Potential 2020 MLB Draft crushes for the KC Royals

With virtually no prep or college games played this spring, this will be a wide-open draft as far as who could be chosen by the KC Royals.

Baseball typically has more surprises in the first round than other sports due to the fact the players drafted are not expected to be impact players immediately.  This allows teams to target upside and a few years to develop the draftee in the minors.  Who the KC Royals might select this year varies from website to website.

MLB.com predicts middle infielder Nick Gonzales from New Mexico State will go to the Royals while cbssports.com suggests that high school outfielder Zac Veen could be the choice.  Yet another site, prospects365.com, believes that right-hander pitcher Emerson Hancock from Georgia is the pick.

One question to answer is does Kansas City pick a player based on the needs of the organization or do they simply select the best person on the board when it is their turn?  After a pitching heavy 2018 draft, the Royals took Bobby Witt, Jr last year with their initial selection.  This despite having a solid young shortstop in Aldaberto Mondesi making large strides on the major league roster already.

The person in charge of overseeing the draft for the Royals is Lonnie Goldberg, assistant general manager, and amateur scouting leader.  He is confident the team will still bring their A-game next week despite the issues the health pandemic has caused.

“We knew no matter what was going to be given to us, our job was to have a really successful draft,” Goldberg said. – kanascity.com

As the team is less than a week away from making an important selection with the fourth overall pick, we take a look at some players who might be flying under the radar for Kansas City.

If the KC Royals would like a catcher who would be ready in the near future to permanently move Salvy to a less taxing role, this college stud is a great option.

Not only is the power potential there, but a contact hitter with a good eye at the plate has also improved tremendously on his defense while at North Carolina State.  Patrick Bailey was well on his way to a third consecutive double-digit home run total before COVID struck.

At 6’2″ and 207 pounds, Bailey is a sturdy presence behind the plate, able to communicate well with pitchers and put himself in a position to frame balls and keep runners honest.

Instead, elite defensive catchers such as Bailey consistently focus their body weight toward the center of the plate and receive pitches with an upward motion, creating positive momentum toward second base on throws. – greensboro.com

He is unique in that he is a switch-hitting catcher as well – and good at it.  He has homered from both sides of the plate in a game twice while at North Carolina State.  Despite the reduced season, he still managed to smash three grand slams in 2020.

Some of his accolades include being named ACC Freshman of the Year and All-ACC second team in 2018.  Bailey’s sophomore year brought a First-Team All-ACC award and Collegiate Baseball’s Third Team All-American recognition.

The Royals still have some talented catchers in the pipeline who could be key cogs at Kauffman Stadium but the verdict is still out.  Bailey would provide an important measuring stick coming in with three years of Division I college baseball in his back pocket.

The blistering numbers this Louisville Cardinal posted his last two seasons in college show a bright and perhaps sudden future in the big leagues.

Much attention has been put on the pitching draft picks Dayton Moore and his team made in 2018.  In fact, many could be on the KC Royals roster this year or next.

Reid Detmer may be ready to join them very soon if he is chosen by the team.  He made tremendous strides from 2018 to 2019 lowering his ERA by over 2 points while posting a 13-4 record. He also recorded one less walk from the prior year even though he threw nearly 60 more frames.

He dominated 2019 with a WHIP under 1.00 and whiffed an unbelievable 167 batters in just 113 1/3 innings.  Opponents batted a measly .177 off of Reid.  As impossible as it sounds, 2020 looked to be even better.  In just four starts his ERA was 1.23 and he struck out 48 batters in 22 frames while issuing only six walks.

While Detmers’ fastball sits mostly in the 90-92 range, his plus curveball – which has been called the best in all of college baseball – clocks in between 73-77 mph, making his heater tougher to hit. “It’s a big league curveball,” one scout said. – mlb.com

While the 2020 draft class will most likely not yield the type of arms the Royals grabbed in 2018, Detmer could be ready to join that class or just a year behind if Kansas City were to draft him.  Having a high-caliber southpaw on the team would be a valuable weapon against tough left-handed hitters in the American League Central.

While few expect these players to be in the top 4 picks during next week’s amateur draft, they are very solid players who could impact the KC Royals relatively quickly.