Royals make pitching priority in draft
Power pitching was the draft priority for the Royals, and that explains their first three selections.
In Ashe Russell, Nolan Watson and Josh Staumont, the Royals used the top of their draft lines for power pitchers.
“Right from the get go we attacked with power arms,” said Lonnie Goldberg, Royals director of scouting. “Like any draft you look for pitching first.”
It marked the first time since 2012 that the Royals make pitchers their first three selections.
Russell and Watson made the scout trip easy. They went to separate high schools in Indianapolis, and a team of four Royals officials saw both pitch on the same day on a recent scouting mission.
Russell, a 6-4, 205-pounder who went 21st overall, went 5-1 with a 1.06 ERA for Cathedral Catholic High.
The 6-2, 205-pound Watson went 6-1 with an 0.68 ERA for North Lawrence High. He was selected No. 33 overall in the compensation portion of the first round.
In the second round, the Royals selected Staumont, who touched 100 mph with his fast ball this year for Azusa Pacific University.
“Josh may have the most electric arm in the draft, one of the easiest working arms,” Goldberg said. “I haven’t seen many on the amateur level whose arm works that well. There’s big upside.”
The Royals opened the final 30 rounds on Wednesday by selected Texas outfielder Ben Johnson in the 11th round. Johnson had offers to play college quarterback out of high school.
Missouri football signee Marquise Dohery, an outfielder from Winnetonka High, was selected in the 15th round. Kansas State baseball signee Jacob Ruder, a right-handed pitcher from Nixa High near Springfield, was selected in the 37th round.
The Royals drafted 20 pitchers (12 right-handed), nine outfielders, seven infielders and four catchers.
Last year, 10 of the 42 draft picks did not sign.
Royals 2015 draft picks
Rd. | No. | Name | Born | Pos. | B | T | Ht | Wt | School |
1 | 21 | Ashe Russell | 8/28/96 | RHP | R | R | 6-4 | 195 | Cathedral Catholic HS (Ind.) |
1 | 33 | Nolan Watson | 1/25/97 | RHP | R | R | 6-3 | 195 | Lawrence North HS (Ind.) |
2 | 64 | Josh Staumont | 12/21/93 | RHP | R | R | 6-2 | 205 | Azusa Pacific (Calf.) |
3 | 98 | Anderson Miller | 5/6/94 | CF | L | L | 6-3 | 208 | Western Kentucky |
4 | 129 | Garrett Davila | 1/17/97 | LHP | L | L | 6-2 | 180 | South Point HS (N.C.) |
5 | 159 | Roman Collins | 6/17/94 | CF | L | L | 6-2 | 210 | Florida Atlantic |
6 | 189 | Cody Jones | 5/25/93 | CF | S | R | 5-11 | 175 | Texas Christian |
7 | 219 | Gabriel Cancel | 12/8/96 | SS | R | R | 6-1 | 185 | Padre Anibal Reyes Belen HS (P.R.) |
8 | 249 | Andre Davis | 9/29/93 | LHP | L | L | 6-6 | 225 | Arkansas-Pine Bluff |
9 | 279 | Joey Markus | 5/29/96 | LHP | R | L | 6-7 | 220 | Indian River State College (Fla.) |
10 | 309 | Alex Luna | 2/11/93 | RHP | R | R | 6-4 | 200 | Alabama-Birmingham |
11 | 339 | Ben Johnson | 5/4/94 | OF | R | R | 6-0 | 190 | Texas |
12 | 369 | Daniel Concepcion | 9/3/93 | RHP | R | R | 6-4 | 230 | Virginia Commonwealth |
13 | 399 | Travis Maezes | 12/10/93 | SS | L | R | 6-0 | 195 | Michigan |
14 | 429 | Nick Dini | 7/27/93 | C | R | R | 5-8 | 180 | Wagner College (N.Y.) |
15 | 459 | Marquise Doherty | 11/6/96 | OF | R | R | 6-1 | 193 | Winnetonka HS |
16 | 489 | Matt Ditman | 8/13/92 | RHP | R | R | 6-1 | 195 | Rice |
17 | 519 | Matt Portland | 2/11/94 | LHP | R | L | 6-3 | 225 | Northwestern |
18 | 549 | Brian Bayliss | 8/4/94 | RHP | R | R | 6-2 | 200 | Saint Joseph’s (Ind.) |
19 | 579 | Emmanuel Rivera | 6/29/96 | SS | R | R | 6-2 | 195 | Universidad Interamericana (P.R.) |
20 | 609 | Junior Harding | 7/21/96 | RHP | R | R | 5-9 | 180 | Chipola College (Fla.) |
21 | 639 | Austin Bailey | 7/3/92 | SS | S | R | 5-10 | 160 | San Diego |
22 | 669 | Drew Milligan | 3/14/93 | LHP | L | L | 6-6 | 230 | Delta State (Miss.) |
23 | 699 | Colton Frabasilio | 4/18/93 | OF | R | R | 6-2 | 205 | Saint Louis |
24 | 729 | Jonathan McCray | 1/8/95 | 2B | S | R | 5-10 | 180 | San Bernardino Valley College |
25 | 759 | Tyler Carvalho | 12/15/94 | RHP | R | R | 5-11 | 160 | Mesa CC (Ariz.) |
26 | 789 | Alex Close | 3/19/93 | C | R | R | 6-3 | 225 | Liberty |
27 | 819 | Jacob Bodner | 1/31/93 | RHP | R | R | 5-10 | 185 | Xavier |
28 | 849 | Reed Hayes | 3/17/95 | RHP | R | R | 6-3 | 185 | Walters State Community College (Tenn.) |
29 | 879 | Mark McCoy | 4/30/94 | LHP | L | L | 6-2 | 200 | Rutgers |
30 | 909 | Luke Willis | 11/9/92 | OF | R | R | 5-11 | 190 | George Mason |
31 | 939 | Brian Bien | 9/2/92 | SS | R | R | 6-0 | 175 | Bowling Green |
32 | 969 | Jake Kalish | 7/9/91 | LHP | S | L | 6-2 | 210 | George Mason |
33 | 999 | Nate Esposito | 6/25/93 | C | R | R | 5-11 | 195 | Concordia (Ore.) |
34 | 1029 | Taylor Ostrich | 9/16/92 | 1B | L | R | 6-3 | 220 | Old Dominion |
35 | 1059 | Trey Stover | 6/10/93 | SS | R | R | 5-10 | 175 | Hartford |
36 | 1089 | Tanner Stanley | 9/12/93 | OF | L | L | 5-10 | 180 | Richmond |
37 | 1119 | Jacob Ruder | 10/24/96 | RHP | R | R | 6-7 | 220 | Nixa HS (Mo.) |
38 | 1149 | Dylan Home | 8/16/95 | LHP | L | L | 6-2 | 215 | Walters State CC (Tenn.) |
39 | 1179 | Billy Endris | 10/18/93 | OF | L | L | 6-3 | 190 | Florida Atlantic |
40 | 1209 | Ford Proctor | 12/4/96 | C | L | R | 6-0 | 190 | Monsignor Kelly Catholic HS (Texas) |
To reach Blair Kerkhoff, call 816-234-4730 or send email to bkerkhoff@kcstar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BlairKerkhoff.
This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 6:40 PM with the headline "Royals make pitching priority in draft."