Royals may've eased draft skeptics' minds with run of strong college talent to start Day 2

The Kansas City Royals were certainly the talk of the town during the MLB Draft on Saturday for the wrong reasons. While not devoid of talent by any means, their Day 1 selections were defined by reaching right from the get-go. This led to many wondering what exactly their draft plan was with such unexpected selections being made.

However, as many reaches as there were on Day 1, the Royals seemed to take a much safer and straightforward approach on Day 2, at least at the start, focusing on some of the top college prospects remaining on the board. In fact from rounds five to nine, the Royals used four of their five picks to select four of MLB Pipeline's Top 250 draft prospects.

With such a youthful system at the moment, especially at the top-end, the Royals have often found themselves without meaningful depth in the upper minors to dream about the near future. Four more talented college prospects before round 10 could help fill their desperate need for depth that could potentially contribute during their prime competitive window while Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia are guaranteed under contract through 2030.

Royals have four more quality college prospects entering system Day 2 of MLB Draft

With their fifth-round selection, the Royals selected the hard-throwing Ethan McElvain from Arkansas, who's fastball sits mid-90s and tops out at 98 mph. He's also coming off a sterling campaign in the Razorbacks' bullpen with a 1.88 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, .181 BAA and 34.4% K-rate in 38.1 innings of work across 20 outings this season. MLB Pipeline's scouting team referred to him as "one of the top lefty relievers in the draft".

Then in the sixth-round, the Royals doubled down on collegiate arms, with Clemson lefty Justin LeGuernic. He owns a fastball that touches 98 mph on his best day like McElvain and a devastating slider. This resulted in him posting a strong 11.16 K/9 out of the Tigers' bullpen in 2026 and with a bit more fine-tuning, perhaps his control can come along making him a valuable lefty relief arm for the future.

Tripling down in the seventh-round, the Royals drafted right-handed starter Dylan Vigue from Georgia, who may not have had as much as the prior two at the collegiate level this season with the Bulldogs, but still has tools worth getting excited about. Pipeline grades his fastball/slider combo favorably at 55 and 60, respectively, and he did generate 11.00 K/9 this year.

Then in the ninth-round, the Royals went positional, drafting Pipeline's 116th overall draft prospect in Camden Johnson with the 269th overall selection. At Oklahoma this season, the shortstop prospect looked solid enough with a .298/.403/.478 slash line nine homers, 48 RBI, an 11.4% walk rate, 31 steals and a 102 wRC+. His speed and fielding abilities are admired by scouts, with 70 and 55 grades respectively and he's proven in the SEC that his bat has plenty of potential to hold up as a pro, even if there's not much power to dream on.

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