Kansas City Royals: Austin Cox is next stud of 2018 class

While the fab-five of the Kansas City Royals 2018 draft class gets most of the attention, Austin Cox is trying to make a case for himself.

It’s easy to get lost in a Kansas City Royals draft class that includes names like Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Kris Bubic, Daniel Lynch, and Jonathan Bowlan. And while it’s certainly difficult to discern the best of this group, Bubic led the minors in strikeouts this season, Singer put together a really strong season in Double-A, Kowar flashes the 99 mph fastball, and both Lynch and Bowlan were really good at High-A.

However, one guy that is standing out from that class as well is 5th round pick, Austin Cox. It’s not surprising to see that Wilmington will be playing for the league championship.

Cox, 22, made 11 appearances (10 starts) for Wilmington this season after being promoted from Single-A while tossing 55.1 innings and displayed terrific command. He walked just 16 batters and struck out 52. Over his last 10 starts, Cox has been terrific with a 1.98 ERA and tossed 50.0 innings while striking out 50 batters.

His most recent start came in Game 4 of the Mills Cup semifinals on Saturday evening. Cox’s final line consisted of 6.0 innings with 8 strikeouts and didn’t walk anyone.

Pitching is a good problem to have for the Kansas City Royals farm system. They’ll certainly have plenty to choose from to fill out their future 5-man rotation with both Singer and Kowar projected to be ready as soon as next season.

In the 2020 draft, the Royals will have to turn their attention to their offense and should focus on some power bats. They’ve had a recent trend of drafting speedy guys who slap the ball around, which is nice to keep the line moving but every lineup needs those 3-4 sluggers that are legitimate home-run threats every time they come to the plate.