Free Agent Signings:
Carlos Santana
Mike Minor
Michael Taylor
Ervin Santana
Top 10 Prospects:
1 Bobby Witt Jr., SS
2 Asa Lacy, LHP
3 Daniel Lynch, LHP
4 Jackson Kowar, RHP
5 Erick Pena, OF
6 Nick Loftin, SS
7 Kyle Isbel, OF
8 Khali Lee, OF
9 Jonathan Bowlan, RHP
10 Carlos Hernedez, RHP [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wallymo:
If the season ended today, we would have the fifth pick in next year's draft. But we have a STRONG chance of catching the Rangers and Pirates and getting the third pick.
There we will select a player ranked between 35 and 50 on every scout's big board.
This is what's so demoralizing. When you watch 100 loss seasons the only thing fans have is at least you get a high draft pick and can take one of the studs. But no... [Reply]
No MLB draft analyst had projected Mozzicato to go that high. Most, in fact, believed the Royals, which have benefited from a college pitching-laden 2018 MLB Draft class, would select Vanderbilt righty Kumar Rocker. That they didn’t sparked numerous questions; about what the Royals saw; about what the Royals were doing.
The answers to those questions lay in a word general manager Dayton Moore used 11 times Sunday night: upside.
“As we all know, you can never have enough pitching,” Moore said. “We’re going to have to take guys who have a chance to be No. 1 and No. 2 starters. You can look at certain college players, and you know they’re going to make it to the major leagues. But really, what’s their upside? No. 4 or No. 5 starters? No. 4 and No. 5 starters aren’t going to win championships. We’re going to be really aggressive. (Royals owner) John Sherman has spoken about sustained success. I’ve spoken about it. (Manager) Mike Matheny has, too. If you want sustained success, you’ve got to fill the pipeline with upside talent, and we’ve got to transition it and develop it properly. It’s going to take a little bit longer. We understand that. But we’re willing to pay the price for what we have to do long-term.” [Reply]
Originally Posted by KCUnited:
Definitely not the draft pick of a guy worried about his job.
I’m not so sure about that. Pioli operated with an “everything is fine” approach until the very, very last day of his job. I could see Dayton doing the same/expecting a “promotion” rather than getting canned. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tyreekthefreak:
"Mozzicato, who turned 18 in June, hurled four consecutive no-hitters and recorded a gaudy average of 21.7 strikeouts per 9 innings for his final high school season."
A silver lining?
Big fucking whoop. 4 straight no hitters vs a bunch of no talent losers isn't a big accomplishment. 21.7 SO/9 vs shitty competition isn't a big accomplishment. This guy is trash. [Reply]
If the Royals would have took Rocker last night and then Kudrna the Overland Park pitcher like they did today, they would have won the PR buzz for sure. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wallymo:
If the season ended today, we would have the fifth pick in next year's draft. But we have a STRONG chance of catching the Rangers and Pirates and getting the third pick.
There we will select a player ranked between 35 and 50 on every scout's big board.
They didn't just take this kid because they thought he was the 7th best player in the draft or the best talent available, necessarily.
The idea with this (and it's actually an advanced analytics-based idea employed by the Astros and the Orioles, among others) is that you take a player HIGH that you know can sign for under the slot bonus, freeing up money to draft guys later in the draft and pay them over the slot amount.
It requires trust in your draft process.
The Royals were HEAVILY connected to HS OF Will Taylor leading up to the draft. I don't love him (he's a fast CF-guy whose power potential currently thought is to top out around 15 HR), but the buzz was out there. Some thought KC might take him at 7.
So they likely are planning to make a splash with him and sign him for significantly over slot. THat's what it will take to get him away from Clemson (where he is committed to play WR and CF).
The benefit with that approach for a "tough sign" guy is that if he doesn't sign, you don't lose the biggest part of your draft pool. The downside is that the first round pick is protected if it's top 10 (i.e. if they couldn't reach a deal, KC would get pick 8 in 2022 as compensation).
If they draft Taylor in the 3rd and he doesn't sign, that money is just gone and so is the pick.
Generally, teams don't take an apporach like that unless they're posisitve they can get the player to sign for a certain amount before the draft ever happens.
See: 2013 with Dozier and Sean Manaea.
It's not the approach I would have preferred or the guy I would have taken. I sure hope the guy they're targeting is still available.
Options for that:
Taylor
Bubba Chandler
If we see Taylor fall outside the first 10 rounds AND the Royals take more signability guys in rounds 3-10, you can expect them to be targeting him. We'll see. [Reply]
