The Royals haven&#8217;t talked to No. 3 overall pick Eric Hosmer since the draft almost two months ago.</p><p>That&#8217;s about to change, as teams across baseball shift their attention from Thursday&#8217;s non-waiver trade deadline to the next time limit &#8212; Aug. 15, the last day to sign draft picks.</p><p>&#8220;That becomes the organization&#8217;s focus, absolutely,&#8221; said Deric Ladnier, Royals senior director of scouting. &#8220;Everybody works hard through the trade deadline. That&#8217;s pretty much where the organization&#8217;s energy is spent. Then after it passes, everybody takes a deep breath and says, &#8216;What is the next task at hand?&#8217;&#8194;&#8221;</p><p>For the Royals, that task is signing Hosmer and Tim Melville, a right-handed pitcher who slid to the fourth round because of signability issues.</p><p>Hosmer is a left-handed hitting first baseman who projects as a possible superstar hitter. Melville was considered one of the top high school pitchers available.</p><p>Hosmer has a scholarship at Arizona State and is being advised by Scott Boras, who is reported to be seeking as much as $7 million to sign &#8212; though both Boras and Ladnier have downplayed those reports.</p><p>&#8220;We left that in the hands of his advisor,&#8221; said Mike Hosmer, Eric&#8217;s father. &#8220;He knows best.&#8221;</p><p>Melville signed a scholarship with North Carolina, but indications are that he&#8217;ll end up with the Royals. Melville, his mother, and Ladnier all have expressed optimism that a deal will get done.</p><p>Ladnier also expects to sign Hosmer &#8212; &#8220;We wouldn&#8217;t have selected him otherwise,&#8221; he said &#8212; but whether it&#8217;s posturing or not, you don&#8217;t hear the same optimism from the other side.</p><p>Hosmer has continued to play baseball this summer, mostly as a designated hitter for an amateur team based in Cincinnati. That team is playing in the Connie Mack World Series in New Mexico, where it is the defending champion and Hosmer the reigning MVP.</p><p>After this, Hosmer&#8217;s next competitive swings will either be with a Royals farm team or Arizona State.</p><p>&#8220;I guess you could call it an anxious moment,&#8221; Mike Hosmer said. &#8220;But it&#8217;s not a life or death situation because it&#8217;s a win-win for him either way.&#8221;</p><p>Hosmer is the third consecutive Boras-advised player selected by the Royals in the first round. They gave No. 1 overall pick Luke Hochevar a $5.3 million guarantee in 2006, and third overall pick Mike Moustakas $4 million last year.</p><p>Ladnier says there is a mutual respect between the Royals and Boras. Last year, there were just minutes left before the deadline when Moustakas agreed to terms.</p><p>Nobody expects deals with Hosmer or Melville to be completed much before the Aug. 15 deadline this year, either.</p><p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t anticipate it,&#8221; Ladnier said. &#8220;Anxiety levels will get high among everybody, and I think at the end of the day, we&#8217;ll have two very good players.&#8221;