Another ace on the way?

As I mentioned in the recaps -- and as everyone should be talking about today -- Zack Greinke's superhuman season continued last night. Thanks to him, Gil Meche, Kyle Davies, and Brian Bannister, the Royals are 15-11 and sit atop a very winnable AL Central. All this without Alex Gordon, who the Royals are hoping will be back by the All-Star break. The scariest part? The Royals could still very easily get better, and the key to that is an awful start from Sidney Ponson tomorrow night. Why should Royals' fans pray for Sir Sidney to implode against the Mariners tomorrow? Because they have a much better option available:

It's not quite the same as the Zack Greinke buzz resonating from Kansas City these days, but Omaha Royals right-hander Luke Hochevar is receiving his own attention in the minors.

Hochevar, the organization's No. 1 overall draft pick in 2006, was chosen the Pacific Coast League pitcher of the week after going 2-0 while allowing one unearned run and six hits in 13 innings last week . . . Hochevar is 5-0, winning all of his starts so far, with a league-leading 1.13 ERA. He has 21 strikeouts and 10 walks in 32 innings.

Unless you expect Zack Greinke to finish 36-0 with 320 K's in 270 innings, you have to expect he'll come back to Earth soon, and history shows us that batters will soon catch up to the strikeout-impaired Bannister. Undergoing a Ponsonectomy and adding Hochevar, however, will help ease the pain of Greinke's and Bannister's inevitable regression. If that happens, and if the Royals can otherwise hold serve until Gordon comes back, this could be a summer to remember in Kansas City.