MiLB Player of the Week Spotlight: Champlain

Chandler Champlain doesn't back down from a challenge. In fact, when asked which current Major League player he'd like to face, the right-hander didn't flinch in his response: Shohei Ohtani.

"In my opinion, I feel that I’d want to face the greatest hitters that I can. Hitters that you know are going to give you a tough at-bat. They’re gonna give you your money's worth," Champlain told MLB.com. "So, I’d love to face Shohei. I think that’d be fun. We could go battle it out on the mound, 1-on-1, and I could face him at the plate. That’d be pretty cool.

"I want to see it."

That competitive drive fueled another stellar outing by the Royals' 24th-ranked prospect for Double-A Northwest Arkansas and led to him being named the Minor League Pitcher of the Week in the Texas League. It's the second time this season Champlain has earned PoTW honors. His previous award came in May as a member of High-A Quad Cities in the Midwest League.

In his lone start last week on July 27, the 24-year-old twirled six hitless frames while walking one and fanning six. Champlain has yielded just one run over his past three starts for the Naturals -- a span of 18 innings -- and he sports a 3.41 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and a .229 average against over six outings at Double-A.

The USC product was promoted to Northwest Arkansas on June 20 after making 11 starts for the River Bandits this year. Over 62 1/3 Midwest League frames, Champlain posted a 2.74 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, a .214 average against and whiffed 61 while walking 18.

Champlain was part of a splash made by the Yankees last MLB Trade Deadline Day, as he was dealt to Kansas City in the trade that sent All-Star outfielder Andrew Benintendi to New York.

"It was pretty hectic. It was July 27 of last year, and we were in the middle of a game in Fort Myers, Fla., and I was with the Tampa Tarpons," the 2021 ninth-round Draft pick of the Yankees recalled. "And the next day, got a rental car, drove back to Tampa, packed up my stuff and I was gone. Met the team in Beloit and started my Royals journey from there. And ever since, I feel like I’ve done a great job of integrating into this new organization and getting to know the people, the routines and how things are run here. And I love the community and the atmosphere, and I’m really proud to be part of the Royals organization."

And while Ohtani may be the player that Champlain hopes to face one day, there is another hurler who the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder wishes he could share a locker room with someday -- someone who recently made his own Trade Deadline splash.

"I feel that Max Scherzer is just absolute mayhem," he said. "And I would want to get to learn to know how he gets himself in that mindset of becoming such an animal and a beast on the mound. He’s such a competitor, and I know that he works his butt off on and off the field. And I feel like I could just learn so much from him. And the goal is to try to be like him one day."