We think he deserves a chance, but we hope someone else gives it to him.


If that chance comes, the team can justify itself. You can probably predict what will be said: "We met with him, and talked to others. We've studied this. His record is expunged. He is not a registered sex offender. He was just 15 when this happened. We believe we can help."

This is endlessly complicated. Heimlich pleaded guilty, but he has publicly and consistently said he did nothing wrong. He told Sports Illustrated he took the plea deal to avoid a trial and possible jail time, that it was the best thing for his family. And to be sure, it is not unusual for innocent people to plead guilty. Still, the plea matters. Legally, he is guilty.

We can have a debate about whether these crimes are punished justly. Compare domestic violence or child molestation to many nonviolent drug offenses, for example, and it's hard to see the balance.

Kansas City Chiefs rookie wide receiver Tyreek Hill won the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award on Wednesday for his three touchdown performance in Denver and spoke about his continued counseling as a result of his guilty plea to domestic viole David EulittThe Kansas City Star

But this is the legal system we have. Heimlich should be disqualified from consideration for many jobs. Teacher. Day care. But why should he be disqualified from baseball? To make ourselves feel better?

Legally, he's free to make a living. Based on projections and draft-pick value, Heimlich lost well into seven figures by not getting drafted where his abilities with a baseball alone would suggest he should.

This doesn't mean he's worthy of sympathy.

But a chance?

Tyreek Hill got that chance, and there was a time I thought the Chiefs were wrong to offer it. I was a lot like those baseball men, in that way. "Fine, fine, fine. Maybe he has a right to make a living. But not here."

At the time, I was thinking about Jovan Belcher. And thinking more about Kasandra Perkins, the woman Belcher murdered before taking his own life, and the baby girl those monstrous acts made an orphan.

Not here, I thought, but that didn't cover the full scope.

I also didn't want that here because I'm here, and we all tend to default to our comfort zones. Sometimes, that means defaulting away from fairness. Or from forgiveness.

Hill is a star now, so from a football perspective the Chiefs made out, but this is about more than that. The Chiefs have had others with ugly incidents or charges. Justin Cox. Roy Miller. Sanders Commings.

No two cases are exactly the same, and a million variables — including talent, let's not be naive — determine the outcome.

But Hill was given a second chance, and by all accounts, he has cherished it every day. He's made the most of it, and not just on the field. He went through the legal process and, so far, seems to have made himself better because of it. His is not a story of redemption. But his victim — and the child they had together — presumably benefit financially from his football success.

Heimlich is on his second chance. Oregon State gave that to him after his plea became known a year ago. He has succeeded on the mound, continued to get good grades and served as a mentor off the field. There is no certainty about whether that would continue in pro baseball. No certainty whether he would prove good enough to make the majors, or steady enough to deal with the furor that would surely come his way.

But Hill has changed my mind on this. The legal process had its say, and both Hill (lost scholarship at Oklahoma State) and Heimlich (imploded draft stock) have been further punished.

Right now, a collection of Major League Baseball teams are hoping Heimlich gets a chance in the pro ball. They just aren't willing to be the one to give him that chance.

How long should that continue? And to what end?

SAM MELLINGER

[Al Bundy]

Nevermind

[Willie Lanier]

If you abuse a child you're dead to me...

It's the worst psychological mind **** I can think of...

**** this guy; there is no excuse this pederast could use that would culminate in any form of repentance

Keep him away from the boys in blue

[siberian khatru]

Speaking of abuse, Matt Olson keeps hitting home runs vs the Royals

[tk13]

Gordon just about got hit in the head by a flying bird there.

[Discuss Thrower]

**** this poverty stadium

[Al Bundy]

Man... Orlando is a bad baseball player.