Confident KC Monarchs enter 2024 season: ‘We feel like we’re the best at what we do’

Joe Calfapietra finds himself in a strange position for a professional baseball manager. When it comes to his best players, he doesn’t want them spending much time with the Kansas City Monarchs.

OK, let’s qualify that. Calfapietra loves having major league talent on the roster. Those players made huge contributions to the team’s American Association of Professional Baseball championship last season.

But independent baseball, or MLB Partner Leagues, is largely about giving players without better options in the moment a temporary landing spot. Take right-handed pitcher Ashton Goudeau, who will be the Monarchs’ opening day starter on Friday at Sioux City, Iowa.

Goudeau, 31, attended Maple Woods Community College, was the Royals’ 27th round draft pick in 2012 and climbed through baseball’s levels until reaching the majors with the Colorado Rockies in 2020. Over the next three seasons, he appeared in a total of 27 games with the Rockies and Cincinnati Reds.

Calfapietra was hoping to see Goudeau land a job with a major-league affiliate out of spring training. He was in the Detroit Tigers’ organization last season.

“This is no disrespect to Ashton, but I didn’t want to see Ashton here today,” Calfapietra said before a Monarchs workout at Legends Field on Wednesday. “And hopefully we don’t see him in a little bit. Our job is to help these players move on. We want that turnover rate to better their careers.”

Goudeau is one of four players with major league experience who will open the season with the Monarchs. The others are right-handed pitcher Yefry Ramirez (Orioles, Pirates, Dodgers) and outfielders Travis Swaggerty (Dodgers) and Blake Rutherford (Nationals). Eleven others have reached Triple-A ball in their careers.

Players with big-league experience helped the Monarchs win last year’s championship, including Goudeau’s performance in the playoffs, a 1.37 ERA in three appearances. Reestablishing himself on an upward trajectory, while playing for a winning organization, is Goudeau’s objective.

“A lot of it is attitude,” Goudeau said. “It’s about being a team and doing what you can to get out of here and sign, hopefully back into affiliate ball and back into the big leagues. But you’ve got to be where your feet are right now and do the best you can on the field.”

And, as Ramirez said, “stay healthy.”

Calfapietra, beginning his seventh season in Kansas City — he arrived for the 2017 season when the team was known as the T-Bones — is bidding for the organization’s fourth American Association championship. Before last year, the Monarchs won titles in 2018 and 2021. They’ve owned the league’s top record in each of the past three seasons.

The Monarchs also put an emphasis on local talent, especially on the mound. Returning this season are pitchers Grant Gavin, who went to St. Pius IX and Dalton Moats, who attended Park Hill High. Jonathan Sprinkle played at Blue Valley Northwest and Central Missouri. Former Kansas Jayhawks, Missouri Tigers and Royals farmhands dot the roster.

The Monarchs, once again, are built to compete for a championship.

“Our motto is, and I’m not shy saying this, is we feel like we’re the best at what we do,” Calfapietra said. “We feel like we get very good players. They buy in to what we do. Some people don’t like the brashness of it, but that’s how we feel here.”

Kansas City Monarchs fact box

Opening day: Friday, at Sioux City, Iowa

Home opener: May 16

American Association All-Star Game at Legends Field: July 23

Commemorative patch: The Monarchs will wear a patch on their sleeve honoring the 1924 Kansas City Monarchs, who captured the first Negro Leagues World Series. It was Kansas City’s first professional sports championship.