Kansas City Royals: The Royals Have a Logjam at First Base

Nick Pratto

Which leads us to our final option. The hopeful future of the position. Nick Pratto is expected to be the next franchise first baseman for the Royals. However, he may only be a few years away from making the jump.

According to MLB Prospect Watch, Pratto is estimated to make his MLB debut in 2021. That simply means that the Royals, in theory, have three years they need to fill before he makes the jump.

At 19-years-old, Pratto is making his presence felt within the Royals organization. After his first year with the organization, Pratto slashed a .247/.330/.414 with a .745 OPS. He logged 22 extra-base hits and 10 stolen bases on 14 attempts during those 52 games, too.

Pratto is currently ranked fourth among all first base prospects in baseball. In fact, he is the only teenager in the Top-10 of first base prospects as well.

Pratto is also getting some comparisons to a certain player that might have left a wound that is still too fresh for some. Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com wrote an article about how the young Nick Pratto reminds a lot of people within the organization of the team’s old first baseman, Eric Hosmer.

It is a lot of pressure for the Royals to make that type of comparison. Hopefully, Pratto can live up to the hype and be the future at first base.