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Hours after receiving honors as the Texas League Player of the Year, Royals prospect Mike Moustakas celebrated with a major performance to remember Monday night against Round Rock as the O-Royals pummeled their way to a 23-5 blowout.
The Royals third base prospect and first-round pick of 2007 slugged a minor-league career high three home runs on his way to notching a mind-numbing 11 RBI, a new single-game record for the league in the modern era. Most of the damage came in the 11-run third inning, and the following is a briefing of Moustakas' night at the plate:
Third inning: Solo home run to right-center field
Third inning: Three-run home run to center field (that's right, two home runs in the same inning).
Fourth inning: Three-run double to left
Seventh inning: Another three-run homer to right-center.
One night shouldn't change how the Royals plan Moustakas' path to the big leagues, but with each passing day, it's getting harder to ignore the numbers he's posting, which include 32 home runs on the year between the AA and AAA levels, and five dingers in his last five games alone. Perhaps most impressive of all is that he has more runs batted in than games played, with that ratio being 119/111.
Dayton Moore has some decisions to make as rosters expand Wednesday, but it's terrific to see Moustakas doing all he can to force Moore's hand and make the decision for him.