<table> </table> Here comes Eric Hosmer around the corner, dressed in a brand-new, real-thing, Royals uniform for the first time. His mother takes pictures. Eric tries to hide his smile.</p><p>&#8220;Nice, right?&#8221; his brother says. &#8220;Looks like a big-leaguer already.&#8221;</p><p>A few minutes later and he&#8217;s gripping a wood bat, the one he brought with him from Florida and will take when he reports to an advanced rookie league team in Idaho Falls today.</p><p>Hosmer&#8217;s stance is slightly open as the first batting-practice pitch comes in, curious big-leaguers and hopeful executives watching closely. Hosmer steps, throws his hands forward, and, well, the first ball doesn&#8217;t leave the batting cage.</p><p>This is the moment scouting directors fear most, their hotshot, $6 million draft pick pounding his first swing into the dirt. Thankfully, here comes the moment scouting directors love, because now it&#8217;s a steady stream of line drives all over the ballpark.</p><p>By the time he&#8217;s done, three balls have soared over Kauffman Stadium&#8217;s walls, including one in the right-field fountains. This is the guy scouting director Deric Ladnier calls &#8220;a piece of the puzzle&#8221; the Royals are trying to put together for a championship.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m really excited, you know?&#8221; Hosmer says. &#8220;I know the team we have is a young team, they&#8217;re coming out, and they&#8217;re going to be a great franchise. They&#8217;re trying to build a champion, and I&#8217;m excited to be a part of it.&#8221;</p><p>Hosmer&#8217;s $6 million is one of the five biggest signing bonuses in the history of baseball&#8217;s draft. To Royals fans, he is the centerpiece of a draft class that signed for more than $10 million and represents a new commitment by the Royals to build a better farm system.</p><p>With that excitement comes expectations from a fan base that&#8217;s listened to team executives for nearly three months talk about a potential impact power hitter for an organization starved for one.</p><p>And with that signing bonus comes a close watch from his potential future teammates. Gil Meche and Jos&#233; Guillen are the only Royals making more this season than Hosmer&#8217;s bonus. Alex Gordon signed for $4 million two years ago and even with that and going on two years of big-league service, still hasn&#8217;t made what Hosmer&#8217;s already deposited.</p><p>Even so, Hosmer doesn&#8217;t budge when asked whether he felt pressure to live up to what&#8217;s been said and paid.</p><p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he says. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know how many other guys were picked in the draft, but as of now, I&#8217;m in the same position as those guys. We&#8217;re all in the same spot. When I go to Idaho Falls, I&#8217;m with the Idaho Falls Chukars, just like everybody else.&#8221;</p><p>He&#8217;s not in the same position, of course, but Hosmer&#8217;s sentiment remains.</p><p>His first day in person with the Kansas City media shows an 18-year-old who&#8217;s studied the Crash Davis clich&#233;s, or been coached wonderfully to avoid introspective moments.</p><p>He talks around questions about the negotiating process, how close he was to fulfilling his scholarship at Arizona State, and what that final day of contract talk was like &#8212; when he agreed to a deal just before the deadline.</p><p>&#8220;I sat down with my family and we discussed what was the best thing for me,&#8221; he says. &#8220;My dream as a little boy was to be a major-league baseball player. We discussed which direction would be better for me, and I made the best decision for me.&#8221;