Kansas City Royals: Every First Round Pick Since 2000

Every Royals first-round draft pick since 2000: Kyle Zimmer (2012)

One year removed from drafting Bubba Starling, the Royals picked another prospect who took a while to get to the majors named Kyle Zimmer. Zimmer was the fifth overall pick in 2012 and hasn’t made it to the majors yet.

While guys like Starling took a while to make it due to just not playing well, that wasn’t the case with Zimmer. Zimmer’s issue was that he couldn’t stay healthy at all. Even when he appeared to be pitching really well, word will hit later that another injury occurred and the life was sucked out of Royals fans once more.

Finally, in 2019, Zimmer not only made it to the majors, but he made the Opening Day roster. He struggled that season, but returned during the shortened 2020 season and pitched well out of the bullpen. Zimmer might not be the starter the Royals were hoping he’d be when they took him in the first round in 2012, but he’s finally contributing in the big leagues and that’s the most important thing.

Perhaps Zimmer can still turn into a talented pitcher for the team who drafted him and showed a crazy amount of patience with him. It’d be nice to see Kyle Zimmer turn into a success story when it looked like both he and Starling, taken one year prior, were destined to be busts.