KC Royals continue to heavily draft college prospects in 2019 MLB Draft

Day 2 of the 2019 MLB Draft saw the KC Royals continuing to fixate on adding collegiate prospects. Out of all 11 picks from the first two days, ten of them were college picks with the only high school selection being Bobby Witt Jr.

All eight picks by the Kansas City Royals on day two of the 2019 MLB Draft were collegiate talents. The Royals must want to get their rebuild going as quickly as possible (who could blame them) because the college kids don’t need as much fine tuning in the minors as the high school prospects, at least that’s normally the case.

Here were the picks by the Royals on day two:

• Grant Grambell, RHP (Oregon State) – 2.83 ERA, 80 strikeouts, 5-3 record (70 innings)
• Michael Massey, 2B (Illinois) – .317 BA, 5 HR, 28 RBI (218 at bats) (218 at bats)
• John Rave, CF (Illinois State) – .297 BA, 12 HR, 48 RBI (273 at bats) (273 at bats)
• Dante Biasi, LHP (Penn State) – 2.55 ERA, 102 strikeouts, 3-6 record (74 innings)
• Noah Murdock, RHP (Virginia) – 6.30 ERA, 69 strikeouts, 3-6 record (74.1 innings)
• Drew Parrish, LHP (Florida State) – 5.07 ERA, 112 strikeouts, 8-5 record (81.2 innings)
• Clay Dungan, SS (Indiana State) – .305 BA, 9 HR, 38 RBI (243 at bats)
• Anthony Veneziano, LHP (Coastal Carolina) – 4.73 ERA, 85 strikeouts, 5-3 record (78 innings)

Those were the picks on day two, all collegiate prospects. Not only that, but the Royals are clearly continuing their strategy of drafting college pitchers, as five of these picks were college pitchers and their first five picks last year were as well. It looks to be working out decently right now, but it’s only been a year and it’s a VERY small sample size at this point.

With so many rounds in the MLB Draft, the chances of even half of these guys doing anything in the major leagues isn’t likely, but you can’t look at it that way. The best thing to do is look at their stats, the state of the current team, and try to see a potential fit for these picks. That’s easier to do when it’s college prospects because they’re older and likely closer to reaching the big leagues.

It’s no secret that the team is bad right now, so could this strategy of taking collegiate players be the Royals’ way of trying to speed up the rebuild a bit? It seems too easy of a solution, but hopefully this is all part of the the organization’s brilliant plan to get them back in contention in a few years.

Taking Bobby Witt Jr. with the second overall pick was the “no-brainer” decision, but the 19-year old will require several years to get adjusted before making his way to Kauffman Stadium. Witt, to this point, has been the only high school kid to join the organization, which is a bit bizarre.

So, will this “heavy college prospect” strategy pan out for the KC Royals in the long run? We’ll have to wait and see.