RHP Kyle DeGroat – Photo By Kelly Marsh/For the Times Herald Record

The 2024 MLB Draft has officially wrapped up, and the Kansas City Royals seem incredibly excited about the haul they received this year, as they should be. Right before the draft, the Royals traded the 39th pick alongside Cayden Wallace to the Washington Nationals to acquire a solid bullpen piece in Hunter Harvey. That trade lowered their draft bonus pool money, but they still had the eighth-highest bonus pool going into draft day.  

Coming into the draft, the Royals lacked high-upside talent in the farm system outside of Blake Michell and were looking to bolster their farm system, which has been ranked near the bottom of the league. Being under the helm of new scouting director Brian Bridges, many Royals fans were interested in their approach. Bridges has always been known for “old school” scouting methods. Still, it was obvious that the Royals used a blend of “old school” and data/analytics, as their draft class seemed to focus on college arms that either had excellent fastball metrics, elite secondaries, or were guys who attacked the strike zone, especially on day two. 

The run of college senior type players were for an obvious reason I’ll get into on the day three recap. I am give this this overall draft a grade of an A-. Pretty dang good for Bridges first year as scouting director. 

DAY ONE (Grade: A)

It was easy to give day one a grade of an A. Even though they traded away pick 39, they still scored big at pick number six and 41. It was pure chaos in the early picks, with Travis Bazzana going number one to the Guardians and the Reds shocking everyone by taking RHP Chase Burns out of Wake Forest. With the Colorado Rockies taking Charlie Condon, the Oakland Athletics taking Nick Kurtz, and the Chicago White Sox taking Hagen Smith, the Royals had their choice of two elite prospects in the draft, Jac Caglianone and JJ Wetherholt. They ended up taking the following

1. (#6) 1B/LHP Jac Caglianone, Florida

2. (#41) LHP David Shields, Mt. Lebanon HS 

With the sixth pick in the draft, they took the two-way player Jac Caglianone out of the University of Florida. Many mocks didn’t have “Cags” making it to the Royals at six. Executive Vice President and General Manager J.J. Picollo called it “a huge day for the organization.” It was a nice breath of fresh air to see the Royals take the best available player with their first pick rather than take a player based on positional need. Caglianone possesses the best power in the entire draft class. It’s 70-grade juice with the potential of being 80-grade. He put up some absurd numbers in Florida, getting intentionally walked more than he struck out last year and having a career slash line of .355/.447/.760 with 75 home runs and 189 RBI over three years. There are some concerns with Cags concerning his chase rates and position versatility as he is locked as a 1B/DH only, but the upside is immense. You’re likely looking at a Kyle Schwarber type at the very worst.  

What’s even crazier is that Cags was the Sunday starter for the Florida Gators, possessing a 70-grade fastball and above-average change-up. The Royals took him as a two-way player, so the expectation is that they will allow him to try and be impactful at both at the major league level. The fastball sits in the mid-90s, and he’s hit triple digits with it before. He ironed out some of the issues with his delivery by simplfiyng it and making it more compact, which helped with some of the control issues. As the year continued, he lost velocity on his fastball, leading many to believe he was likely better off as a reliever than a starter. 

The Royals followed their pick of Caglianone with a left-handed prep-arm David Shields out of Pennsylvania. Shields, one of the youngest players in the 2024 MLB Draft, is an arm with a polished delivery and attacks the strike zone. That’s hard to find in a prep arm like that, and it gives him plenty of upside. He exudes a ton of confidence. His fastball has been in the 88-92 mph range, but he has a ton of projection left at his age, giving you confidence that you could make that velocity tick up. He has an excellent changeup, which is his best secondary. It has really good deception off his fastball. He’s working on a breaking ball, which is currently inconsistent, but there is plenty to build from there. This was a typical Brian Bridges-type arm selection. 

DAY TWO (Grade: B)

Going into day two, the Royals seemed to want to give themselves some arms with a safer floor after their high-upside pick of David Shields. They did so in decisive fashion with their third and fourth-round picks of 

3. (#76) RHP Drew Beam, Tennessee

4. (#105) RHP LP Langevin, University of Louisiana-Lafayette 

Beam is one of the safest floor arms in the 2024 MLB Draft and is likely one of the most underrated picks of the draft. He doesn’t possess anything flashy in his pitch mix, but there is a high probability he is a big league starter, even if it is a back end of the rotation type player. He’s been one of the most reliable arms in college baseball with a fastball of 92-96 mph. He’s been able to get it up to 98 mph. He pairs it with a curveball, cutter, and changeup. Changeup is likely his best secondary as it grades above average and has been a legit weapon against lefties. He’s another guy who fills out the strike zone.

LP Langevin is a righty with an absolutely electric fastball. According to MLB.com, he ranked second in both overall (45%) and in-zine (42%) whiff rate. It’s a 92-95 mph fastball that has touched 96 and comes at you from a low slot. He pairs it with a cutter, slider, and changeup. The secondaries are a work in progress. They come at batters with his deceptive delivery, but he doesn’t utilize them a ton due to how effective his fastball is. He also doesn’t land them for strikes consistently. He worked primarily as a reliver in college and the expectation is he will do the same in pro ball. He could be a fast riser given his age and ability to strike guys out. 

The Royals continued day two by taking a lot of college pitchers. There was a consistent theme with those arms, as I mentioned earlier… electric fastball metrics, really high spin rates on secondary pitches, and arms that raid the zone. They took the following players in rounds 5 through 10:

5. (#138) RHP AJ Causey, Tennessee

6. (#157) RHP Tanner Jones, Texas A&M

7. (#197) RHP Dennis Colleran, Northeastern

8. (#227) RHP Nick Conte, Duke

9. (#257) C Canyon Brown, North Carolina A&T

10. (#287) LHP Nate Ackenhausen, LSU

This group, to me, is highlighted by Dennis Colleran out of Northeastern. Think of almost a Dylan Coleman 2.0. He came in at #141 on the Prospects Live Top 300 Board. He’s got huge stuff but had a lot of inconsistencies with it this year as he was returning from Tommy John. The fastball/slider combination is filthy. It’s a mid-90s heater with heavy sink and run. He’s even bumped it up to 100 mph at its best. The slider has been in the upper 90s. The profile is a possible high-leverage reliever, especially if he irons out the inconsistencies he had with his command. 

Another Volunteer for the Royals, AJ Causey, provides some intrigue as well. He transferred to Tennessee from Jacksonville State. He started as the Friday night guy and eventually he was brought in after an opener. It’s a low-90s two-seam/sinker that gets 20 inches of run. He pairs it with a slider with some significant spin and a changeup. It’s a funky arm slot, and he lives off of his deception. Canyon Brown was intriguing in the ninth. He’s a very athletic catcher, and according to Scouting Director Brian Bridges, he has a cannon of an arm. As the saying goes, you can never have enough good catching prospects. Bridges also mentioned that Nate Ackenhausen was among the most polished senior arms he’s seen. Will be intriguing to see the development there. 

DAY THREE (Grade: A)

Day three kicked off with more of the same… college arms. At first, I was worried this would continue longer than it should, but the Royals finally took a prep arm I’d been expecting them to do in the 14th round. The Royals rounded out the draft with the following on day three:

11. (#317) RHP Zachary Cawyer, TCU

12. (#347) RHP Tommy Molsky, Oklahoma State

13. (#377) 3B Sam Kulasingam, Air Force

14. (#407) RHP Kyle DeGroat, Wallkill Senior HS

15. (#437) LHP Tyler Davis, Mississippi State

16. (#467) RHP Andrew Morones, Cal State Fullerton

17. (#497) LHP Dane Burns, Canada

18. (#527) OF Corey Cousin, Slidell HS

19. (#557) LHP Dash Albus, Abilene Christian

20. (#587) OF Carter Frederick, Oklahoma

Kyle DeGroat is the main reason day three gets the A grade. Many were questioning the massive run of older college arms on day two, but that was to set them up to take Kyle DeGroat on the 14th, as he will likely get a significant over-slot payday. He was one of the biggest risers on our board at Prosepcts Live. He’s made some massive development strides over the past year, according to Brian Recca at Prospects Live. It’s a full four-pitch mix with a 93-94 mph fastball that has been up to 97 mph. It’s a strong, well-defined frame with plenty of room for growth. He’s good at commanding it in the zone. The slider is his best secondary, and according to Prospects Live, it spins in the 2,400 – 2,600 range. He also has a curveball and changeup, but both have room for improvement. A data darling, DeGroat is a huge get for the Royals. You have to imagine they already negotiated a deal as the Royals likely wouldn’t have gone with so many cheap senior signs without a guarantee. DeGroat rounds out a very nice draft for the Royals. 

Outside of DeGroat, Tommy Molsky, Tyler Davis, Dane Burns, and Corey Cousin are all exciting prospects. Molsky has some of the best swing-and-miss in college baseball but struggled with his control at times. He’s a guy who could benefit from the “Raid the Zone” mentality. Tyler Davis is a lefty with a funky delivery who pitched out of the bullpen for Mississippi State. He found a ton of success against star-studded bats in the SEC. I had seen him back when he was at VCU, and it was a low-90s fastball with some funk. 

Dane Burns is a Mississippi State commit who’s from Canada. According to Tanner Bercier, it’s been reported that he was throwing mid-90s in summer leagues. I’ll be curious if the Royals have the extra money to sign Burns away from his commitment to Mississippi State. Corey Cousin is another intriguing guy, but also a prep bat committed to Oklahoma. He might find it tough to sign away from his commitment. He was a multi-sport athlete and two-way player in high school—a kid with raw tools.