3 needs the KC Royals must address at the 2025 MLB Draft

It's Draft Day, and the Kansas City Royals will attempt to chart through unfamiliar waters by picking in the back half of each round thanks to becoming a more competitive ball club.

The Royals may not have the strongest farm system at the moment but it certainly has it bright spots such as the nearly-graduated young phenom in Jac Caglianone and their plethora of young catching talent dominating their top prospect ranks.

Every farm system has it's strengths and weaknesses, and the draft is the perfect time to not only build on your organizational strengths but address your weaknesses.

So, what exactly are the Royals most pressing needs in this draft? Well let's dive in to three potential one's that stand out as no brainers for J.J. Picollo and the front office to address on Sunday evening.

3 needs the KC Royals must address at the 2025 MLB Draft

1. The outfield

Stop me if you've heard this before, Kansas City has an outfield problem.

Now, it may be easy for Royals fans to get caught up with the issues their outfield has had at the major league level so far, but in the minor leagues there doesn't seem to be a ton of hope of future re-enforcements.

Gavin Cross may still be within the organization's top five prospects, but a 60 wRC+ in 66 games in Double-A isn't exactly awe-inspiring at the moment.

The next name is Javier Vaz, but as the fine folks over at MLB Pipeline suggest, second base may be his best position.

Then that means, the next highest outfielder on their list isn't until outside the top 20 in Carson Roccaforte at No. 21.

Now, the bottom portion outfielders isn't without it's talent, as Asbel Gonzalez, while potentially far off (2028 ETA as per Pipeline) has been tabbed as potential future fix by some outlets. However, it also includes older struggling names like Tyler Gentry (26) and Spencer Nivens (23) that seem harder to envision on this major league roster after rough 2025 camaigns in the upper minors.

This system is starving for solid outfield talent. Now the best method for drafting is always to take the best talent available, but the Royals should not forget how few talented outfielders they have on the farm and pair that thought with how many question marks their major league outfield currently possesses.

2. Quick-to-develop and mature starting pitching

The Royals pitching depth is not scarce by any means. 40% of their top 10 prospects are pitchers, along with 50% of their top 30, according to MLB Pipeline.

However, there's plenty of question marks surrounding their arms, especially the ones that are at the more traditional major league age profile. The likes of Ben Kudrna (4.89 ERA in Double-A), Steven Zobac (8.42 ERA in Double-A), Luinder Avila (4.97 ERA in Triple-A), Chandler Champlain (8.64 ERA in Triple-A) and Eric Cerentola (5.16 ERA in Triple-A) are all above the age of 22, pitching in the upper minors with ERAs no lower than the the high-4.00s.

While the likes of Futures Game representative Frank Mozzicato, breakout sensations David Shields and Yunior Marte are all impressive pieces to get excited about in the Royals system, they are still a ways away from making the jump to majors.

Now, it's never a great idea to base your draft around major league needs, nor am I pitching that narrative here whatsoever. The Royals have been linked to prep arms like Kruz Schoolcraft in 2025 mock drafts and I'm all for taking a talented high school arm in the early rounds.

What I'm proposing is that the Royals take a page out of their own playbook and look at they way a freshly-drafted college arm like Drew Beam is performing for them and see the type of potential player like that brings as a potential fast-riser.

After all, with names like Seth Lugo and Michael Lorenzen not having a clear cut future if any with the organization beyond 2025, Michael Wacha not getting any younger and Kris Bubic entering his final year of control in 2026, as good as the rotation may look now, there may be the need to potentially address several spots very soon.

And with the more "developed" depth not looking so major league ready at the moment, it poses a problem of how to address these future openings in the staff, especially with the Royals not exactly being the prime free-agent destination as a small market organization.

3. Pure athletes

This one seems silly on the surface. This is a professional baseball team drafting elite college and prep baseball players. Aren't they all athletes?

What I mean by this is, the Royals should once again take a page out of their 2024 draft handbook and not pass up a versatile pure athletic talent when they land on their doorstep.

The perfect example of this is Jac Caglianone, who may not have been expected to slide out of the top five, but the Royals selected the two-way talent without hesitation and it's paid off tenfold so far.

This is why the mentions in various mock drafts from multiple outlets over the last few weeks of other two-way athletes like Josh Hammond being linked to the Royals are exciting. Pure athletic talents like two-way players can potentially be easier to mold. Just look at how Caglianone has responded to his recent move to an unfamiliar role in the outfield this season.