Minor League Baseball

Kansas City Royals Speedster Just Made Amazing Minor League Baseball History

Asbel Gonzalez, ranked as the No. 23 prospect in the organization by MLB Pipeline had 30 stolen bases before the month of May.
Brady Farkas|
General view of Kansas City Royals hats and gloves in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies during a spring training game at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in 2024.
General view of Kansas City Royals hats and gloves in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies during a spring training game at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in 2024. | Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

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Kansas City Royals

Move on over, Chandler Simpson, there's a new Minor League Baseball baserunning king in town.

Asbel Gonzalez is the No. 23 prospect in the Kansas City Royals organization, and he stole a whopping 30 bases prior to the month of May for the Single-A Columbia Fireflies. Per @MiLB and @KCRoyalsPD on social media, he's the first minor league player since at least 2005 to steal 30 bases prior to May 1.

The major league record before May 1? That's 22 by Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, meaning that Gonzalez is ahead of the best pace set by the greatest base stealer of all-time.

(Note: the following graphic says 2008, but further posts on "X" were able to confirm that MiLB data goes back to at least 2005).

In addition to his baserunning prowess, Gonzalez, 19, is also hitting .395. He's not much of a power threat (no doubles, no homers, one triple), but speed like that will always be able to play. Simpson stole 104 bases last season in the minors and was just recently called up to the Tampa Bay Rays. He now hits at the top of the order.

Signed in 2023, Gonzalez is projected to make his major league debut in 2028. Should he make the majors, he'd pair with Bobby Witt Jr. to make an extremely dangerous combination on the basepaths.

The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com prospect profile:

His swing is more slashy with a lot of ground balls, but he does make quality contact -- having only struck out at a 20.3% clip in the ACL -- so there’s belief that the loft can come because of the foundation he has already. Gonzalez is a plus runner who has become more efficient on the basepaths with more reps.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is the senior writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and the host of “The Payoff Pitch’’ podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. Follow Brady on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.

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