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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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Luke Hochevar of the Kansas City Royals (Photo by John Williamson/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Luke Hochevar of the Kansas City Royals (Photo by John Williamson/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

ROYALS TOP FIVE PICKS IN MLB DRAFT

2006 – LUKE HOCHEVAR (FIRST OVERALL)

For the first time in franchise history, the Kansas City Royals held the first overall pick in an MLB Draft. With that “honor” in 2006, they selected Luke Hochevar, who had a unique draft experience.

Hochevar was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers twice prior to the Royals eventually landing him. They took him in the 39th round in 2002 and then later selected him at pick number 40 in 2005 when Hochevar was at Tennessee.

Well, contract negotiations fell through and Hochevar pitched for the Fort Worth Cats in the year between the 2005 and 2006 drafts. Kansas City used their first overall pick on him and while it wasn’t a terrible pick, it also wasn’t a great one.

Hochevar did not pan out as a starter for the Royals. Where they saw the most success from their first overall pick was as a reliever, where he flourished at in 2013, 2015, and 2016. Hochevar was the winning pitcher in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series and was just a totally different pitcher when used as a reliever.

Even though Hochevar was out of the league after the 2016 season, the KC Royals got quite a bit out of him. He was a huge part of that World Series team in 2015 and no one will ever forget that.

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