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The Royals made the playoffs last year. It was their first time since winning the World Series in 2015.

That was a long nine years for a fan base that had only just learned to love the sport again, and it serves as a reminder that an organization like the Royals has to take advantage of whatever window presents itself.

The core of last year's playoff team remains intact -- with a couple of helpful additions, even -- so the Royals would seem to have such a window open to them now. They've been hovering around the .500 mark, once again on the fringes of the playoff race. It might only take that one final piece to put them over the hump.

And as luck would have it, that one final piece is residing at their own Triple-A affiliate.

FIVE ON THE VERGE

(Here are the prospects most worth stashing in redraft leagues.)

Jac Caglianone, 1B, Royals

2024 minors: .241 BA (116 AB), 2 HR, .690 OPS, 7 BB, 26 K
2025 minors: .326 BA (187 AB), 14 HR, .986 OPS, 20 BB, 44 K

Royals leadership, namely GM J.J. Picollo, is saying all the right things. They don't want to rush Caglianone. They need to see sustained success. So on and so forth. Behind the scenes, though, they have to be pinching themselves. Adding this caliber of prospect at this stage of the contention cycle is an act of divinity. OK, so he's not a natural outfielder, which is the Royals' biggest need -- and it is indeed a need, with only Drew Waters having delivered better than .700 OPS out there. But the fact that the Royals have given Caglianone so many reps in the outfield shows that they're thinking short-term, for all their insistence that they aren't rushing him.

And in a way, they're right. The one who's expediting the situation is Caglianone by doing things like homering five times in his first six Triple-A games. That includes blasts of 441 and 459 feet, which aren't at all out of character, by the way. Caglianone is a true 80-grade power bat, his hardest-hit ball this year (120.9 mph) being matched by only five major-leaguers since it became a stat in 2015. 

Picollo said that Caglianone wasn't being challenged at Double-A, and after a little over a week at Triple-A, it would seem he's not being challenged there either. The next step (i.e., the majors) is the most helpful one for a team fighting for a playoff spot, and now that he's taken to the outfield, there's not a player who would prevent the Royals from slotting Caglianone into their lineup. Some will say that it makes better financial sense for them to hold out another month, thus delaying arbitration by a year, but I think doing so would cost them in too many other ways. It's why Caglianone has become my top prospect to stash. He could arrive any day now.

Roman Anthony, OF, Red Sox

2024 minors: .291 BA (454 AB), 18 HR, 21 SB, .894 OPS, 79 BB, 127 K
2025 minors: .318 BA (176 AB), 8 HR, 3 SB, .978 OPS, 44 BB, 45 K

A week ago, I speculated that Marcelo Mayer would make it to the majors before Roman Anthony did. Granted, I didn't think an Alex Bregman injury would be his ticket there, but rather Kristian Campbell's introduction to first base, which was already in the works at the time. Campbell's move to first would free up second for Mayer, and that would be that. But now that Mayer is at third and figures to be until about August or so, what's this about Campbell making his first base debut this weekend? To what end?

Believe it or not, freeing up second base could also be Anthony's ticket to the majors. No, he wouldn't play there himself, but while we've talked before about center fielder Ceddanne Rafael replacing Trevor Story at shortstop, installing him at second base would make for a neater transition all the way around. The Red Sox could then slide Jarren Duran over to center and have Anthony take over in left.

Granted, the Red Sox wouldn't say that's their plan, and I'm not even sure it is as of now. But I do know that storing Anthony at Triple-A is untenable, so unless an outfielder gets injured, the Red Sox will be forced to shift more players around at some point. They've already shown a willingness with Campbell (not to mention Rafael Devers, who vetoed the idea), so why not Rafaela, who bounced around last year?  Anthony continues to crush it at Triple-A, by the way, batting .368 (14 for 38) with three homers and more walks (14) than strikeouts (10) over his past 11 games.

Bubba Chandler, SP, Pirates

2024 minors: 10-7, 3.08 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 119 2/3 IP, 41 BB, 148 K
2025 minors: 2-1, 2.27 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 43 2/3 IP, 20 BB, 61 K

Last week, it was Mike Burrows. This week, the Pirates called up Braxton Ashcraft rather than the pitching prospect we've all been dying to see. Granted, it was for a relief role, and we'd be crushed to see Chandler used that way. Still, having Ashcraft around presents the Pirates with another option for their next rotation opening -- and one who, unlike Chandler, is already on the 40-man roster.

By now, it's clear that promoting Chandler just isn't the same priority for the Pirates that promoting Paul Skenes was last May. In fact, it won't even be May when Chandler arrives, but June. We can hope, anyway. With as long as they've already held out and as little as they have to play for, they might just wait out the Super Two period at this point, which would mean another 3-4 weeks of Chandler in the minors.

Or we could still get word tomorrow that he's on his way up. I'm not ruling it out. He's coming off his first start of six-plus innings this season, after all. Of course, he also walked four in that contest and, in fact, has walked 13 in 18 1/3 innings over his past four starts, throwing 60 percent of his pitches for strikes. Maybe the Pirates would have already called him up if not for that. In any case, the stash fatigue has begun to set in, which is why Chandler no longer occupies the top or even second perch in my Five on the Verge. He's third, though, which is still really high.

Logan Henderson, SP, Brewers

2024 minors: 7-6, 3.32 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 81 1/3 IP, 15 BB, 104 K
2025 minors: 5-1, 2.40 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 30 IP, 11 BB, 40 K
2025 majors: 3-0, 1.71 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 21 IP, 6 BB, 29 K

Those who invested in Henderson were reveling in his 1.17 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 12.4 K/9 through four starts, only to be undone by the Brewers unceremoniously sending him back to the minors. It was bad enough when they did that after his first start -- a six-inning, one-run, nine-strikeout effort against the Athletics -- but then when he returned with three more starts of the same ilk, it seemed like a foregone conclusion he'd stick around.

So why didn't he? Beat writer Adam McCalvy of MLB.com cites three reasons: an urgent need for relief help, the impending return of several injured starters, and workload management for Henderson, who threw only 81 1/3 innings last year. You can read more about those three reasons here, but suffice it to say they're of little comfort to those who thought they had scored a new pitching standout.

When the Brewers sent Henderson down the first time, he immediately became my top prospect to stash on the basis of that debut. Another three starts like it should only bolster his case, so why is he all the way down to fourth? It's mostly due to the second of McCalvy's reasons. The next week should see both Brandon Woodruff and Jose Quintana return, and Aaron Civale only just made it back. Those three along with Freddy Peralta and Chad Patrick give the Brewers a clear starting five, and that's before accounting for Quinn Priester, who for some reason continues to occupy a spot. There's also DL Hall, who was just activated to work out of the bullpen but has starting experience, and Tobias Myers, who's also toiling at Triple-A. In a couple months, Nestor Cortes figures to be back as well.

If the Brewers are having this much trouble finding a spot for Henderson's 1.17 ERA, what chance has Jacob Misiorowski, who's not even on the 40-man roster yet? He had been on my Five on the Verge, but he's obviously out now (though he'd still be among the top 10 prospects to stash if you care to go so deep).

Andrew Painter, SP, Phillies

2022 minors: 6-2, 1.56 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 103 2/3 IP, 25 BB, 155 K
2025 minors: 1-2, 3.09 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 23 1/3 IP, 7 BB, 27 K

From the very first Prospects Report at the start of the season, I knew the day would come when Painter would occupy a spot in my Five on the Verge. The only question was how long I'd devote such precious real estate to one player, seeing as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has maintained that Painter wouldn't make his major-league debut until "July-ish." Well, we've officially arrived at "June-ish," which should signal the start of the countdown. Painter, who didn't begin ramping up until April, is about to make his eighth minor-league start, the fourth of which has come at Triple-A. He's exceeding 70 pitches at this point and hasn't had any glaring issues. The whiff rate has been more good than spectacular, but he's throwing strikes at a high rate and doing a fine job of limiting damage.

But Painter's performance is academic at this point. He looked like the world's best pitching prospect before succumbing to Tommy John surgery in 2022, and then when he returned to dominate the Arizona Fall League last October, it was clear he was still a special pitching talent. The stashability question mostly comes down to whether the Phillies can find an opening for him, but I suspect we'll see Painter in the majors before we see Mick Abel back in the majors.

FIVE ON THE PERIPHERY

(Here are some other prospects doing something of note.)

Kyle Teel, C, White Sox

2024 minors: .288 BA (427 AB), 13 HR, 12 SB, .819 OPS, 68 BB, 116 K
2025 minors: .296 BA (162 AB), 7 HR, 4 SB, .891 OPS, 27 BB, 48 K

The read on Teel has always been that he's more steady than spectacular, the kind of player who'll quietly put up numbers without making your eyes bug out of your head, and that's exactly how this year, his first in the White Sox organization, has gone. He's slashing .296/.397/.494 with few warts in the hitting profile. The biggest would be a low zone-contact rate of 77.7 percent, but his good strike-zone judgment and knack for hitting line drives should be enough to overcome that. While the White Sox have already graduated one quality catcher prospect in Edgar Quero, they don't have a dedicated DH and could use anything resembling another decent hitter. It would make sense, then, for them to have Teel and Quero trade off catcher and DH duties once they decide Teel is ready, adding to the catcher surplus in Fantasy.

Trey Yesavage, SP, Blue Jays

2025 minors: 3-0, 2.40 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 41 1/3 IP, 14 BB, 74 K

The 20th pick in the draft last year was 15th in my first-year player rankings and the No. 4 pitcher behind the obvious top three of Roki Sasaki, Chase Burns and Hagen Smith. Yet even so, I feel like I underestimated Yesavage. The 21-year-old already has four double digit-strikeout efforts, and his last start just missed, giving him nine over four one-hit innings. Most of his outings have been on the shorter side, which suggests that the rate of strikeouts must be mind-boggling. That's especially true over Yesavage's last seven starts, during which he's averaged 17.6 K/9 with a 23 percent swinging-strike rate.

Seeing as he's in A-ball, he likely has an unfair advantage with a full arsenal that includes a rising fastball and trap-door splitter, but even in cases of a pitcher obviously being under-leveled, it's rare to find strikeout numbers this absurd.

Ryan Ritter, SS, Rockies

2024 minors: .270 BA (318 AB), 7 HR, 17 SB, .773 OPS, 35 BB, 88 K
2025 minors: .292 BA (185 AB), 14 HR, 3 SB, 1.010 OPS, 31 BB, 47 K

Ritter had homered five times in two games before going 1 for 4 Wednesday. Even with Wednesday's performance, he has now collected multiple hits in 10 of 12 games for a .456 (26 for 57) batting average during that time. In all, he's slashing .293/.405/.613 with 14 homers, and there are no obvious plate discipline concerns. A lot of his power comes from a high pull rate, but the exit velocities are respectable enough. And his best tool is actually his defense, which makes it all the more surprising that he's attracted so little prospect attention to this point. The Rockies are already building around a shortstop in Ezequiel Tovar, so I honestly don't know what the future holds for Ritter. But seeing as he's 24, that future should arrive soon.

Jonathon Long, 1B, Cubs

2024 minors: .283 BA (406 AB), 17 HR, .852 OPS, 69 BB, 101 K 
2025 minors: .349 BA (175 AB), 6 HR, .947 OPS, 20 BB, 50 K

If I told you that a player at Triple-A was batting .349 with a 93.4 mph average exit velocity and 111.2 mph max exit velocity, you'd probably assume it was a big-name prospect. If I told you he was in the Cubs organization, you'd probably assume it was Moises Ballesteros. But you'd be wrong in both cases because it's this guy. Long has come about that batting average in an unconventional way, with a strikeout rate exceeding 25 percent. But between the premium exit velocities and the outlandish line-drive rate (29 percent, same as at Double-A last year), it's not so far-fetched.

His biggest issue is that he's a true first baseman, which presents a narrow path even if he's a plus hitter. The Cubs already have a long-term answer there in Michael Busch and will likely need Ballesteros to play the position some as well. Still, Long could find a path as a potential trade asset this summer.

David Davalillo, SP, Rangers

2024 minors: 8-2, 1.88 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 110 1/3 IP, 32 BB, 113 K
2025 minors: 3-0, 0.92 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 39 1/3 IP, 7 BB, 55 K

You don't need me to tell you those are some absurd numbers for Davalillo. In particular, I want to stress the 12.6 K/9 vs. 1.6 BB/9. What may give you pause is that he's done this over just 39 1/3 innings, and it's true that his earliest starts were on the short side. But his last three have gone six innings or more, and the numbers have held steady, even improving in some respects. Comical pitching lines from 22-year-olds at High-A need to be taken with a grain of salt, and Davalillo doesn't earn particularly high marks for his stuff. But he has a deep arsenal, plus control and just an overall good feel for pitching. Pitchers with that profile tend to go far even if they fall short of being studs. A move up to Double-A could solidify Davalillo's prospect standing.