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Kansas City Royals: Every top five draft pick in Royals history

By Leigh Oleszczak

OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 7: Yamaico Navarro #24, Alcides Escobar #2, Brayan Pena #27, Eric Hosmer #35 and Mike Moustakas #8 of the Kansas City Royals joke around in the dugout prior to the game against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 7, 2011 in Oakland, California. The Athletics defeated the Royals 7-0. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 7: Yamaico Navarro #24, Alcides Escobar #2, Brayan Pena #27, Eric Hosmer #35 and Mike Moustakas #8 of the Kansas City Royals joke around in the dugout prior to the game against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 7, 2011 in Oakland, California. The Athletics defeated the Royals 7-0. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images) /
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Kansas City Royals first-round draft pick Bubba Starling gives a thumbs-up at his introductory news conference  (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/MCT via Getty Images)
Kansas City Royals first-round draft pick Bubba Starling gives a thumbs-up at his introductory news conference  (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/MCT via Getty Images) /

ROYALS TOP FIVE PICKS IN MLB DRAFT

2011 – BUBBA STARLING (FIFTH OVERALL)

It seemed like an obvious pick for the Royals in 2011 when they held the fifth overall choice. Bubba Starling was a Kansas native (playing high school ball at Gardner-Edgerton) and he had all of the intangibles of becoming the next big thing in Major League Baseball. So the Royals pulled the trigger and it took quite a bit of waiting for Starling to get to the big leagues.

For the first several years of Starling’s minor league career, he wasn’t getting it at the plate. Not long after, he started to get bit by the injury bug all too often. He finally got the call-up in late 2019 and spent the rest of the season in the big leagues.

Starling wasn’t all that impressive in his debut season, hitting just .215 and four home runs in 186 plate appearances. He wasn’t much better in 2020 — in fact, his numbers were worse, as he hit just .169 in 64 plate appearances.

Even though Starling got that long-awaited call-up, it still took him eight years to make it to Kansas City. That is not a pick well spent, but perhaps the Royals can still get something out of him even if it seems doubtful at this point.

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