What will the Royals do with the 8th pick in the Draft?

This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

While teams press pause on the field next week for the All-Star break, the scouting directors and front office staff will work around the clock during the busiest and most hectic time of the year.

The MLB Draft kicks off at 6 p.m. CT on Sunday with the first and second rounds. Day 2 on Tuesday is Rounds 3-10, and the Draft wraps up Wednesday with Rounds 11-20.

This is Royals scouting director Danny Ontiveros’ second year running the Draft, after years of sitting next to current vice president of player personnel Lonnie Goldberg, who is still involved heavily in Draft operations. Ontiveros drafted Gavin Cross last year with the No. 9 overall pick out of Virginia Tech.

This year, the inaugural Draft lottery gave the Royals the No. 8 pick, slipping three spots compared to an order based on record only as it has been in the past.

“I think this year for me has been a little easier in terms of just kind of understanding what I needed to do away from the scouting part,” Ontiveros said. “Last year, I was anxious to not make any mistakes in terms of where everybody was going, scheduling, and it got a little easier this time around.

“And then just looking back at the Draft, different strategies maybe I could have employed. It was a great learning experience to the point where I see some things now that maybe I didn’t see last year.”

Royals’ Draft breakdown

First pick and bonus slot: No. 8 with a slot of $5,980,100
Additional first-day picks: No. 44 (second round), No. 66 (Competitive Balance Round B)
Total bonus pool: $12,313,500

This year is a strong Draft class. Louisiana State teammates Paul Skeenes and Dylan Crews are projected to go in the top two. At No. 8, the Royals’ pick will depend a bit on who falls to them. But in mock drafts, Kansas City has been linked largely to college bats, like Virginia catcher Kyle Teel — the Royals have strong scouting presence in the Virginia area — shortstops Jacob Gonzalez (Mississippi) and Jacob Wilson (Grand Canyon) or third baseman Brayden Taylor (Texas Christian).

“Without giving away too much, I can tell you that I think the strength in this Draft, or at least the top half of the Draft, is probably going to be more bats,” Ontiveros said. “I think it’s pretty equal with college and high school position players. There are also some high school pitchers with really good upside.”

Catcher Blake Mitchell, out of Sinton (Texas) High School, and righty Noble Meyer, out of Jesuit (Ore.) High School, are two prep players linked to the Royals, too.

Perhaps the club will target a player it could sign for under-slot to save money later in the Draft, like it did in 2021 with Frank Mozzicato. That decision allowed Kansas City to sign Ben Kudrna and Carter Jensen. The Royals did it to a lesser extent in ‘22 when they saved money with later picks to sign David Sandlin (11th round) over-slot and Austin Charles (20th round).

Those two players alone added significant depth to the Royals’ Draft.

“Our thought process going into it is that we’re going to take the very best player on the board, and however the signability shakes out, so be it,” Ontiveros said. “If you can sign him for a little less, you can. If not, you just want to secure the player. Right now, there’s still a lot of uncertainty with a couple picks in front of us. I think we have an idea of how it’s shaping up, but you never know. It always throws different things at you.”