KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Kansas City Royals named their Players and Pitchers of the Year for their Class-A and Rookie-level affiliates, including the Dominican Summer League Royals, the Arizona Complex League Royals, Low-A Columbia Fireflies and High-A Quad Cities River Bandits. The Royals will announce awards for Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha at a later date.

Quad Cities River Bandits (High-A)

Luca Tresh, 22, was crowned the Quad Cities Player of the Year after he batted .273 (82-for-300) with 30 extra-base hits, 54 RBI, 48 runs and 41 walks in 80 games with the River Bandits, amassing an .830 OPS, before being promoted to Double-A on Aug. 9. The former North Carolina State alumnus enjoyed a 3-hit, 3-RBI game on Opening Day and finished April with a .293/.382/.517 (17-for-58) slashline, 3 home runs and 4 doubles. Tresh notched his first career 2-home run game on Aug. 4 vs. Wisconsin while driving in a career-high-tying 4 runs and stole a base as he guided the River Bandits to a 9-6 victory. The Florida native was originally selected by Kansas City in the 17th round of the 2021 First Year Player Draft out of NC State by scout Tim Bittner.

For the third straight season, left-handed pitcher Emilio Márquez has garnered Royals postseason honors, as he has been named the Quad Cities Pitcher of the Year after winning the same award with Low-A Columbia in 2021 and Rookie-level Surprise in 2019. Márquez, 24, began the year with the River Bandits and went 10-2 with a 2.88 ERA (18 ER in 56.1 IP) over 24 relief outings with Quad Cities, holding batters to a .191 average (39-for-204) with 74 strikeouts and just 15 walks. His 10 wins led the Midwest League and his 11 wins overall this season lead all Royals farmhands, including a win with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He began his season with a 2.03 ERA (3 ER in 13.1 IP) in 4 appearances in April. In June, Márquez pitched 13.2 innings while surrendering just 3 runs with 19 strikeouts and earned Pitcher of the Week honors for the week of June 27-July 3, in which he pitched 6.2 scoreless frames with 7 strikeouts. A native of Bolivar, Venezuela, Márquez was originally signed as an international free agent on March 4, 2018, by scout Joelvis Gonzalez.

Columbia Fireflies (Low-A)

Kansas City, Mo., native Carter Jensen, 19, slugged his way to Columbia Player of the Year honors in his second professional season, posting a .745 OPS with 66 runs scored, 24 doubles, 2 triples, 11 home runs, 50 RBI, 83 walks and 8 stolen bases, collecting 150 total bases in 113 games for the Fireflies. His 83 walks ranked 3rd in the Carolina League, while his 24 doubles ranked 7th. Per FanGraphs, Jensen is the first 18-year-old in the minors since at least 2006 (when data is available) to record at least 10 home runs and at least 80 walks in a single season. He began the season with a 5-game hitting streak from April 8-13, which included homers in back-to-back games on April 12-13, and finished his campaign batting .333 (25-for-75) in August, in which he had 9 RBI and 24 walks with 11 extra-base hits. The Park Hill High School (Mo.) graduate was selected by the Royals in the third round of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft by scout Matt Price.

Blue Valley Southwest High School alumnus, Ben Kudrna, shined in his first season of professional ball, earning the Columbia Pitcher of the Year award after posting a 3.48 ERA (28 ER in 72.1 IP) with 61 strikeouts and a .239 opponents’ batting average (66-for-276) in 17 starts for the Fireflies. The 19-year-old right hander starred in his pro debut on May 21 vs. Myrtle Beach, allowing just 1 run on 1 hit over 3.2 innings with 5 strikeouts, and followed that up with 4.0 shutout, 1-hit innings on May 27 at Lynchburg. Over his 17 starts, he surrendered no more than 4 hits 13 times, and no more than 3 runs 14 times – finishing with 3 quality starts – including his final start last Thursday when he held Charleston to 3 runs on 4 hits with a season-high tying 6 strikeouts. Kudrna was selected by the Royals in the second round of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft by scout Matt Price.

Arizona Complex League Royals (Rookie)

Roger Leyton, a 19-year-old outfielder, earned Arizona Complex League Royals Player of the Year honors after appearing in 36 games and slashing .274/.361/.484 (34-for-124) with 23 runs scored, 13 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs, 19 RBI, 6 stolen bases and 60 total bases. Leyton’s 13 doubles led the team and tied for the 2nd most in the ACL. He began the season with a five-game stretch in which he recorded 11 hits and slashed .524/.524/.905 with 6 doubles, 1 triple and 5 RBI, including a 4-hit performance on June 10 vs. the Dodgers in Surprise, and a 3-double game on June 13 vs. the Mariners. He posted a 1.006 OPS in June and was named ACL Royals Player of the Month. He originally signed with the Royals as an international free agent on July 2, 2019 out of Managua, Nicaragua by scouts Juan Lopez and Luis Ortiz.

Right-handed pitcher Mauricio Veliz, 20, was dubbed ACL Royals Pitcher of the Year after posting a 2.36 ERA (12 ER in 45.2 IP) with 37 strikeouts to 12 walks in 13 games (5 starts). Among qualifying pitchers, his opponents’ average of .193 (32-for-166) and his 0.96 WHIP led the ACL, while his ERA ranked 2nd. He was named the ACL Royals Pitcher of the Month in July after pitching to a 1.37 ERA (3 ER in 19.2 IP) in 5 games (1 start), and he backed that up with a 2.08 ERA (3 ER in 13.0 IP) in 4 games (3 starts) in August, completing his season with a 1.65 ERA (6 ER in 32.2 IP) over the final two months. Veliz originally signed with Kansas City as an international free agent on July 10, 2019 out of Bolivar, Venezuela by scouts Edgarluis Fuentes and Joelvis Gonzalez.

Dominican Summer League Royals (Rookie)

Outfielder Erick Torres, 17, was named the Dominican Summer League Royals Player of the Year after he posted a slashline of .266/.365/.382 (46-for-173) with 36 runs scored, 7 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs, 16 RBI, 21 walks and 14 stolen bases in his first professional season. Torres spent the entire season playing for the DSL Glass squad, and he led the club with 202 plate appearances, 66 total bases and 2 triples. From June 18-July 1, Torres registered a season-high 8-game hitting streak, in which he batted .382 (14-for-34) with 1 double, 1 home run, 6 RBI, 5 walks and 2 stolen bases. Torres homered in his final game of the season on Aug. 23 at Cleveland Blue, a solo shot that gave the Royals the lead. He was originally signed as an international free agent on Jan. 18, 2022, out of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic by Royals scout Edis Perez.

Emmanuel Reyes, an 18-year-old right hander, was crowned the DSL Royals Pitcher of the Year after posting a 0.91 ERA (5 ER in 49.1 IP) with 52 strikeouts to just 4 walks (13.0 K/BB) and a 0.67 WHIP over 12 games (11 starts), for the Royals in his first professional season. His WHIP was the lowest among qualifiers in the Dominican League, while his ERA ranked 2nd and his opponents’ batting average of .162 (29-for-179) ranked 3rd. Reyes earned his first professional win on June 16 at the Pirates Gold after holding the Pirates to 1 run on 1 hit over 5.0 innings with 3 strikeouts. He was originally signed as an international free agent on Jan. 19, 2022, out of San José de los Llanos, Dominican Republic by Royals scouts Francis Feliciano, Elias Despradel and Roberto Aquino.