Royals' failure to sign Hudson DeVaughn pales in comparison to Guardians' major draft misfortune

While many eyes of the baseball world may be focused on the upcoming MLB trade deadline, another major deadline came and went on Monday. Every team had until 5 p.m. ET on Monday to sign their 2026 draft picks or otherwise lose out on them. For Kansas City they managed to pull off a deadline deal for 20th round pick Riley McDonald, but failed to reel in their final name and big late-round fish in Hudson DeVaughn.

Selecting DeVaughn that low in the first place was a calculated gamble by the Royals that simply didn't pay off. The high school righty was ranked within MLB Pipeline's Top 150 draft prospects, but a commitment to Alabama appeared to be too much to pry him away from. It's a high profile miss for sure, but at the 569th overall pick, it wasn't one that the Royals should lose sleep over.

Kansas City's division rivals in Cleveland might be losing sleep tonight though after it was revealed that they suffered a much bigger draft signing failure. The Guardians' second-round selection (59th overall pick) Logan Schmidt will reportedly forgo signing with them and instead honor his commitment to the LSU next season.

Typically speaking, draft plans are usually built from the top down, as the emphasis is always on not only selecting top-tier talent in the early rounds (especially on Day 1), but selecting top-end talent that's also signable. While the Guardians' farm system hasn't nearly been starving for talent in recent years like the Royals' has, failing to sign an early pick like this is certainly a stain on their selection process nonetheless.

Royals were productive in their draft signing process beyond Hudson DeVaughn miss

Again losing a talent as highly rated as DeVaughn is certainly not ideal, however at the end of the day he was bottom-end pick that couldn't be persuaded by a reported $800,000 in remaining signing pool money. There's no shame in missing out to a well recognized program like Alabama in the 19th round.

At the end of the day, the Royals managed to sign 19 of their 20 picks and bring in a trio of undrafted free agents to boot. And it was a well-rounded draft too, even if it looked unconventional right from the get go. They added a series of names to the top of their system headlined by their first two picks in Zion Rose and Taylor Rabe, respectively. They also added promising names for the more distant future like Jack Slightom. And they managed to grab some potential quick rising names on Day 2 like Camden Johnson.

Their system is more stocked and better off than it was before draft day and that's all you can ask for when all is said and done. Having a 19-year-old with a 60-grade fastball in the later rounds like DeVaughn was a nice dream, but certainly not a death sentence for their draft class if they missed out on him.

Missing out a second round pick like Guardians did on the other hand, could have much more dire ramifications and certainly looks worse.

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