The Kansas City Royals finished the 2000s in an abysmal place. The MLB club lost fewer than 90 games just once between 2004 and 2010, falling just three games shy of the mark in 2008. Entering the new decade, however, things looked on the upswing. Under up-and-coming new General Manager Dayton Moore (hired in 2006), the Royals had stockpiled perhaps the best farm system ever assembled at the time. Manager Ned Yost was hired in 2010, and by 2011, the farm system had reached historic heights. That 2011 crop was worth 574 points, a record at the time. In that scoring system, the top overall prospect is worth 100 points, and the 100th overall prospect is worth one point. In years since, the Padres, Braves, and Rays have come at least close to that mark but without the same big league success to show for it.

Of course, the Royals’ success included two American League Pennants and a World Series title. It was the new Golden Era of Royals baseball. In the post-strike era, no small market team had achieved the type of success those Royals found. Yet, it was a move many years earlier that spelled the demise of the new “Golden Era” of baseball in Kansas City. Dayton Moore fired Scouting Director Deric Ladnier in 2008, a move as puzzling then as it is today. Ladnier had spearheaded some phenomenal Royals drafts. Originally drafted by the Royals as a third baseman in 1985, Ladnier oversaw the drafting of Billy Butler, J.P. Howell, Alex Gordon, Mike Moustakas, Danny Duffy, Greg Holland, and Eric Hosmer, to name a handful. The bulk of the 2011 farm system was the work of Ladnier. He did a phenomenal job, even if he did pass on Clayton Kershaw for Luke Hochevar.

Ladnier’s success held impact far beyond his departure in 2008, but his loss took much longer for the Royals to feel. It all came together in an era that ended an era for Kansas City: the post-Golden Age Royals farm system.

A look back at the Royals farm systems of the mid-2010s

A half-decade of drafts that didn’t quite impact the way we all hoped

There was an expected drop-off in the farm system following the graduation of many 2011 top prospects. Hosmer, Moustakas, Duffy, and Aaron Crow all fell off the list in 2012. In December 2012, the Royals dismantled the system further to acquire James Shields. It was a stellar move, but it held hefty tolls on the prospect capital the Royals owned. The move removed Wil Myers (baseball’s top overall prospect), Jake Odorizzi, and Mike Montgomery from the system. By 2013, only John Lamb, Christian Colón, and Chris Dwyer remained from the 2011 top prospects class. Lamb was eventually sent to the Reds in a package for Johnny Cueto.

Myers, the second (third-round, 91st overall) draft pick of the new regime, proved the most valuable for some time. In 2011, Kansas City added Bubba Starling and Cam Gallagher, followed by Kyle Zimmer and Sam Selman in 2012. 2013 added Hunter Dozier, Sean Manaea, and Cody Reed. Reed was eventually sent with Lamb for Cueto, while Manaea was a key piece of the Ben Zobrist trade that same summer. Brandon Finnegan, the final piece of the Cueto trade, headlined 2014, followed by Foster Griffin, Chase Vallot, and Scott Blewett. Finally, in 2015, the Royals added Nolan Watson and Ashe Russell, two highly drafted high school arms who simply never panned out.

It wasn’t simply a bad crop of drafts for the Royals. After all, they traded from those drafts masterfully to round out the 2014 and 2015 rosters. Manaea went on to have a solid big league career, and both he and Reed were pieces dealt that summer. Injuries got the best of Kyle Zimmer and Bubba Starling. The drafts weren’t stellar, but they weren’t all entirely as fruitless as they may feel. Compacted with shortcomings on the international front, it was a recipe for disaster for the Royals’ farm system.

Big money is spent with very little reward to show for it

On the international front, the Royals struggled. It wasn’t for trying, however. The arrival of Salvador Perez, Kelvin Herrera, and Yordano Ventura was fantastic for Kansas City. Behind them, it was a mixture of huge disappointment. The big ticket was pitcher Noel Arguelles in 2010. The Royals spent up, signing him to a then-record $6.9 million after he defected from Cuba. Arguelles never made it past Double-A and was out of affiliated baseball by 2015. Miguel Almonte — signed in the same 2010 class — found slightly better results. Almonte reached the big leagues with Kansas City in 2015, pitching to a 6.23 ERA across nine appearances. He finished his career with just 17.2 IP.

The Royals signed Adalberto Mondesi and Elier Hernandez in 2011. Hernandez didn’t pan out and never reached the big leagues with Kansas City. Mondesi, much like his draft counterparts in Kyle Zimmer and Bubba Starling, reached lofty prospect status but could never get healthy enough to truly impact the big league roster. Cheslor Cuthbert and Jorge Bonifacio were fun for a while, followed by Seuly Matias. Matias, signed in 2017, was a fantastic prospect, but health and strikeouts simply never allowed him to pan out. By the end of 2017, the World Series core was departing, marking not just the departure of a championship roster but also the departure of the last good farm system the team had seen.

2019 and beyond offers a departure from the dark ages

Into 2018, the Royals’ farm system was abysmal. Among the top five prospects that year, Khalil Lee currently leads the group with -0.4 career fWAR. Lee eventually left baseball following an arrest for assaulting his girlfriend. Nick Pratto (-0.8 fWAR) and MJ Melendez (-0.9 fWAR) are the only others from that top five to reach the big leagues. In all, it was perhaps the lowest of lows for Royals fans following the very highest of highs. So is baseball. Post-2018, fortunes have changed.

The front office behind General Manager J.J. Picollo has modernized. Picollo himself seems to have modernized. Bobby Witt Jr. was a can’t-miss pick in 2019, but the team has done well beyond him as well. Vinnie Pasquantino, Michael Massey, Kyle Isbel, and many others headline the homegrown talent that Kansas City has put together since the dawn of the latest era of Royals baseball. The team has mixed better drafts with better international growth as well. Luinder Avila, Asbel Gonzalez, and Maikel Garcia headline the better fortunes either already in Kansas City or on the horizon. Finally, they’ve continued to be willing to deal from prospect capital to improve the big league roster.

David Sandlin was sent off for John Schreiber. Jared Dickey and Will Klein went to Oakland in the Lucas Erceg trade. Cayden Wallace was shipped to Washington for Hunter Harvey. In 2015, those trades decimated the small remainder of a once-legendary farm system. In 2024, they simply dealt from a deep system to better the big league roster. The Royals have modernized and found a balance between drafting, developing, and finding transactions that better the organization without sacrificing too much of the other two elements. It took some dark ages to make it happen, but we’ve finally reached a Royals renaissance era.