You Down With OBP? Unleash The Kila Whale

Mired in the Kansas City mess that is Dayton Moore's "process" are several plus-quality minor leaguers. This should not be surprising because, even if you are terrible at drafting, if you have a perennial top 5 pick, it is exceedingly difficult to continuously mess up the draft (though Moore seemingly attempted to do just that this year, by drafting Christian Colon, a high-contact SS with an allergy to walks and mediocre power (and career) upside (from what I hear, think Alexi Ramirez with less power, more walks), 4th overall). A few weeks ago, I took a look at "former" uberprospect Alex Gordon, age 26, who has kept on mashing to no avail since. There is also, of course, 2008's top pick, Eric Hosmer, age 21, whose strong walking skills (13% BB% this season), intriguing power upside (.198 ISO this season) and poor defense profile him as the stereotypical 1B/DH-type.

Then there's this other guy, Kila Ka'aihue, a 26 year old 1B/DH by trade, who has posted walk rates north of 12% in every minor league stop with a .207 career minor league ISO to boot. I am utterly convinced Dayton Moore hates him. Though the Royals, as a team, have a barely above average .338 OBP this year and are not dead last with their .403 SLG, they have been the bottom feeders of major league baseball in OBP/SLG/wOBA since at least 2004. Still, they refused to give Kila "I walk a lot" Ka'aihue his fair chance. Rather, the Royals tried to solve their wOBA woes by bringing in Mike "I don't know how to walk" Jacobs (for Leo Nunez, who has been a serviceable closer for the Marlins), who hit a handful of homers (19), but posted sub-.300 OBPs along the way for the second consecutive year. Meanwhile, Kila, mired in a "down year," posted a "pathetic" .252/.392/.433 line with 17 HR in 555 PA for the Royals' AAA-affiliate, getting a 25 PA cup of coffee to placate stats nerds everywhere.

Kila is currently back to his power hitting ways, mashing 16 HR in half as many PA as last season while posting a .310/.477/.597 line for the Omaha Royals. Minor League Splits says such a performance is worth an MLB-equivalent line of .249/.384/.433 (.817 OPS) with 10 HR in 245 AB. Still, Kila Monster, the true pride of Hawaii, gets no love and is wasting away his prime years of youth proving that he has nothing to prove in the minors.

There's a clear log jam at 1B/DH in Kansas City, with grandpa/Red Giant Jose Guillen and youngster Billy Butler, who is just starting to come into his own as a hitter, sticking around right now and Eric Hosmer on his way. Moore has never really given Kila and chance and it's quite likely that he'll need a change of scenery in order to stick in the majors. Kila could provide a quality trade chip for the Royals, as his MLB-equivalent .814 OPS would rank top 10 amongst DHs (meaning there's 20+ teams who could use his production, not to mention cost-controlled talent) and middle of the pack amongst MLB 1B's. Personally, I would love to see the Cubs acquire the second incarnation of the greek god of walks (and maybe Alex Gordon too; in exchange, the Royals can have Josh Vitters and Tyler Colvin).

In terms of immediate fantasy impact, Kila is more of a keepers league player at the moment. The 1B/DH log jam in KC makes Kila's short term P.T. possibilities near nil. However, Kila is a minor leaguer worth monitoring. He may be an injury away from the majors, though Alex Gordon will be likely be first in line for promotion. Though it's unlikely that Kila will move at the all-star break -- his lack of MLB experience makes him more off-season trade fodder (for impact talent loading, as Moore has the Cubs' sense of team building) -- stranger things have happened.

Whenever and however it happens, however, Kila needs the chance to prove to casual fans what us stats nerd already know: Kila has a lot of talent.