The 2022 MLB Draft is in the books and the Kansas City Royals made 20 picks. The Athletic has comprehensive live coverage of the 20-round, three-day event, including top-100 prospect rankings, mock drafts, prospect profiles, team-by-team analysis and much more. Find out how much the Royals fared in the draft and much more…
How did the Royals do in the draft?
The Royals took one of the safest college bats in the draft class, Virginia Tech outfielder Gavin Cross (1), a polished hitter with a great left-handed swing and above-average power now. He’s played center but projects to move to a corner, where he could become a strong regular or more if he continues to develop more power. They followed that up with Arkansas third baseman Cayden Wallace (2), who has a simple swing and makes a lot of hard contact but needs a lot of help with his approach — something the Royals’ hitting coach Alec Zumwalt has shown he can help hitters to do. Wallace played on the same team as Dayton Moore’s son, Robert. Auburn right-hander Mason Barnett (3) has first-round stuff, sitting 94-95 with two sharp breaking balls in his slider and curve, but has a very long arm action that he doesn’t repeat well enough, throwing just 62 percent of his pitches for strikes this spring. I do get the appeal of the pure stuff, but right now he seems more likely to end up a reliever than a starter.
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Cal right-hander Steven Zobac (4) is 93-95 mph with a sharp slider and enough feel for a changeup to project him as a starter, with a simple delivery and history of limiting walks. He’s a former two-way player who missed a start in early March and went into the Bears’ bullpen for a while before finishing very strongly in their rotation. Central Florida lefty Hunter Patteson (5) was 91-94 mph and touched 97 mph with an above-average slider before his elbow gave out in mid-April and he underwent Tommy John surgery. It’s not a great delivery and in 2021 he walked 35 in 55 2/3 innings, but this is a smart gamble that the Patteson we saw to start 2022 will come back after his rehab. Ole Miss catcher Hayden Dunhurst (6) has a plus arm and is already a pro-caliber receiver, but he hit .235/.379/.395 with a 32.5 percent strikeout rate this spring and had trouble just hitting decent velocity. Clemson right-hander Mack Anglin (7) has a 55 fastball and 55 slider but walked 55 men in 76 1/3 innings this spring, with a 15 percent walk rate across all three years for the Tigers.
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Royals draft bonus pool
$9,466,200 — 15th-largest bonus pool in this draft
Source: MLB.com
Royals draft picks with top-10 round slot values
(bonus amounts from MLB.com)
Round 1, Pick No. 9: Gavin Cross, OF, Virginia Tech (signed: $5,200,000 / slot value: $5,200,000)
Scouting Report: Cross is an advanced hitter with above-average power and the potential for more with some swing adjustments, rising thanks to a thin crop of advanced college hitters in this year’s class. He’s improved his approach significantly this year, walking more than he’s struck out in conference play through May 19th, and improving his ball-strike recognition over 2021. He’s an above-average runner who can steal a bag but isn’t fleet enough to stay in center in pro ball. He strides too far at the plate, without transferring his weight as he does so, which cuts off some of his power potential and can leave him unable to drive anything on the outer half. He hasn’t faced much left-handed pitching this year, with a mild platoon split in the sample he’s had, which is just something to watch when he moves into pro ball rather than an immediate concern. He should be a solid regular in an outfield corner, thanks to his hitting and on-base skills, but I’d like to see some swing changes that might unlock more power.
Round 2, Pick No. 49: Cayden Wallace, 3B, Arkansas (signed: $1,700,000 / slot value: $1,584,100)
Scouting Report: Wallace has been the best hitter on the Razorbacks this year, even with an approach that has him expanding the zone too much, and that has led to more swing and miss than the rest of his profile can support. He has a direct, simple swing that leads to good-quality contact, and projects to an above-average hit tool and average power in the majors — if he tightens up that approach. He likes the ball middle-in, but pitchers who can go fastball away or fastball up, or changeups down and away, can get him to chase, especially with two strikes. He’s worked hard on his conditioning and has a good chance to stay on the dirt, with a plus arm to keep him at third base. He’s not a finished product but offers everyday upside with a clear set of development goals to get him there, nearly all of them related to pitch recognition and selection.
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Round 3, Pick No. 87: Mason Barnett, RHP, Auburn (signed: $697,500 / slot value: $724,300)
Round 4, Pick No. 115: Steven Zobac, RHP, California (signed: $500,000 / slot value: $528,000)
Round 5, Pick No. 145: Hunter Patteson, LHP, Central Florida (signed: $394,500 / slot value: $394,500)
Round 6, Pick No. 175 Hayden Dunhurst, C, Ole Miss (signed: $300,000 / slot value: $298,600)
Scouting Report: Dunhurst is a premium defensive catcher who could have gone in the top two rounds with a good year at the plate, but he had his worst year for Ole Miss in 2022, hitting .235/.379/.395 with a 32.5 percent strikeout rate. The big concern is that he was destroyed by decent velocity — not the typical guy who can hit a fastball but chases sliders down and away, but a guy pitchers could beat just with pure velocity. He could play a very long time in the minors thanks to his defensive skills, including a plus arm, but if he can’t hit velocity he won’t get past Double A, and might be better served going back to Ole Miss to try to re-enter the draft off a better performance next year.
Round 7, Pick No. 205: Mack Anglin, RHP, Clemson (signed: $231,100 / slot value: $233,400)
Round 8, Pick No. 235: Wesley Scott, RHP, Walters State CC (signed: $184,000 / slot value: $186,400)
Round 9, Pick No. 265: Brandon Johnson, RHP, Ole Miss (signed: $47,500 / slot value: $163,700)
Round 10, Pick No. 295: Levi Usher, OF, Louisville (signed: $72,500 / slot value: $153,500)
Rd. 11, Pick No. 325: David Sandlin, RHP, Oklahoma (signed: $400,000 / $275,000 counts towards bonus pool)
Rd. 12, Pick No. 355: Jack Pineda, SS, Baylor (signed: $147,000 / $22,000 counts towards bonus pool)
Rd. 13, Pick No. 385: Ryan Ramsey, LHP, Maryland (signed: $125,000)
Rd. 14, Pick No. 415: Ben Sears, RHP, Houston (signed: $125,000)
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Rd. 15, Pick No. 445: Javier Vaz, OF, Vanderbilt (signed)
Rd. 16, Pick No. 475: Cooper McKeehan, LHP, BYU (signed: $125,000)
Rd. 17, Pick No. 505: Chazz Martinez, LHP, Oklahoma (signed: $125,000)
Rd. 18, Pick No. 535: Milo Rushford, Walden Grove HS (Sahuarita, Ariz.) (signed: $125,000)
Rd. 19, Pick No. 565: Tommy Szczepanski, RHP, Garber HS (Essexville, Mich.)
Rd. 20, Pick No. 595: Austin Charles, RHP, Stockdale HS (Bakersfield, Calif.) (signed: $429,500 / $304,500 counts towards bonus pool)
Ben Kudrna was the Royals’ second pick (No. 43 overall) in 2021. (Mike Janes / Four Seam Images via AP)Dates, location and times
The 2022 MLB Draft is a three-day event spanning Sunday through Tuesday of MLB All-Star weekend in Los Angeles. The Sunday evening kickoff includes the first two rounds and will be held live with representatives from each team on hand, as well as several potential draft picks and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.
When: July 17, at 7pm EST; July 18, at 2pm EST; July 19, at 2pm EST
Where: Los Angeles
TV: MLB Network (first 80 picks) and ESPN (first round)
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Get all of our latest draft coverage here.
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(Photo: Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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