Edgar Osuna

The Royals have some roster decisions to make with the close of Spring Training fast approaching. Given the success of Rule 5 Draft pick Joakim Soria, the Royals not having many Major League lefty options, and the question marks surrounding the bullpen and the healthiness of Gil Meche... it seems close attention will be paid to Edgar Osuna. Like many Dayton Moore additions,Osuna is from Atlanta. He was Kansas City's most recent Rule 5 pick and has shown SOME promise in his minor league career. His minor league work isn't overwhelming, but there are indications that he could pitch at the Major League level with some success.

Edgar has a few more outings left before the Royals have to make a decision involving one of three choices: 1) Keep him on the Major League roster 2) Work out a trade with the Braves to keep him in the minors in Kansas City or 3) Send him back to the Braves. Given the circumstances and the promise he has shown in the minors, Kansas City will certainly keep him around. The question then becomes...in what capacity?

Frankly, I can't see Osuna as a "lefty specialist" or as a setup man. Furthermore, the Royals have needs that aren't clearly satisfied: a 5th starter AND a left handed starter, at that ,wouldn't hurt. Osuna isn't going to amaze anyone at this point. He will likely struggle, but he won't have to be "thrown to the lions" right away. John Thompson COULD fill in as a starter for a bit, leaving Greinke, Davies, Bannister, and Hochevar (no particular order here) to complete the rotation until the "Meche scare" is better determined. Maybe Osuna could work as a long reliever...the Royals could see if he improves...AND they will have traded nothing away to get a better look at what he can do.

I think the Royals might like what they see. He has only pitched six innings this spring, and it wasn't pretty...giving up 6 hits, 6 earned runs, 1 homerun, and 4 Ks to 2 BBs. Now wait, don't give up on this kid just yet...we need a larger body of work to really see what he can do.

Osuna spent two years in Rookie ball, one year in A ball, and last season was split between A+ and AA. Compiling all those stats is probably slightly misleading, but I am about to do it anyway...largely because it shows he has some upside worth looking into. Skeptics are going to argue that most of his numbers have gotten worse with every Minor League promotion. I will counter three points to consider:
1) Osuna is young, he has likely not reached his peak
2) His ERA has remained respectable at every level
3) See the following:

What a player does in the Minors might not mean a whole lot, but with Osuna...it is the largest piece of work we have to examine. So, let's compare three current Kansas City pitchers and their Minor League stats (conveniently, they all have four seasons in the Minors). Now, I am not attempting to project Osuna to be either one of the other two pitchers, all this exercise does is puts Osuna's performance in perspective and assures us that players can get better or worse.

Player:          Greinke          Osuna          Hochevar
ERA:            2.96               3.37             3.63        
WHIP:          1.057            1.218           1.257
H/9:              7.8                 9.0               8.6
HR/9:            0.8                0.6               1.1
BB/9:            1.7                2.0               2.7
K/9:              7.5                8.3               8.3
SO/BB:         4.41              4.15             3.03


Osuna almost fits perfectly between the two pitchers. What does this mean? Well...maybe nothing, but the other two pitchers have seen success in the Majors. Keeping Osuna on the club would then seem consistent with history and justifiable. Look for Osuna to make the cut and potentially make a positive contribution this season.