Royals Farm System Ranked Low On Insider's Latest List

The Kansas City Royals finished the first half of the 2025 season at 47-50. They are 12 games back in the American League Central, but just 4 1/2 back in the Wild Card race.

The second half of the season is now upon us, and the Royals will need to make a run to reach the postseason again. They have tried to boost their struggling offense by promoting prospects such as Jac Caglianone.

Beyond him, the Royals' minor-league system is full of other interesting prospects. However, it is ranked in the lower half of all 30 MLB teams by Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report. Reuter has them ranked 20th entering the second half of the season.

Reuter specifically highlighted No. 4 prospect David Shields as one to watch.

"Shields was the fifth high school pitcher taken in 2024, signing for $2.3 million as the No. 41 overall pick after reclassifying from the 2025 draft class, and he does not turn 19 years old until September. The 6'2" southpaw has a 2.45 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and a 39-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 36.2 innings at Single-A," Reuter wrote on Wednesday.

The young left-hander is certainly an interesting prospect and one to watch over the next few years as the Royals continue to build their farm system up.

His professional career is off to a good start so far, and it will be interesting to see where he ends up in the next couple of years.

He certainly packs a punch on the mound with a high strikeout rate.

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