The Royals still have a lot of work to do to improve a farm system generally ranked near the bottom of the league by most observers. But they have an opportunity to infuse the organization with talent with the MLB draft this weekend.
When is the 2025 MLB draft?
The draft is being compressed down to two days, after taking place over three days last year. The first three rounds of the 2025 MLB draft will take place on Sunday, July 13 at 5 p.m. CT, broadcast live from Atlanta on ESPN and MLB Network. Rounds 4-20 will take place on Monday, July 14, beginning at 10:30 a.m. CT and will stream on MLB.com.
When will the Royals pick?
The Royals have the #23 overall pick, by virtue of their record last year. They will have the #28 pick as part of the Prospect Promotion Incentive program, thanks to Bobby Witt Jr. finishing second in MVP voting last year. The #61 overall pick is their second-round pick. They get the #71 overall pick as part of Competitive Balance Round B. Only Competitive Balance Round picks are tradeable.
They Royals will have the #97 pick in round 3, the #128 pick in round four, the #158 pick in round five. In each subsequent round, they will have the 23rd pick. The Washington Nationals won the draft lottery and will have the top overall pick. You can find the complete draft order here.
How much can the Royals spend?
The Royals have a total draft bonus pool of $12,794,700, the 11th-most in baseball. After trading pitcher Bryan Baker for a draft pick, the Orioles now have $19,144,500 in their bonus pool, the most in baseball. Bonus pools are determined by assigning a value to each slot, and totaling that number. Teams can go up to five percent over without incurring penalties other than paying a tax on the overage.
Who will go first overall?
There is no consensus #1 pick, but it seems a majority of observers think prep infielder Ethan Holliday is the top pick. His brother Jackson was the first overall pick in 2022 and his father Matt was an All-Star outfielder. But some feel the Nationals could select LSU left-hander Kade Anderson, a bulldog in the College World Series but an injury risk after tommy John surgery in 2022. Complicating matters is the Nationals fired GM Mike Rizzo last week.
Who will the Royals select?
Last year the Royals went heaving on pitching in the first draft under new scouting director Brian Bridges. The early returns from that class have been good with Jac Caglianone already in the big leagues and Drew Beam, David Shields, and A.J. Causey pitching well in the lower minors, and prep pitcher Kyle deGroat pitching well in the Arizona Complex League.
Bridges has two picks in the top 30, which could allow for some versatility.
“Having those two picks, you’d like to get the best two players you can right there,” Bridges said. “So distributing your dollars may take away from a later pick a little bit. It’s really about how we’re going to use it. Are we going to wait on the best available player and then just run the board out? Or are we going to try to spread this thing out a little bit where everybody’s happy once they all come sign in Surprise, [Ariz.]? We’ve got to figure out the balance with the money.”
As far as mock drafts, Jim Callis at MLB Pipeline notes that Bridges loves high school pitchers (although he went very college-heavy in his first draft class with the Royals last year).
23. Royals: Kruz Schoolcraft, LHP, Sunset (Ore.) HS (No. 19)The Draft could flip from that college run to a stretch of four consecutive high school picks for teams that tend to focus on younger talent. Schoolcraft won’t give up his Tennessee commitment for a slot bonus, but the Royals have a large pool ($12.8 million) and Brian Bridges may love prep southpaws more than any other scouting director. Hitting options include third basemen Fien and Josh Hammond, outfielder de Brun and middle infielders Sean Gamble and Tate Southisene. Quick is a college candidate, but maybe more at No. 28.
Carlos Collazo at Baseball America also has the Royals taking Schoolcraft, a 6’8’’ lefty that throws in the low-to-mid-90s.
23. Royals — Kruz Schoolcraft, LHP, Sunset HS, Portland, Ore.
The Royals are expected to start a mini run of high school players, and Kruz Schoolcraft is one of the most popular names available. Steele Hall and Daniel Pierce both seem like options they would be excited about but are unavailable in this mock and might be unlikely to get here on draft day.
Keith Law at The Athletic has the Royals taking Alabama prep infielder Steele Hall, a toolsy 70-grade runner who has not yet turned 18 years old.
This seems like Hall’s floor. The Royals are also on Kruz Schoolcraft and possibly Xavier Neyens. They pick again at 28, so they can be very creative, and maybe mix player types as they did last year with Jac Caglianone and David Shields as their first two picks.
Gabe Lacques at USA Today has the Royals selecting Gavin Fien, a right-handed hitting prep infielder who will likely end up at third base. Fien is noted for his high contact rate and good plate judgment, and rose up draft board last year before sliding a bit this year.
23. Kansas City Royals: Gavin Fien, INF, Great Oak (Calif.) HS
The prep version of Laviolette, in that someone may jump on him sooner based on equity already banked as opposed to an uneven platform year.
Tyler Jennings and Jared Perkins at Just Baseball also have the Royals going with a prep player, in Josh Hammond out of North Carolina.
23. Kansas City Royals – 3B/RHP Josh Hammond, Wesleyan Christian Academy
Slot Value: $3,852,100
Josh Hammond fits the mold of what the Royals have prioritized in recent drafts: high-upside athletes with loud tools and positional versatility.
With two first-round picks at 23 and 28 and over $7 million in bonus pool money to work with, Kansas City could target Hammond as a potential over-slot play who brings premium bat speed, the ability to stick on the left side of the infield, and an 80-grade makeup.
With the bonus pool flexibility, there have been talks that the Royals will try to pull someone down to 23 and go after the guy they really want. That could be someone like Hammond.
Instead of a mock draft, Kiley McDaniel dishes on the intel he’s hearing leading up to the draft.
Scouting director Brian Bridges loves to draft high school pitchers and upside in general, and his first draft in Kansas City is already showing dividends with his first two picks, Jac Caglianone and David Shields.
Like division mate Detroit with the next pick, the Royals are tied to a number of players as they prepare for all the different ways they could play their picks based on how things go ahead of them.
Their early picks have been tied to most prep pitchers, headlined by Aaron Watson, Kruz Schoolcraft, and Matthew Fisher along with some college arms such as Anthony Eyanson. That said, the board is giving them position players, particularly at their first pick, so the pitchers may be collected more down the board instead.
