Kansas City Royals should think low risk with fourth overall pick

The 2020 MLB Draft is less than two weeks away and the Kansas City Royals have many options to use the fourth overall pick on. With the COVID-19 pandemic, teams have had a limited evaluation season to prepare for this draft.

The Kansas City Royals should consider taking the lowest-risk player in the 2020 MLB Draft – One who could get the the 26 man roster the quickest.

Normally this time of year, scouts are flying and traveling all over the world in preparation for the upcoming amateur draft and international signing period. With the current outbreak of COVID-19, however, teams were unable to get in person evaluations that they have been accustomed to. Without a high school or college baseball season taking place, seeing someone play under game conditions became literally impossible.

This year’s draft will only be five rounds instead of the traditional 40 to save teams money and cut costs for teams. Once the fifth round is completed, teams can then sign players that go undrafted as free agents for no more than a $20,000 bonus.

The pressure to make the perfect pick in the first round to find a player who can be big league ready sooner rather than later has increased. The rebuild process is nearing the end and the expectation to compete for the AL Central again is getting closer.

In most of the mock drafts, the Royals have had three names routinely mentioned – Infielder Nick Gonzales, Outfielder Zac Veen, and Right-Handed Pitcher Emerson Hancock. All three appear to have a high ceiling and are worthy of being taken with the fourth overall pick next month.

Looking back at the draft class of 2018, it is obvious that Dayton Moore is building a farm system that with a pitching foundation. Armed with four first round picks in that draft, he took pitchers Brady Singer (18th), Jackson Kowar (33rd), Daniel Lynch (34th) and Kris Bubic (40th). All four of appear to be ready to make their Royals debut soon.

Out of the three players being mentioned to be drafted by the Royals, it makes sense to make that pick low-risk. Zac Veen has been climbing just about every mock draft ladder and will be the first high school player taken in this season’s draft. He should be considered the player with the highest risk for the Royals to take, but his left-handed swing along with his 6’4″ 190 pound frame puts him as the player with the highest ceiling for the Royals.

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The problem with Veen is he will take the longest to get up to the Major League roster for the Royals. If he is able to get to the big league roster by age 22 (optimistic), it would have him ready for the 2024 season at the earliest. With the 2020 minor league season in serious jeopardy, it would most likely even push that even further out.

Nick Gonzales was completely destroying college pitching before the season came to anabrupt halt this spring. He had five homers in a single game and 12 total in 16 games. The guy can flat out hit and has been doing it ever since he took the field for New Mexico State. This would be a safe draft pick if he’s still available at number four.

Gonzales would be the best fit into the Royals rebuild and could complement last season’s first round pick Bobby Witt Jr. to become the Royals future middle infield combination with a move to second base.

The question most might have is with the huge offensive numbers and the level of pitching that Gonzales has faced in the Western Athletic Conference. Is this the player and the rebuild strategy for Dayton Moore?

That leaves us with right-handed pitcher Emerson Hancock from the University of Georgia. Hancock would be a great addition to the current crop of future arms for the Royals.

If Hancock is available, it would be hard for the Royals to not take him. Scouting reports and a recent CBS Sports interview with his college pitching coach Sean Kenny explain why he should hold down a big-league rotation spot for years to come, beginning sooner rather than later.

The addition of Hancock with the 2018 class could solidify a future starting rotation that has two, maybe three, legit top of the rotation arms. This is something the Royals didn’t even have in 2014-2015. It took trading a young lefties Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb and Cody Reed to land Johnny Cueto. Ben Zobrist came to the Royals via trade for Sean Manaea and Aaron Brooks.

Yes, the recent Royals have won with homegrown talent in the form of Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, and Mike Moustakas, but it was their pitching that won a World Series title for the first time in 30 years. It was pitching that was traded to fill the gaps that were needed to get over that hump.

The Royals should continue to own the market on young pitching and draft Emerson Hancock. Pitching has become such a premium in the sport that being able to draft one with the low risk and potential to be in the big leagues in a short amount of time is critical.

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If the Kansas City Royals plan to get back to the 2015 form, then it will take pitching; Pitching that might just have to be used in a trade to find the player or players to fill the gaps needed in the rest of the lineup to win again.

The low risk pick is the way to go at pick number four in the 2020 MLB Draft.

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