Kansas City Royals: Offseason primer, everything you need to know

The Royals will hold the 4th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft

While not quite as good of an overall pick as last year, the Royals will officially have the 4th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. To this point, their prototypical player has been a speedy, slap hitter and while that’s certainly nice to keep the line moving and steal bases, they are lacking a couple of power bats in this lineup.

That being said, the Royals have several budding pitching prospects who are projected to make their way to the big leagues in a couple of years but you can never have enough pitching. Especially if one of the top prospects is available when the Royals make their first pick.

Let’s look at a few prospects that could be available with the fourth overall pick.

Spencer Torkelson, 1B/OF (ASU)

Spencer Torkelson is the real deal and many mock drafts already have him gone by the second overall pick but he would be an easy choice if he’s still available with the fourth overall pick. The Arizona Sun Devil slashed 0.353/0.449/0.702 with 17 doubles, 22 home runs, and 65 RBI’s as a sophomore. He also displayed an impressive 1:1 BB/K ratio.

Austin Martin, 3B (Vanderbilt)

While he doesn’t display as much power as Torkelson, Martin would be the next best thing. As a sophomore, he slashed 0.392/0.486/0.604 with 19 doubles, 4 triples, 10 home runs, and 46 RBI’s. Martin also took more walks than strikeouts last year.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Westlake High School

Consider to be the most polished high school prospect in the 2020 MLB Draft, Crow-Armstrong would be a welcome left-handed batter in the future Royals lineup. Scouts are raving about his defensive capabilities and the potential in his bat. He’s primarily a line-drive hitter entering his senior year of high school, but as he fills out the power should come as well.

Asa Lacy, P (Texas A&M)

Lacy came out of the bullpen during his freshman campaign but thrived as a starter last year for the Aggies. He made 15 starts while tossing 88.2 innings with 130 strikeouts and allowed opponents to bat just 0.162 off him. He’ll have to limit his walks as he allowed 43 of them but danced around them to the tune of a 2.13 ERA.