Royals No. 3 Prospect Contributes To Historic Evening For Double-A Squad
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The Kansas City Royals are blessed at the catching position.
Not only do they have Salvador Perez, the captain and future Royals Hall of Famer. And not only do they have Freddy Fermin, one of the best backups in Major League Baseball. They're also loaded at the position down on the farm.
Behind all-world first baseman Jac Caglianone, 20-year-old catcher Blake Mitchell is the Royals' number-two prospect. And the number-three prospect is Carter Jensen, who is 21 and a level higher than Mitchell in Double-A.
Clearly, Jensen has tough competition in Kansas City to compete for playing time at the big-league level. But if he contributes to many more efforts like the one Double-A Northwest Arkansas put forth on Tuesday night, he'll be there soon enough.
Northwest Arkansas no-hit the San Antonio Missions on Tuesday night with Jensen behind the plate in a 3-0 win. Pitchers Ryan Ramsey, Chazz Martinez, Ryan Brady, and Brandon Johnson all chipped in for a 10-strikeout effort.
"As a catcher, game calling is one of the most important things that comes with the position," Jensen said, per Ben Weinrib of MLB.com. "It can be tough sometimes because you don't really know the pitchers as much, but the biggest thing is just creating a relationship, having conversations.
"Even if one of them's not pitching that night, just going over before the game and talking to them and saying, 'Hey, I really want to learn some more about your stuff. I want to learn what you like to do in certain counts against certain hitters.' Having conversations and building relationships to gain their trust, so when the game comes, it's just easy and everything flows."
The Royals love what Jensen is becoming behind the plate, but it's his bat that could carry him to the big leagues sooner rather than later. He's off to a slow start this year, but put up an .809 OPS and 18 home runs in 125 games last season.
Kansas City may find a way to get both Jensen and Mitchell in the lineup someday when Perez becomes more of a first baseman/designated hitter. But for now, Jensen will focus on continuing to keep his Double-A foes from getting in the hit column.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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