Kansas City Royals: Lexington Legends roster loaded with MLB prospects

NICK PRATTO (FIRST BASE)

When the Kansas City Royals took Nick Pratto in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft, it almost seemed as if they knew they weren’t going to retain Eric Hosmer and wanted to have his replacement ready to go in the next few years.

Well, one year into Pratto’s baseball career and he’s raking. After spending the entire season in Lexington, Pratto put up a slash line of .280/.343/.443 with 14 home runs and 62 RBI in 485 at bats. Pratto had 45 walks and struck out 150 times.

As of now, the Royals have options at first base. Ryan O’Hearn has been terrific as a rookie this year, but he might not be the first baseman of the future, especially with Pratto’s potential. The good news there, however, is that Pratto will turn 20 in early October, so we have a few more years to learn what O’Hearn can do consistently and to figure out what his role will be after Pratto gets his MLB call-up.

Out of all of the Royals prospects, Nick Pratto is the one that I’m the most excited about. He reminds me a lot of Eric Hosmer and if that ends up being a good comparison, I think all Royals fans will gladly take that kind of career from Pratto.