Overlooked Royals prospect's latest honor proves ESPN isn't sleeping on him

As the 2026 season approaches with spring training less than three weeks, numerous outlets have been releasing updated Top 100 prospect rankings before the action takes to the field again.

For the Royals, while their farm system isn't held in the best regard compartively to other organizations around the league, there's a few consistent names and storylines that appear, primarily their two top catching prospects, Carter Jensen and Blake Mitchell.

There's one more name that's been making plenty of buzz in their prospect ranks though, and that's teenaged pitching sensation Kendry Chourio.

Fresh of a successful stint and subsequent playoff run in Low-A Columbia, the 18-year-old Chourio seems to have the industry divided on where exactly to place him amongst the rest of the league's brightest young talent.

Some, like The Athletic's Keith Law, see Chourio as a current Top 100 fixture in today's game, while others, like MLB Pipeline and most recently ESPN, still seem to be in the camp of needing to see more before they propel him into the Top 100 conversation.

That being said, while ESPN may not have him on their Top 100 rankings, he didn't seem to miss by much, ranking in the top quarter of their 101-200 list at No. 124.

And of those names that missed their top honors, ESPN's prospect expert Kiley McDaniel had some high praise for the Royals youngster.

ESPN's Kiley McDaniel stil thinks very highly of Royals' prospect Kendry Chourio despite Top 100 ommission

In a superlative excercise of the names outside the Top 100, McDaniel listed Chourio as the name on this list that seems the most poised to take up a front-line starter position in the future.

"Chourio has the elements to become a front-line starter I'm looking for: enough velocity, plenty of command, the potential for three above-average pitch shapes and surface number performance," McDaniel wrote.

He also went on to provide some context as to why he wasn't one of the names to sneak onto his Top 100, but still acknowledging that he seems to be on the path to doing so in the future.

"The reason he just missed the top 100 is because he isn't very projectable and needs to tweak his breaking ball shapes -- but the spin rates and break suggest he has the ability to do that," McDaniel wrote.

Whether he's included or not, there's plenty of reason for the Royals faithful to be buzzing about Chourio as a potential star in the making.

As a 17-year-old at the time, Chourio rifled through both the DSL and Arizona Complex ranks, posting a 2.04 ERA in 17.1 innings in his time in the DSL and then a 2.45 ERA in three starts in the Complex League.

This prompted his promotion to A-ball where although 5.16 ERA through six starts could be interpreted as leaving something to be desired, he still managed to post an impressive 25.0% K-rate to just a 4.2% walk rate. He also put up low WHIP and BAA marks at 1.06 and .227 respectively. On top of that his 3.66 FIP suggested that perhaps there was some element of poor luck at play during his time with the Fireflies.

Chourio also managed to show out in Columbia's postseason run this year, throwing 5.0 innings of one-run ball in his playoff debut - again, as just a 17-year-old.

The stage seems to be set for him to continue his rise through the Royals farm ranks and he's certainly catching the eyes of prospect gurus across the industry, even if it may not be in a Top 100 capacity quite yet.