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Blue Rocks roll out a talented roster in 2019 season

Baseball returns the Wilmington Riverfront Thursday night.  The Blue Rocks kick-off their 2019 season when they welcome the Salem Red Sox to Frawley Stadium.

The Kansas City Royals’ high-A minor league affiliate has plenty of talent on its Opening Day roster.

Blue Rocks’ broadcaster Cory Nidoh says a bevy of the Royals’ top prospects will start the year in Wilmington.

“You have 11 of the top 27 prospects in the Kansas City organization [here].  If you look around minor league baseball, you just don’t see that.  You see maybe 3-5, maybe a little bit more.  But to have 11 on one roster is really exciting,” said Nidoh.

That list of top prospects is topped by pitcher Brady Singer, the Royals top draft pick last year and the 18th selection overall in the Major League draft.

Singer is one of four former Royals' first round draft picks that could be in Wilmington’s starting rotation. Two other pitchers selected by Kansas City in round one of the 2018 draft, Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch, are in Wilmington along with Singer.  Kowar was Singer's teammate at the University of Florida and the 33rd pick overall. Lynch from the University of Virgina was picked number 34 overall last June.

And a 2015 first round pick, Nolan Watson, is also beginning the year with the Rocks.

Nidoh says those pitchers are part of a group that holds great promise for the Royals.

“From the outside looking in, a lot of people around baseball think this is the next group for Kansas City to win a world championship [with],” Nidoh said.

First pitch for the Blue Rocks’ season opener with Salem is 6:35 Thursday night at Frawley Stadium. 

Tom Byrne has been a fixture covering news in Delaware for three decades. He joined Delaware Public Media in 2010 as our first news director and has guided the news team ever since. When he's not covering the news, he can be found reading history or pursuing his love of all things athletic.
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