The Royals picked who? Get to know the 2025 KC draft picks with these fun facts
Picture this: It’s five years from now and you’re on the jumbotron at Kauffman Stadium, about to play a game of trivia. The theme pops up:
Royals 2025 Draft Class! (Obscure questions only).
Don’t sweat. We’ll save you from this nightmare before it happens. The Royals picked 22 players in the 2025 MLB Draft this week. Of those, 12 were pitchers and only one was a lefty (save that fact in your back pocket for later).
We’ve scoured the internet to make sure you know who shares a birthday with Matt Kemp, who enjoys learning about the stock market and who has four older sisters — you know, just in case anyone ever asks.
Round 1: OF Sean Gamble | IMG Academy (HS) | No. 23
The Royals’ first pick in this year’s draft moved 2,000 miles away from his home — Des Moines, Iowa — at 14 years of age to play baseball at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
But Gamble’s first visit to IMG had come years earlier, when he was about 8 and his parents sent him there for a summer tennis camp. After learning the camp also offered baseball, he asked to do that instead in the years that followed.
PPI Round: SS Josh Hammond | Wesleyan Christian Academy (HS) | No. 28
Josh Hammond was drafted as a shortstop, but he’s spent most of his time as a third baseman. The 18-year-old also has experience on the mound. He made two starts for the 18U U.S. national team in 2024, including in the gold medal game against Panama.
Round 2: RHP Michael Lombardi | Tulane | No. 61
Michael Lombardi was the first of three Green Wave players selected in this year’s draft. He’s the youngest of five children in his family, with four older sisters: Allison, Christie, Jillian and Tara.
Competitive Balance Round B: LHP Justin Lamkin | Texas A&M | No. 71
Justin Lamkin is no stranger to no-hitters. The lefty threw two as a high school junior and added one more in his senior year. That was in 2022, when he also recorded 21 consecutive strikeouts.
Round 3: RHP Cameron Millar | Alhambra (Calif.) HS | No. 97
High school senior Cameron Millar got his fastball up from 92 mph to 97 mph this spring. The increase sparked professional interest in Millar — and he was ultimately picked 97th in this year’s draft.
Round 4: OF Nolan Sailors | Creighton | No. 128
This Omaha, Nebraska native hit .389 with six home runs, 44 RBIs and 27 stolen bases at Creighton. He previously said his favorite big-league team is the St. Louis Cardinals (uh oh!) and his all-time favorite athlete is Ozzie Smith, who played 19 MLB seasons (14 of which were with the Cardinals).
Round 5: RHP Aiden Jimenez | Arkansas (No. 158)
Baseball runs in this right-handed pitcher’s blood. His father, Jason Jimenez, was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 28th round of the 1997 draft. Jason Jimenez played eight years of pro ball, with five appearances in the majors.
It doesn’t end there: Jimenez’s maternal grandfather, Ken Hottman, also played eight seasons in the pros, with six appearances in major-league games.
Round 6: SS Tyriq Kemp | Baylor (No. 188)
This standout Baylor athlete hails from Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Like Jimenez, baseball runs in his lineage. He is the son of Olympian Adonis Kemp, who played for the Dutch baseball team in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games.
Round 7: RHP Bryson Dudley | Texas State (No. 218)
Ask the Royals’ scouting team and they’ll say the club chose Bryson Dudley for his pitching abilities. Our suspicion? He listed “playing cornhole” in the hobbies section of his Texas State bio, and Royals brass knew they needed to get him to Kansas City.
Round 8: C Brooks Bryan | Troy (No. 248)
Up next is yet another draft pic from an athletic family. Brooks Bryan’s dad, Bo Bryan, played baseball at Huntington College. Moreover, his grandfather, Eddie, was an offensive lineman on the 1968 football team that brought an NAIA championship home to Troy.
Round 9: RHP Shane Van Dam | N.C. State | No. 278
Shane Van Dam was a talented dual-sport high school athlete. During his senior year, he played quarterback and threw 18 touchdowns and led his New Jersey to a sectional championship.
While the Royals drafted Van Dam as a pitcher, he didn’t step onto the mound until his last year of high school. That’s when he found that his throwing arm was good for two sports.
Round 10: RHP Max Martin | UC Irvine | No. 308
The Royals’ Round 10 pick, Max Martin from UC Irvine, is not to be confused with the Red Sox’s Round 10 pick, Maximus Martin from Kansas State. The two young men with very similar names were chosen just 10 picks apart.
Round 11: RHP Hunter Alberini | Arizona | No. 338
This right-handed pitcher listed hunting, fishing and conserving wildlife as his hobbies on his Arizona biography page. But what really sets Alberini apart is that he enjoys learning about the stock market and being a beekeeper.
Round 12: RHP Matthew Hoskins | Georgia | No. 368
Matthew Hoskins’ high school in Suwanee, Georgia has produced 11 NFL players since opening in 2003. There are two major-leaguers on the school’s alumni list: Nick Neidert and All-Star first baseman Jared Walsh, who hit for the cycle while playing for the Angels.
Round 13: SS Tyson Moran | F.E. Madill (H.S.), Canada | No. 398
There were 19 Canadians picked in this year’s draft. Tyson Moran is a North Dakota commit from the small town of Wingham, Ontario, whose population was last recorded at under 3,000 people.
Round 14: 1B JC Vanek | Chipola College | No. 428
First baseman JC Vanek had the honor of becoming the Greenville Yard Gnomes’ first MLB Draft pick. Vanek played 12 games for the Gnomes this past summer, during which he hit .370 with two home runs.
Round 15: 2B Connor Rasmussen | Tulane | No. 458
Connor Rasmussen is joined by two college teammates in the Royals’ draft class this year. Rasmussen and the Royals’ 17th-round pick, Luke Nowak, were both at Eastern Carolina in 2023. Rasmussen then transferred to Tulane, where he played with Lombardi, who was selected by KC in Round 2.
Round 16: RHP Randy Ramnarace | New Haven | No. 488
In a draft of 615, there were 14 picks who played Division II baseball during the 2025 season. Randy Ramnarace was among that group. He appeared in 15 games for New Haven with eight starts.
Round 17: OF Luke Nowak | University of Illinois-Chicago | No. 518
This 22-year-old Royals pick had a busy July. Before he heard his name called on Monday, Nowak tied the knot with his now-wife, Grace. The pair got engaged in October.
Round 18: RHP Grayson Boles | St. Augustine H.S. (California) | No. 548
Grayson Boles was the 12th and final player with ties to the Texas Longhorns selected in this year’s draft. Including Boles, four prep players who have committed to Texas were drafted by MLB teams.
Round 19: RHP Dylan Wood | Franklin H.S. (California) | No. 578
Dylan Wood and Josh Hammond, the Royals’ second pick in this year’s draft, have some experience playing together. They were teammates on the 18U national team in 2024.
Hammond started on the mound in the gold medal game against Panama; Wood made an appearance later in the game and helped secure the gold.
Round 20: RHP Kamden Edge | Northern Oklahoma College | No. 608
The final pick in this year’s draft class was born on Sept. 23, 2004, meaning he shares a birthday with three-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove winner and two-time Silver Slugger recipient Matt Kemp.
Both hail from Oklahoma. Kamden Edge was born in Boswell and Kemp in Midwest City, two decades earlier.
