It should come as no surprise to anyone who follows minor league baseball that the Kansas City Royals have five of the Top 20 propsects in Baseball America's list of Top 100 Prospects.

 

After all, former Phillies scouting guru Mike Arbuckle has been working for the Royals since November 2008 when he was hired as senior adviser for scouting and player development, working as the right-hand man for Royals G.M. Dayton Moore.

 

Arbuckle was with the Phillies for 16 years, joining the team in 1992 as director of scouting. Under Arbuckle, the Phillies drafted players like Pat Burrell, Ryan Howard, Ryan Madson, Brett Myers, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels and Scott Rolen. And let's not forget about all of the players the Phillies drafted and then traded over the past few years to get guys like Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. Players like Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor, Lou Marson, Travis D'Arnaud and Jason Knapp. And Arbuckle was responsible, along with former G.M. Lee Thomas, for putting Latin American Supervisor Sal Agostinelli in charge of the Latin American scouting area, which brought the Phillies Carlos Ruiz, who was signed as a skinny second baseman and has developed into an All-Star catcher. OF course, current Phillies Scouting Director Marti Wolever made a lot of those picks, but who hired him? Arbuckle.

 

The Royals Top 5 in the Top 100 are: First baseman Eric Hosmer (No. 8) , third baseman Mike Moustakis (No. 9), former catcher turned outfielder Wil Myers (No. 10), and left-handed pitcher John Lamb (No. 18) and Mike Montgomery (No. 19). Moustakis is the oldest at 22, while Hosmer and Montgomery are 21. Myers and Lamb are 20. All could reach the majors this season in Septemeber.