3 strong Spring Breakout prospects Royals fans need to watch, 2 under-the-radar ones

Of all the various exhibitions Kansas City Royals fans have to look forward to during spring training, none quite compare to the excitement of seeing the future during MLB Spring Breakout.

Spring training already offers an avenue for fanbases to catch a glimpse of the some lesser-recognized names, but Spring Breakout games are a way to firmly see into the future of system.

In 16 games across the league four days, MLB Spring Breakout is designed to showcase each team's next generation of talent, with every team comprised of an organizations top prospects for a game.

Last season, Royals fans got a chance to see current big league talent in Carter Jensen, Jac Caglianone, Noah Cameron and Luinder Avila.

And this week, the Royals announced their Spring Breakout roster for their March 20 game versus the Texas Rangers.

Royals have plenty of better know prospects representing them in 2026 Spring Breakout

While many Royals fans' eyes may go to their top two prospects in catching duo Carter Jensen and Blake Mitchell, and rightfully so considering they've been mainstays on Top 100 lists for awhile now, at this point there's an element of already knowing what you have with them.

This is why the three other names in the top five of MLB Pipeline's latest Top 30 Royals prospects update are who Royals fans should be monitoring a little more closely instead.

Kendry Chourio - Right-handed pitcher

Potentially the future of the Royals rotation and in some experts' eyes a Top 100 prospect already, 18-year-old Kendry Chourio is surely the biggest name to watch for the Royals in this year's Spring Breakout.

Fresh off a season where he sprang all the way from the Dominican Summer League to Low-A Columbia - even throwing a lights-out performance in his Low-A postseason debut - Chourio looks to live up the hype of his "best-of-the-rest" status as the third best prospect in the Royals' system behind Jensen and Mitchell.

While his first taste in the top four minor-league levels only saw him toss to a 5.16 ERA, an 11.05 K/9 rate and 0.88 BB/9 mark across all three levels he appeared at and a much better 3.66 FIP and 1.06 WHIP in Columbia show plenty of hope that Chourio may very well be a future frontline starter in this staff as he continues to mature as a prospect.

David Shields - Left-handed pitcher

Then there's the other teenaged breakout sensation from 2025 in David Shields, who like his Fireflies teammate in Chourio in 2025, will hope to build on his momentum.

The 19-year-old enters 2026 coming off a season where he took home some serious Carolina League hardware, walking away with Pitcher of the Year honors as well as being named to the Carolina League All-Star team.

In 18 starts for High-A Columbia, the young southpaw tossed to a 2.01 ERA, 2.57 FIP, 1.02 WHIP and .216 BAA along with 10.17 K/9 and 1.88 BB/9.

Sean Gamble - Second baseman/Outfielder

While it's not always the be-all-end-all, more often than not a team's draft is defined by their first selection, and in 2025 that was Sean Gamble at pick No. 23.

Gamble has yet make a professional appearance thus far, but has no shortage of talent that has fueled him to top five status in the Royals system in the eyes of MLB Pipeline.

According to their scouting report, the high-school multi-position talent is well-rounded, with tool grades between 50-60 across the board. Pipeline scouts dub him "an athletic, toolsy hitter" who's "already taller, leaner and with more strength than what he had in the fall".

Royals 2026 Spring Breakout roster goes much deeper than usual suspects

Now we move to the under-the-radar names who've yet to get that national recognition as top organizational prospects, whether it's because they're older farmhands or they're more recent draft picks selected beyond Day 1 of the draft, However, they still have unique reasons to monitor them.

Brett Squires - First baseman/Outfielder

The first is the 26-year-old first baseman and outfielder in Squires, who seems all but destined to make that final step in his minor league journey and join the Triple-A ranks in Omaha 2026.

In his first taste of the upper minors in Double-A Northwest Arkansas last season, the undrafted product posted an above-average 105 wRC+ season with 10 HR, 56 RBI, 18 stolen bases and a .737 OPS. Not ground-breaking by any means but certainly solid enough.

But in spring training this season Squires has looked superb and nothing short of one of the Royals' top standout performers. In seven plate appearances across five games, he's sporting a .600 AVG, 2.171 OPS, one homer and five RBI with identical 14.3% K- and walk rates and a video game-caliber wRC+ of 351.

While the odds of a major league call-up at his natural first base position seems rather slim in 2026, barring any unfortunate injury, 19 games in right field with the Naturals last season could make him a viable outfield promotion candidate considering some of the question marks the Royals still have at that position despite their newfound major league depth.

Nolan Sailors - Outfielder

Then there's Sailors, who unlike Squires likely doesn't have a chance to appear with the major league squad at any point this season, considering he was only just drafted by the Royals this past season.

However, unlike his fellow draft-mate on this list in Gamble, Sailors has already had plenty of run in professional ball.

In 133 plate appearances across 32 games with High-A Quad Cities last year, the Creighton product hit .283 with a .780 OPS, 10 RBI, 18 runs scored and 17 steals with a 15.0% walk rate and 132 wRC+.

And he did all this in the premium position of center field, where Kyle Isbel may currently reign there as a defensive wizard, but has hardly hit well enough to be their long-term future at the position.

This means center field could be wide open in the next few seasons, and with the way Sailors has immediately established himself in the Royals' farm system in the early stages of his pro-career, perhaps he could be the next name to one-day roam center field at Kauffman Stadium.