Kansas City Royals Prospect Watch: Mike Moustakas

Before '11 Spring Training started, there was some buzz that Royals' top third baseman prospect Mike Moustakas could be starting for the big league club at the hot corner when the regular season began.

After a spring camp that saw Moustakas struggle at the dish and on defense, he was sent down to Triple-A Omaha in an effort to help the young prospect improve in both areas.

Unfortunately for "Moose" and the Royals, he has once again been haunted by an inability to get on base and poor fielding for the Storm Chasers so far this season.

However, his decent power numbers have increased, which should be an encouraging sign to Royals fans.

Here are his updated 2011 numbers after about a month of action for the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers:

Games: 22

BA: .227

OBP: .299

Hits: 20

HR: 4

RBI: 20

BB: 9

K: 15

Errors: 7

Fielding Percentage: .900

Even though Moustakas is off to a bit of a slow start this season offensively, I think he will turn it around once the other weather starts to heat up.

He's had the tendency to be a slow starter in the past, so Royals' officials should not be too concerned with their young star.

The one thing that jumps out at me his is embarrassingly-low fielding percentage of .900 for the young season.

Moustakas will have to improve on his batting average and display much better defense if he wants to have significant playing time for the major league team in 2011.

Everyone associated with the Royals organization, from scouts to fans, are keeping an eye on this guy, just waiting for him to break out of this current season-long slump and force GM Dayton Moore's hand in bringing him up to play in Kansas City.

Stay tuned everyone.