Kansas City Royals must get first round pick right in 2020 MLB Draft

The Kansas City Royals have to make the right selection at pick number four.

After another bad season by the Kansas City Royals, they’ll be gifted another top five draft pick – this time at fourth overall. The importance of this selection is massive for the Royals, as this player should have a direct hand in helping this team get back to prominence in several years if all goes according to plan.

What helped propel the Royals to two straight World Series in 2014 and 2015 was how they hit home runs with their first round picks in 2004-2008. Even 2010 first rounder Christian Colon had a hand in helping the Royals win the World Series in 2015 even if he wasn’t necessarily a useful pick for the rest of his tenure in Kansas City.

When teams are picking in the top five of a draft, it’s very important that the player they take pans out for them. We saw Bubba Starling and Kyle Zimmer struggle to make the big leagues during the Royals’ contending years and while that didn’t end up hurting them in the long run, those two would have been nice to have in those big games.

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For rebuilding teams who are also small market organizations (which the Kansas City Royals are), the draft is the best chance a team has at getting to the top and competing. They have to draft correctly and develop those prospects the right way because they don’t have the money to sign big name free agents like the bigger organizations can.

There are four names that the Royals have been consistently linked with during 2020 MLB mock drafts: Nick Gonzales, Emerson Hancock, Asa Lacy, and Zac Veen. Out of these four, three are collegiate prospects while one is a high school prospect. Veen is the high school talent and he’s climbed up the boards recently. He’d be the riskiest pick for the Royals at pick number four.

The other three prospects – Gonzales, Hancock, and Lacy – would be able to contribute at the major league level much sooner. Gonzales is an infielder from New Mexico State, Hancock is a right-handed pitcher from Georgia, and Lacy is a left-handed pitcher from Texas A&M.

The Royals took Bobby Witt Jr. second overall in last year’s draft and also have Adalberto Mondesi – another young infielder – on their roster, but that shouldn’t stop them from taking Gonzales if they think he’s the best fit.

At the same time, after taking five collegiate pitchers with their first five picks in 2018 and striking gold with all of them to this point (especially Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Daniel Lynch, and Kris Bubic), taking another college pitcher at pick four wouldn’t be a bad move by any means.

The Kansas City Royals have to make their top five pick count. This prospect needs to become a huge part of their organization and help them get to another World Series in the coming years.