Welcome to this edition of the Royals Beat newsletter. My name is Anne Rogers, and I’ll be delivering news and insight to your inbox all Spring Training long. Thanks for following along!

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- This weekend brings a new twist to Spring Training. Major League Baseball is launching the inaugural Spring Breakout, and the Royals are gearing up for their prospects to face a roster full of Brewers prospects at 3:05 p.m. CT on Sunday at Surprise Stadium.

The Royals’ Spring Breakout roster features prospects from all levels. You’ll be able to listen to the Spring Breakout game on MLB Digital (MLB.TV, MLB.com, MLB App) and follow along live on Gameday. 

Here are three Spring Breakout storylines we’ll be watching on Sunday:

1. Blake Mitchell and the catching depth

The Royals’ No. 1 prospect, Mitchell is about to embark on his first full professional season after he was drafted No. 8 overall in last year’s MLB Draft as a high school catcher. He has legit power and his arm is a cannon, and we should see both on display in Spring Breakout.

Mitchell leads a group of young catching prospects, and Carter Jensen (No. 11) and Ramon Ramirez (No. 15) are both also on the roster. Depending on how the Royals configure their lineup and bench, there’s a chance we at least see all three at the plate.

We don’t know Kansas City’s pitching plans yet, but there’s a chance Mitchell could catch for right-hander Blake Wolters, the club’s No. 7 prospect. The two are already creating a strong relationship by rooming together this spring, and Mitchell has said he loves catching Wolters much more than he’d like facing the high-powered young arm.

They’re both young with a long way to go, but it’s a future battery the Royals are very excited to see grow in the coming years.

2. Minor Leaguers on the cusp of Kansas City

Two players on the 40-man roster but no longer in big league camp are on the Spring Breakout roster: Outfielder Tyler Gentry (Royals' No. 10 prospect) and reliever Will Klein (No. 19).

Both should help the Major League team this year.

Gentry has one of the strongest arms in the team’s system and he has the power potential to stick in one of the corner outfield spots. If he continues the production he showed in the second half of last year with Triple-A Omaha, when he had a .901 OPS with a 133 wRC+, Gentry will force his way to Kansas City.

The same goes for Klein, who can be a power arm in Kansas City’s bullpen. His name came up time and time again in the first few weeks of Spring Training, when coaches and evaluators were asked about a player who could help in 2024.

3. The new guys

There are five members of the Royals’ 2023 Draft class on their Spring Breakout roster, including Mitchell and Wolters. The others:

OF Carson Roccaforte (No. 17)
LHP Hunter Owen (No. 23)
RHP Hiro Wyatt (No. 26)

Roccaforte played in 31 games last season after the Draft and posted a .779 OPS, but this could be the first time we see Owen and Wyatt on a bigger stage if they’re lined up to pitch. The Royals had a strong Draft last year across the 20 rounds, and many of those players are expected to move fast, including Owen, who brings a great presence and tempo to the mound in addition to his four-pitch mix.

Each morning, pinned onto the bulletin board in the Royals’ clubhouse is a scheduled pitching plan for that day, with scheduled innings for each pitcher. Below that plan is a group of pitchers listed in case Kansas City needs protection in its Cactus League game, whether it’s because a pitcher can’t finish a full inning due to a rising pitch count or an injury or just an extra pitcher to finish the game.

One name who’s in that group more than most? Jonah Dipoto.

Whether he’s needed for an out, a couple innings, back-to-back days -- he wants it all.

“I honestly prefer being available to throw every day vs. the scheduled innings because I feel like it’s so much more similar to what we do throughout the year,” Dipoto said. “Normal guys will try to think about their routine or processes. I’m very anti having a process. I try to keep it chaotic. So that way, I would never get in a funk if I’m not able to do my set routine. I really like that aspect of it.

“I want to be always ready to go. I love it.”

Of course, Kansas City doesn’t go crazy with this and just let Dipoto throw every day. But he’s available more than most. And that’s been the case for the last few years. The son of Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, Jonah was drafted by the Royals in the 35th round of the 2019 Draft. This year is his first official big league camp after he was a late addition this spring.

His reputation preceded him.

“My understanding of Dipoto, in particular, is that he’ll throw 365 days a year,” manager Matt Quatraro quipped.

Dipoto will likely be back in Triple-A Omaha this year, where he had a 4.24 ERA across 36 games (40 1/3 innings) last year. He’s a depth option for the Royals, and the availability he’s shown this spring will only help him in the future.

Bo Jackson was elected to the Royals Hall of Fame, and one of the first people he thought of was the late great scout Art Stewart, the club’s scouting director who drafted Jackson in the fourth round of the 1986 Draft.

“Everybody else saw the football player in me and thought, ‘There is no way he’s going to come play for us,’” Jackson said. “Art saw something different. I don’t know what that was, but he saw something different.”

Before the 1986 Draft, Stewart reached out to Auburn baseball coach and former Royal Hal Baird to ask if Jackson was serious about playing two sports professionally.

“Coach Baird said, ‘Bo is serious. If he says he’s going to do something, he usually does it,’” Jackson recalled. “It was a combination of those two men as for the reason I ended up in Kansas City.”

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