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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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(Photo by Matt Brown/Angels Baseball LP/Getty Images)
(Photo by Matt Brown/Angels Baseball LP/Getty Images) /

ROYALS TOP FIVE PICKS IN MLB DRAFT

2020 – ASA LACY (FOURTH OVERALL)

After another atrocious season in 2019, the Kansas City Royals found themselves armed with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. While not as glamorous as the No. 2 pick they held the previous year, the Royals were fortunate that the 2020 MLB Draft was stacked with talent.

The biggest proof of this was the fact that star pitcher Asa Lacy was still there for the taking with the fourth overall pick. Lacy was someone who many thought would go in the top two of that year’s draft, so when he fell to the Royals at pick No. 4, they were ecstatic to bring him into the organization.

Lacy was coming off a tremendous shortened season at Texas A&M where he threw 24 innings while only allowing nine hits and two runs, good for a sparkling 0.75 ERA. In 2019, Lacy had pitched in 88.2 innings and finished the year with a 2.13 ERA. The southpaw from Kerrville, Texas was yet another dominant collegiate pitcher joining the Royals and they couldn’t be more psyched.

There was no minor league season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Royals fans missed out on seeing Lacy in action right from the jump. Prior to the 2021 season, we’ve yet to see Lacy pitch as a member of any Royals affiliate, but hopefully, that’ll be coming soon.

There you have it, Royals fans! Every first-round draft pick by the Kansas City Royals in their 50+ year existence.

It’s interesting to see just how badly the Royals swung and missed on a lot of these picks. Aside from Gordon, Hochevar, Moustakas, and Hosmer, who were chosen from 2005-2008, the Royals did not do well with these selections at all.

The Royals had a top-five pick a lot in the mid-2000s and early 2010s and we’ll likely be seeing a similar streak as these current teams have been really bad.

Next. Every Royals First Round Pick Since 2000. dark

They need to hit on those picks because if they pan out in the way that Gordon, Hochevar, Moustakas, and Hosmer did, years down the road could be really special for the Kansas City Royals organization.

We all remember how much fun those special seasons were.

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