The Kansas City Royals won their second World Series title in 2015 but things took a turn from that point onward. Kansas City missed the playoffs every season between 2016-23 before the Royals made it back in 2024. Their renaissance can be largely attributed to the MLB Draft. Here’s a look at the Royals’ best and worst MLB Draft picks over the last decade.
Best Royals Draft Picks Over Last 10 Seasons
| Name | Position | Year Drafted | Round | Career bWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon Finnegan | P | 2014 | 1 | 2.2 |
| Josh Staumont | P | 2015 | 2 | 1.7 |
| Nicky Lopez | INF | 2016 | 5 | 6.1 |
| Anthony Bender | P | 2016 | 20 | 2.5 |
| Brady Singer | P | 2018 | 1 | 8.9 |
| Kris Bubic | P | 2018 | 1 | 2.4 |
| Kyle Isbel | OF | 2018 | 3 | 4.7 |
| Bobby Witt Jr. | SS | 2019 | 1 | 14.7 |
| Michael Massey | 2B | 2019 | 4 | 2.3 |
| Vinnie Pasquantino | 1B | 2019 | 11 | 2.7 |
No name in the list above stands out more than Bobby Witt Jr. Witt Jr. was the consensus top high school prospect in the 2019 MLB Draft and went second, behind only Adley Rutschman. Witt Jr. got the call in 2022 and hasn’t looked back, as the 24-year-old turned into one of the game’s best.
The Royals shortstop became the first player in franchise history to hit the 30-30 marker. Witt Jr. won the batting title in 2024 in a season that saw him hit 32 home runs, 45 doubles, and 11 triples for Kansas City.
Witt Jr.’s dominance helped the Royals make the MLB Postseason in 2024, their first trip back to October since 2015. Several other draft picks also contributed.
Brady Singer struck out 170 over 179.2 IP in 2024, four years after the Florida Gator finished in the top ten in the 2020 AL Rookie of the Year voting. Michael Massey cracked 14 home runs and posted a sub-16.0% K% in that season. Vinnie Pasquantino, an 11th-round pick who did nothing but hit in the Minors, cracked 19 home runs for Kansas City.
Going back to the start of the timeline outlined, Brandon Finnegan’s career was derailed by injuries. Still, his career was relatively successful given the circumstances. Finnegan came up as a reliever for the Royals in 2014 for their stretch run, two months after he signed. He wound up having his best season in 2016 when he struck out 145 over 172 innings for the Reds.
Finnegan didn’t get a chance to win it all with the Royals in 2015. The Royals traded him for Johnny Cueto that summer. Cueto threw nine spectacular innings in that year’s World Series.
One area where Kansas City did well over the last decade was targeting college pitching talent. Several college pitchers taken later in the MLB Draft, including Tim Hill (32nd round, 2014), Richard Lovelady (10th round, 2016), and Anthony Bender (20th round, 2016) all became Major League relievers.
Kris Bubic, taken in the first round as a starter, found success after a largely average to below-average run as a starting pitcher. Bubic owned a below-league-average 90 ERA+ from 2020-22, largely spent in the rotation. The lefty struck out 39 over 30.1 IP as a relief pitcher in 2024.
Worst Royals Draft Picks Over Last 10 Seasons
| Name | Position | Year Drafted | Round | Career bWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foster Griffin | P | 2014 | 1 | -0.1 |
| Chase Vallot | C | 2014 | 1 | Never played in MLB |
| Ashe Russell | P | 2015 | 1 | Never played in MLB |
| Nolan Watson | P | 2015 | 1 | Never played in MLB |
| Khalil Lee | OF | 2016 | 2 | -0.3 |
| Nick Pratto | 1B | 2017 | 1 | -1.4 |
| Jackson Kowar | P | 2018 | 1 | -2.6 |
| Brady McConnell | SS | 2019 | 2 | Never played in MLB |
| Asa Lacy | P | 2020 | 1 | Never played in MLB |
The Royals’ MLB Draft hauls in 2018 and 2019 helped Kansas City get back on track after a dry spell. That dry spell could largely be attributed to trades — or in some cases, Kansas City not selling high on pending free agents — and misses in the mid-2010s.
Kansas City went heavy on high school talent in the top two rounds of the 2014 and 2015 MLB Drafts. However, only Foster Griffin and Scott Blewett made it to the Majors. Blewett pitched well in the Majors with the Twins in 2024. Griffin, meanwhile, only threw eight MLB innings before joining the Yomiuri Giants of the NPB.
Khalil Lee was a toolsy prospect who was released by the Mets in 2023. Months earlier, Lee was under investigation by MLB for alleged assault on his ex-girlfriend.
Kansas City had two misses on University of Florida prospects. One was Jackson Kowar, Brady Singer’s teammate at UF. Kowar had success in the lower Minors but not in the upper Minors against more experienced talent. His walk rate shot up and was eventually moved into a relief role. Kowar gave up 75 runs and 104 hits over 74 career MLB innings.
Brady McConnell was an elite high school prospect before he committed to Florida. He had strikeout problems at UF — 57 over 59 games in 2019 — but KC gave him over $2MM to sign in 2019. His strikeout problems never got better. The former Royal prospect, who last played pro ball in 2021, struck out 49 over 30 games in A-ball. He spent all of 2022-24 on the IL.
The most recent name on this list is Asa Lacy. Lacy was a strikeout machine at Texas A&M; he struck 130 over 88.2 IP as a sophomore. A good run in the COVID-shortened college season pushed Lacy to #4 in the 2020 MLB Draft.
There were a lot of things Lacy did right in both college and the Minors. He hid the ball well and could pump a hard fastball and slider past hitters. However, Lacy hasn’t shown repeatability with his delivery and it’s shown in his command. He walked 83 over his first 80 pro innings.
Lacy spent 2023 and 2024 on the IL after he was besieged by back and shoulder problems in 2021 and 2022.
Draft picks who did not sign are included in these lists. bWAR figures as of October 2024. Check out how other AL Central teams, including the Guardians and White Sox, have done in the MLB Draft recently.