Rank the 5 best current Royals drafted and developed in-house since 2000

Grenkie (1st Round, 2002)
Gordon (1st Round, 2005)
Butler (1st Round, 2004)
DeJesus (4th Round, 2000)
Luke Hochevar (1st Round, 2006)

over 2 years ago James Quinn 14 comments 0 recs |

Comments

There are a few other possiblities. The below guys are were drafted by the Royals since 2000 and have played in at least one MLB game:

Kaaihue (15th Round, 2002)
Maier (1st Round, 2003)
Costa (2nd Round, 2003)
Aviles (7th Round, 2003)

That is all.

The Royal’s inability to draft and develop is damn well defined. Is it because they can’t identify talent in the draft? Is it because they can’t develop talent in the minor leagues? Is it a curse? Do the Royals executives and scouts hold an annual kegger on draft day?

www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage

by James Quinn on Aug 23, 2009 10:03 AM EDT reply actions

I think more like the day before draft day

Then they sleep it off and Bud Selig makes the choices for us.

Coffee. The NEW Performance Enhancing drug for Sport's Writers. Just ask Ken Rosenthal.

by 306008 on Aug 23, 2009 9:35 PM EDT up reply actions

This makes me a sad panda

Colt Griffin
Mike Stodolka
Roscoe Crosby
Adam Donachie
Mike Tonis

The list would be better, but the Royals stopped drafting first round flops for the most part after 2001.

The 1999 draft makes me especially sad. 6 picks in the top 58 and this is what we got:

1 7 Kyle Snyder P MLB
1 25 Mike MacDougal P MLB
1 32 Jay Gehrke P A+
1 43 Jimmy Gobble P MLB
2 54 Brian Sanches P MLB
2 58 Wes Obermueller P MLB

Here’s what we could have had at each pick:

R1P7 – Barry Zito, Ben Sheets, Brett Myers, Jason Jennings, Alex Rios,
R1P25 – Chris Duncan
R1P32 – Brian Roberts
R1P43 – Carl Crawford
R2P54 – Brandon Phillips
R2P58 – Ryan Ludwick, Ryan Doumit, John Lackey, Justin Morneau (Rd 3 player), WILLIE BLOOMQUIST! (Rd3)

To be fair, that’s not a lot of guys that really worked out in the top 58, but you’d think with 6 picks the Royals had a good chance to hit on one of them. The Royals had 1 of every 10 picks in the top 60, and there were 12 players worth drafting, which is 1 in 5. So a 20% chance of hitting on just 1 (at random), and a 33% chance of missing on all of them. I suppose Gobble was as good as Jennings, and Snyder and MacDougal are still in the league, so they weren’t complete busts…

by AxDxMx on Aug 23, 2009 11:27 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Carl Crawford could possibly have been the greatest high school athlete ever...

He had scholarship offers to play basketball at UCLA, football scholarship offers from Tulsa Nebraska and I think Florida, and then was drafted out of high school to play baseball. I dont think there has ever been more leverage for a drafted player.

Desperately hoping for Desperate Measures

by averagegatsby on Aug 23, 2009 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Dave Winfield had similar leverage but that was after college

I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal.

by kcscoliny on Aug 23, 2009 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Willie Wilson

Was supposedly a big time football recruit out of HS. Jamie Quirk turned down a chance to play QB at Notre Dame to sign with the Royals.

Never knew that about Crawford.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Aug 24, 2009 10:56 AM EDT up reply actions

Gordon over Butler?

I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal.

by kcscoliny on Aug 23, 2009 12:51 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah,

Gordon can play a fair third base, which gives him the edge. I love Butler but he will probably never be better than league average at first base or DH. I think Gordon will beat that.

www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage

by James Quinn on Aug 23, 2009 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Butlers upside seems to be quite a bit higher than Gordon's

especially based on the production and age level they are currently at.

I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal.

by kcscoliny on Aug 23, 2009 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Agreed

Butler >>>> Gordon at this point defense be damned

BOOM! ROASTED!

by GoBabies!! on Aug 23, 2009 7:00 PM EDT up reply actions

if we ignore potential

1. Grenkie (1st Round, 2002)
2. DeJesus (4th Round, 2000)
3. Butler (1st Round, 2004)
4. Gordon (1st Round, 2005)
5. Luke Hochevar (1st Round, 2006)

i think you have the right 5, but DDJ has been more valuable than butler over his royals career, and gordon is still just a above average player with potential. I still believe Gordon will be #2 eventually, but not yet

by ZeppelinDZ on Aug 23, 2009 1:33 PM EDT reply actions

We only have 9 guys to choose from?

That’s sad.

Coffee. The NEW Performance Enhancing drug for Sport's Writers. Just ask Ken Rosenthal.

by 306008 on Aug 23, 2009 9:38 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, it really is!

No one, not a single player, from the 2007 or 2008 draft is anywhere near helping out in the majors. If any of those guys make it up I doubt it will be any earlier than 2011.

www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage

by James Quinn on Aug 23, 2009 10:06 PM EDT up reply actions

That's what you get when you favor high school players

How the hell do the Royals avoid 100 losses next year? Because it’ll take a miracle to avoid it this year. Do they get their 50th win before Sept 1? I’m not so sure. Even then, they’d need 13 more in September to avoid it. I think they’ll be lucky to win 10. Hopefully, they are all Greinke starts.

by AxDxMx on Aug 23, 2009 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions