KC Royals: Chiefs Draft Pick Already Has Kansas City Ties

Many KC Royals fans were ecstatic with the recent pick of Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes. But even before the Chiefs selected him, Mahomes had a Kansas City connection.

This connection doesn’t deal directly with the recent draft pick. It has to do with his father and the KC Royals.

His father, also named Pat Mahomes, was a long time major league pitcher. Rising up through the Twins organization, Mahomes was a big time prospect, with Baseball America rating him as high as the 25th best prospect in baseball.

Mahomes had trouble stabilizing his major league career though. Making his debut as a starting pitcher in 1992, Mahomes made 14 appearances in his rookie campaign.

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Bouncing up and down between the minor and major leagues in his first three years, Mahomes had trouble getting a defined role in Minnesota. In his first three seasons, Mahomes made 47 appearances, 39 starts, and went 13-14 with a 5.31 ERA.

It became clear that Mahomes role wasn’t as a starter. After a terrible 1995 season, Minnesota shipped him away to Boston, where he still struggled mightily. Boston finally released him in 1997.

After spending a year playing over in Japan, the New York Mets took a flyer on Mahomes. This proved as a great move, with Mahomes going 8-0 as the teams long reliever, sporting a 3.68 ERA.

Mahomes couldn’t repeat that success though, never posting a WAR near his 0.5 in 1998. After his Big Apple stint, Mahomes had brief appearances in the Cubs and Pirates organizations.

Connection

After having lackluster seasons for the AAA teams of Marlins, Pirates, Expos, and Dodgers between 2004 and 2005, Mahomes tried to revive his career in Kansas City.

Though the connection is small and Mahomes never pitched in Kansas City, he did spend a couple of months in the KC Royals organization.

Pitching for the Omaha Royals in 2006, Mahomes made seven appearances, five of those starts. He went 1-1 with a 5.60 ERA, posting a K-BB ratio of 27-15 in 35.1 innings. Mahomes played with KC Royals such as Mike Aviles, Justin Huber, and Mark Teahen. His manager was even current KC Royals third base coach Mike Jirschele!

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This proved to be one of the last stops for Mahomes. He pitched 2007 in the Blue Jays organization and played in Independent Baseball in 2008 and 2009.