Kansas City Royals must draft better in order for successful rebuild

The Kansas City Royals won their second ever World Series via a rebuild that was mainly done through draft picks and key trades. Recently, the Royals have failed with their high draft picks.

When looking back at the Kansas City Royals‘ runs in 2014 and 2015, the key players involved in those runs were drafted guys by this organization. Alex Gordon was a first round pick in 2005, Mike Moustakas had that honor in 2007, and Eric Hosmer was the franchise’s top pick in 2008.

All three of those guys played a huge role in the Royals winning it all in 2015. Gordon had the game tying home run in Game 1 of the World Series, Moustakas had the big speech in Game 4 of the ALDS to motivate the team to battle back, and Hosmer had the mad dash home that tied things up in Game 5 of the World Series.

One of the biggest problems with the Royals now is that none of the recent first round draft picks have panned out since Hosmer. Don’t believe me? Here are the Royals’ first rounders since Hosmer:

Aaron Crow (2009 – 12th overall)
Christian Colon (2010 – 4th overall)
Bubba Starling (2011 – 5th overall)
Kyle Zimmer (2012 – 5th overall)
Hunter Dozier (2013 – 8th overall)
Sean Manaea (2013 – 34th overall)
Brandon Finnegan (2014 – 17th overall)

We’ll cut off there since it’s understandable that none of the other guys have made it to the big leagues yet. Looking at that list, it’s not surprising to see the Royals in the predicament that they’re currently in due to these high picks not panning out.

The biggest disappointments are Starling and Zimmer, both of whom had bright futures, but have still yet to make it to the majors. Starling is a good defensive player, but cannot figure out how to hit. Obviously hitting is a big part of being a baseball player.

More from KC Kingdom

Zimmer, on the other hand, can’t stay healthy. He’d be a great weapon for the Royals to have at the moment, as he could be a bullpen arm or a backend rotation option. Injuries have plagued Zimmer’s career and it’s very possible that he never sees a big league mound in his career.

Dozier still has time to play, but he was injured last year. If the Royals don’t figure out how to use him this season, then it’s safe to say he won’t be a part of the future. He has versatility and the Royals need to give him some opportunities to prove himself this season.

Crow and Colon spent time with the Royals, but Crow crashed and burned pretty quickly and was traded. Colon had some of the biggest hits in Royals history, but didn’t make an impact in the regular season. He was definitely drafted way too high for being a utility player.

Manaea and Finnegan might not be fair to include, but neither are on the team contributing. Both were traded during the 2015 trade deadline (Finnegan for Johnny Cueto and Manaea for Ben Zobrist) and while Manaea has been okay for the A’s, Finnegan has flamed out in Cincinnati.

If the Kansas City Royals want to get back to the World Series in the next decade, they HAVE to start drafting better in the first round. It’s a very good argument to make that the Royals haven’t had a successful first round pick since Eric Hosmer in 2008. That was nearly a decade ago!

It’s time to tear down what the Royals worked so hard to build and start over again. That starts with drafting the right players.

Home/Kansas City Royals