Royals graded as having 2nd best 2014 draft

Today, Baseball America released some of their final 2014 draft content. Slowly over the course of this and next week they'll release their individual team report cards and recaps. The Royals aren't due out until next week as they go division by division with the NL East released today.

What they did release are their overall rankings and awards. The Royals found themselves on the list several times.

Best Overall Draft:

1st. Indians

2nd. Royals

3rd. Red Sox

4th. Cubs

5th. Blue Jays

Best Power Hitters:

1st. Kyle Schwarber (Cubs)

2nd. Jacob Gatewood (Brewers)

3rd. AJ Reed (Astros)

4th. Chase Vallot (Royals)

5th. Alex Jackson (Mariners)

Fastest Runner:

1st. Anfernee Seymour (Marlins)

2nd. Derek Hill (Tigers)

3rd. Joseph Daris (Braves)

4th. DonAndre Clark (Royals)

5th. Trea Turner (Padres)

Best Secondary Pitch:

1st. Carlos Rodon - Slider (White Sox)

2nd. Touki Toussaint - Curve (D-backs)

3rd. Brandon Finnegan - Slider (Royals)

4th. Aaron Nola Changeup (Phillies)

5th. Brent Honeywell - Screwball (Rays)

Best Pro Debut (College/JC):

1st. Brandon Finnegan (Royals)

2nd. Kyle Schwarber (Cubs)

3rd. Aaron Nola (Phillies)

4th. Ryan Yarbrough (Mariners)

5th. Brian Anderson (Marlins)

Most Intriguing Background-Human Interest

1st. Cole Way (Royals)

2nd. Michael Conforto (Mets)

3rd. Jed Sprague (White Sox)

4th. Bobby Ison (Indians)

5th. Ben Holmes (Marlins)

Closest to the Major Leagues:

1st. Brandon Finnegan (Royals)

2nd. Carlos Rodon (White Sox)

3rd. Nick Burdi (Twins)

4th. Jacob Lindgren (Yankees)

5th. Aaron Nola (Phillies)

Some of those are unsurprising. Of course Brandon Finnegan is closest to the majors as he's already made his pro debut. Also Cole Way was the odds on favorite to win the most intriguing background story. He is the tallest player in pro baseball (reportedly) who was a punter in college he attended that didn't have a baseball team. That's...interesting.