Royals' Draft vision coming to life on postseason stage
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KANSAS CITY -- The storyline of the Royals’ season, rightfully, has been on the additions they made in the offseason to revamp the roster, spending $109.5 million on free agents and bringing in veteran voices to help a young club grow.
The turnover led to a turnaround, getting the Royals to the playoffs just one year after losing 106 games.
But as the American League Division Series against the Yankees shifts to Kauffman Stadium today, it might be just as important to note all the homegrown players who helped the Royals get to October and have been appearing in big moments so far.
“For a small-market team, the more production we get out of the Draft, the more we can spend our money wisely in other areas,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. “The Draft is really important, but it’s really hard. If you can get three to five guys out of a Draft just to get to the Major Leagues, it’s pretty successful. But now you’re getting impact from three to five players, now you might end up a playoff team. That’s where we’re at.”
The Royals feature 12 homegrown players on their postseason roster, including draftees and international signees.
The 2018 and ’19 Drafts particularly stand out:
2018: RHP Brady Singer (No. 18 overall), LHP Daniel Lynch IV (No. 34), LHP Kris Bubic (No. 40), CF Kyle Isbel (third round)
2019: SS Bobby Witt Jr. (No. 2 overall), 2B Michael Massey (fourth round), DH Vinnie Pasquantino (11th round) -- and honorable mention goes to RHP Alec Marsh (second round), who isn’t on the postseason roster, but helped them get to this spot by making 25 starts this season.
“This is what we thought, right?” Singer said. “This is where we wanted to be when we got drafted. To be playing in meaningful games together means a lot.”
The Royals have missed on top picks in the past, although Witt might make up for all of them as a generational talent. And rightfully, there’s a lot of attention and criticism that comes with that due to the signing bonuses attached to those picks, like several of the Royals’ first-rounders throughout the 2010s.
But when assessing the full Draft, knowing not every pick will be successful, those 2018 and ’19 classes are now giving the Royals a ton of value on the field. Singer made 32 starts this season. Lynch and Bubic have proven to be valuable out of the bullpen -- with Bubic’s emergence as a late-inning lefty helping manager Matt Quatraro define roles in the back-end of the unit.
Witt was an All-Star this year and an AL MVP candidate. Isbel’s defense in center is one of the best in baseball. Pasquantino and Massey are integral parts of the everyday lineup.
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Add in 2017 second-rounder MJ Melendez and international homegrown players Salvador Perez, Freddy Fermin, Angel Zerpa and Maikel Garcia, and the Royals are still relying on their farm system for wins. And that doesn’t include the prospects the Royals traded for relievers John Schreiber and Lucas Erceg this season.
“It’s very humbling to look out and go, ‘Wow, the first four hitters in our lineup are homegrown,” Royals vice president of player personnel and former scouting director for those Drafts Lonnie Goldberg said. “At the end of the day, the foundation is those players. And you just want to thank all these people for their work and their time when it wasn’t going well, just staying focused and believing in the kids, staying hungry when we weren’t piling up the wins.”
What’s different about this year is that the Royals haven’t put all the pressure on their homegrown players. They only make up half of the postseason roster. Trades and free agents make up the other half. Since taking over as GM in 2022, Picollo has put an emphasis on changing the Royals’ reliance on their farm system to produce perfection at the big league level.
That emphasis is what led to the additions in the past year, and it’s allowed the Royals to put more talent on the field while the homegrown players keep improving.
“Everyone pushes the top one or two picks,” said Royals senior advisor Mike Arbuckle, a longtime scout and former scouting director. “But the draft is about depth. You need it so you have those other tiers of guys who turn out to be at least productive big leaguers. They may not be stars. But they can be productive big league players. That’s what separates those two drafts in particular.”
The MLB Draft also isn’t linear. Pitchers selected with a high ceiling as starters may never reach it, instead becoming a valuable reliever. When Arbuckle selected Ryan Madson in 1998 with Philadelphia, he thought the righty would become a starter.
Madson won two World Series titles as a reliever.
“I was more than happy with what he turned out to be,” Arbuckle said. “There’s not enough pitching to go around, period. If I can get a guy who can help me in some role at the big league level, I’ll take it.”
To have sustained success, the Royals must draft well and and then evolve well, in both their Draft philosophy and player development processes. That’s part of Picollo’s vision. And the Royals’ young core is allowing the front office to not only think about success right now, but also in the future -- while knowing its story is far from over yet.
“I was told very early on in the process that no matter who you pick, some people are going to love it and some people are going to hate it,” Goldberg said. “All the way up to the beginning of this year, it was the same thing. And there are going to be mistakes that are made. Things you wish you could have done or handled differently. But you continue to believe in the player.
“The greatest thing about those ‘14 and ‘15 teams is the connection between the players and fans. That’s what we talked about a lot with this group. Play the game the right way. Play your tail off. And I’m telling you, once things click, this place is going to erupt for you. That’s what I’m happy about right now, is that opportunity is in front of them. Now they’re going to get a chance to experience it.”