Kansas City Royals: Every First Round Pick Since 2000

Every Royals first-round draft pick since 2000: Chris Lubanski (2003)

With the fifth overall pick in the 2003 MLB Draft, the Kansas City Royals landed Chris Lubanski, who was an outfielder from Norristown, Pennsylvania. He is yet another guy on this list who never made it to the majors.

Lubanski honestly wasn’t awful, but he never made it to the big leagues. The Pennsylvania native had a career minor league slash line of .278/.344/.471, but just never seemed ready for that big promotion.

In 2009, the Royals parted ways with Lubanski and he wound up in Toronto’s and Philadelphia’s minor league systems over the next two seasons. In a 2012 interview with The Times Herald, Lubanski said he didn’t think of himself as a bust.

"“No, I do not view myself as a bust,” Lubanski said. “I look at my minor league numbers. I’m right around a .280 career hitter, I have over 100 career homeruns, an All-Star at every level. I think I did everything that was asked of me."

While Lubanski can think whatever he wants, Royals fans will have a different opinion. Here was a guy who the Royals picked fifth overall in 2003 and never got to see him take a big league swing. That, at least to me, is the definition of a bust.

Lubanski was out of baseball after 2011 and proved to be another Royals first rounder who didn’t pan out.