Kansas City Royals: 11 defining moments from past decade

Worst Draft Pick of the Decade

Unfortunately, there was a bit of competition for Worst Draft Pick of the Decade. I looked at two things here: how poorly the Royals draft pick played but also, and somewhat more importantly, how others drafted close thereafter performed.

First, the two runner-ups. In third place, in 2014, the Royals selected Brandon Finnegan with the No. 17 pick in the first round. And while he pitched well in his brief time with the Royals and was a key piece of the trade to land Johnny Cueto in 2015, the Royals passed on two superior players here. With pick No. 25, the Athletics took  their current third baseman Matt Chapman while with pick No. 34 the St. Louis Cardinals took starting pitcher Jack Flaherty.

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In second place in Christian Colon*. The Royals selected him with the No. 4 pick in 2010, nine spots ahead of left-handed ace Chris Sale, 19 spots ahead of perennial MVP-candidate Christian Yelich, and 34 spots ahead of Thor, the God of Thunder, aka Noah Syndergaard.

*As I’m a huge believer in the butterfly effect, I wouldn’t have the Royals change this pick in a million years.

But the winner comes from 2011. That year, with the No. 5 pick, the Royals selected a local kid, Bubba Starling. Starling finally made his Major League debut this past season, and rather underwhelmed. What makes this pick the worst, though, is the list of players selected in the following 41 picks.

• Washington Nationals, Pick No. 6: Anthony Rendon.
• Cleveland Indians, Pick No. 8: Francisco Lindor.
• Chicago Cubs, Pick No. 9: Javier Baez.
• Houston Astros, Pick No. 11: George Springer.
• Florida Marlins, Pick No. 14: Jose Fernandez. (R.I.P.)
• Colorado Rockies, Pick No. 45: Trevor Story.

Suffice it to say, Moore whiffed with this selection.

Best Draft Pick of the Decade

And we end on a happy note with the Royals’ Best Draft Pick of the Decade, from all the way back at the start of the decade when, in the 10th round with pick No. 269, they selected Whit Merrifield.

Sure, it took Merrifield a while to reach the Majors, and he missed all the fun in 2014 and 2015 with those great Royals teams, but he’s the best player on the Royals today. And he’s been the best player on the Royals since 2017. While he may not be the face of the franchise (that’s still probably Salvy), he’s a close second.

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What’s more, he’s locked up on a team-friendly contract for the next couple of seasons. In all likelihood, he’s going to lead the next wave of Royals players that consistently compete for the Wild Card or American League Central.

Much like those players on the squads from the middle of the decade, Merrifield is a joy to watch. He goes out there and competes hard and has fun.

And to think: the Royals were able to snag him in the 10th round after every team had passed on him at least nine–nine!–times. That’s nuts, and it’s luck like that–not to mention hard work by the Royals’ scouts who vouched for him–that small-market teams like the Kansas City Royals need in order to survive.

Here’s to the 2020’s!