Beam, Arronde, Roccaforte, Vazquez, and Mozzicato Headline Northwest Arkansas Opening Day Roster

[Kevin O'Brien]

On Tuesday, Raising Royals, the Kansas City Royals Professional Development account, shared the 2026 Opening Day roster for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the Royals' Double-A affiliate. 

The Naturals kick off their season on Thursday on the road in Wichita, the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are looking to improve on their 66-72 record from a season ago (they finished fourth in the Texas League North Division). 

Northwest Arkansas will feature a good number of prospects who were on our 2026 Top-20 prospects list at Royals Keep. Here is a list of those prospects and their respective ranking.

• Drew Beam, RHP (No. 9)
• Felix Arronde, RHP (No. 12)
• Daniel Vazquez , SS (No. 14)
• Carson Roccaforte, OF (No. 16)
• Frank Mozzicato, LHP (No. 20)

Beam and Arronde are the most accomplished pitchers of the group, both coming off solid seasons in High-A Quad Cities in 2025. Beam posted a 3.83 ERA and led the River Bandits in strikeouts with 110 in 131.2 IP. Arronde pitched three fewer innings but posted a 2.82 ERA and struck out 101 batters. The former Tennessee Volunteer pitcher had a better FIP (3.35) than the Cuban-born righty (3.87). 

Vazquez had a good campaign in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .329 with a .928 OPS in 98 plate appearances for Surprise. He also posted excellent Statcast percentiles, as illustrated in his TJ Stats profile below.

Vazquez ranked in the 94th percentile in BB% and 92nd percentile in hard-hit rate. If he can combine those two traits in his stint in Double-A, then he could make a case for a spot in Triple-A Omaha sooner rather than later. 

Roccaforte will begin the year again in Northwest Arkansas, where he finished last year.

In 45 games in 2025, he had a solid Double-A campaign, hitting .290 with an .862 OPS with the Naturals in 212 plate appearances. The former Louisiana-Lafayette product also showed some nice progress this spring in Cactus League play, showcasing excellent hard-hit skills and plate discipline.

Even though he looked very good in Double-A in 2025, the Royals opted to have him start the year in Northwest Arkansas to begin 2026, especially with so many veteran outfielders in Triple-A Omaha at the moment. 

Lastly, Mozzicato enters a crucial year that could make or break him as a prospect in the Royals system. The former first-round pick was poor in Northwest Arkansas, posting a 7.46 ERA in 17 outings and 56.2 IP. He also had a -1.8% K-BB%, highlighted by a a 19.4% BB%. 

The Connecticut prep lefty made two appearances in Spring Training and posted a 13.50 ERA in two innings of work. He struggled heavily with throwing strikes and generating chase and whiff, and while his four-seamer was promising on a TJ Stuff+ end (102 TJ Stuff+), the rest of his repertoire was mediocre in Arizona.

There is hope that Mozzicato could turn into an MLB reliever like Daniel Lynch IV in a year or two. For that to happen, however, he will need to do a better job of throwing strikes in Northwest Arkansas (for starters). 

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[Rolando]

I hope Mozzicato puts it all together and figures it out cause he does have so much potential.  Interesting how working with him for 4+ years,  they haven't been able to improve his command.   Hopeful he surprises this.