Originally Posted by KChiefs1:
I’ve lost all my pre-draft hype because Moore keeps blowing the picks. Why get excited about a top of the 1st round pick when they literally pass up major league talent for a guy with a great personality.
While I'm not happy with the Frank Mozzicato and Kundrna draft approach, they did not do this.
Mozzicato is absolutely a legitimate talent. He was a huge riser leading up to the draft. If he had done the type of stuff he did in HS in a larger state, or even 90 percent of it, he would have had top 15 draft slotting.
Kudrna is the same. Easy 1st round grade if he wasn't a small-state guy with a tough college commitment to buy him out of.
The Royals decided to bet big on their ability to develop those guys. I don't like it primarily because of the bust rate of HS picks. But this was not a "we like his personality" choice. It was a "Let's spread out our draft dollars in this draft" approach.
It's not the way I would have gone. I would have run to the podium to take 1 of the 2 instant top 50 prospects on the board (Rocker, Khalil Watson, probably the latter).
And as much as Asa Lacy has struggled with control coming back from the COVID year (he's now hurt, haven't seen details), Austin Martin got hurt earlier this year and is slugging an uninspiring .376 with wood bats this year. (His ability to hit for pop was a big question with him). They DID advance him aggressively to AA, so it will be interesting to see if he starts to drive the ball more as he gets healthy and acclimates better to pro ball.
The 17 draft class looked rough at this time two years ago. Now Nick Pratto is making top 50 prospect lists (Keith Law has him in his top 50, which says A LOT considering Pratto is a 1B-only guy), MJ Melendez is leading AA in HR while playing good defense, and the whole thing looks completely different.
The 18 draft has had differing returns at the MLB level, but it still is incredibly positive overall. Singer, Lynch, Kowar, Bubic, Kyle Isbel, Jon Heasely, Jon Bowlan... highly likely they get at least an average MLB starting OF, a back-end starter, a mid-rotation guy, and at least one high leverage dominant reliever out of that group.
And obviously Bobby Witt is hitting if not exceeding expectations. If they're in position to take another player that good, I don't think they'd pass on them.
They're currently 7th in the 22 draft order, after winning 4 straight. I'm not sure they'll play poorly enough down the stretch to get higher than 5 (that would take some doing). And it's too early to tell how that draft class will shake out.
My early guess at someone the Royals will love?
Andruw Jones.
That's right. Andruw Jones. The son of Andruw Jones. He checks all their boxes. Super tooled up. Son of a former player. Great defensive ability. Can run. And the bonus box of having an Atlanta Braves tie can only help. (Dayton Moore started working as a scout in Atlanta in 94, which is - I believe - the year after Jones signed as an international FA).
The younger Jones would be in the mix at #5, at least right now. Still plenty of time for him to travel up or down the board.
LSU 3B Jacob Berry is also another name I'll be watching closely. He is a dynamite switch hitter (average and power from both sides) who plays a good 3B.
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Originally Posted by Al Bundy:
Until I looked back on those draft classes from the middle teens I had forgotten how bad those draft classes actually were.
That 15 class is enough to write a manifesto about why small market teams should NEVER draft high school pitchers in the top 2 rounds.
I really thought (and hey, this was backed up by talking to someone who worked with scouts and front office folks in scouting) the Royals had realized that after the disaster that draft was.
Maybe some of it was driven by hesitance from ownership to bet on HS arms, that now is not present. I don't know.
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