The Athletic shines light on underrated Royals prospect in first Top 20 list of 2026

With the 2026 season just around the corner, several prospect outlets are releasing their lists of the top up-and-coming talent for the new campaign.

While most Top 100 lists are out, prospect experts are shifting their focus and will be releasing their rankings for individual teams' farm systems.

Late last week, The Athletic's Keith Law released his first list of Royals Top 20 prospects. There were no real surprises in the top six names listed, led by Top 100 prospects Carter Jensen, Blake Mitchell and Kendry Chourio and the followed by the duo of 2025 first rounders in Josh Hammond and Sean Gamble and a breakout arm last season in David Shields.

But at No. 7, Law ranked a promising name that can often fly under-the-radar in the Royals prospect space. This of course is 2025 2nd-round pick Michael Lombardi.

The Athletic thinks highly of Michael Lombardi in first Royals Top 20 prospect list of 2026

With Chourio and Shields' respective breakout seasons in 2025 and both Gamble and Hammond stealing much of the draft shine last summer as first-round selections, Lombardi can get somewhat lost in the weeds.

However, it's not as if the Tulane product has done anything to deserve his underrated status, and Law outlined why he carries so much promise into his first season in professional baseball.

"He’s up to 97 with good carry up top and can spin a curveball that’s a 55ish pitch now and projects to plus," Law wrote. "He’s an excellent athlete, as you’d hope for a center fielder and a two-way guy, and has a solid delivery for a starter, with a high three-quarters slot that still allows him to work laterally."

And when it comes to projecting where the name behind the profile ends up when all is said and done, Law was optimistic, even if his changeup and walk rates are somewhat a cause for concern for him.

"I absolutely see a starter here, just with more volatility than the typical college arm offers," he wrote.

It's easy to see why the Royals were attracted to Lombardi in the upper rounds of this year's entry draft in the first place, as he carved up hitters as part of both the Green Wave's rotation and bullpen this past year.

In 42.0 innings of work across 23 appearances (six of which were starts), Lombardi and his blistering fastball threw to a 2.14 ERA, 2.68 FIP, 0.98 WHIP and .139 BAA.

He also posted a ridiculous K/9 rate of 15.64 and say what you want about his walk rate - it definitely does need work - but he did lower it from a 7.78 BB/9 clip in his sophomore season in 2024 to a 4.50 BB/9 rate in '25. Pair that with his huge 4.00 K/9 jump from '24 to '25 as well and suddenly he's a much more well-rounded looking arm sporting a 3.48 K/BB mark.

As Law pointed out, his volatility may be a little higher than traditional highly-drafted collegiate arms, but given he's 22-years-old already, it seems like a start in Low-A Columbia would be fitting, which may be a good thing for the righty considering how well both Shields and Chourio developed their careers there this past season.