Royals take lefty pitcher Asa Lacy with No. 4 overall draft pick, Baylor’s Loftin 32nd
The Kansas City Royals selected left-handed pitcher Asa Lacy, regarded by many as the top pitching prospect in this year’s Major League Baseball draft, with the fourth overall pick Wednesday night.
They also picked up Baylor University shortstop Nick Loftin with the No. 32 pick. Loftin earned Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year recognition this spring.
The Detroit Tigers selected Arizona State first baseman/third baseman Spencer Torkelson No. 1 overall Wednesday evening. The Baltimore Orioles picked University of Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad second. The Miami Marlins then selected Minnesota right-handed pitcher Max Meyer with the third pick to set the table for the Royals.
Vanderbilt infielder/outfielder Austin Martin and Lacy were each available at No. 4. Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Martin and Lacy the second-best and third-best prospects, respectively, going into the draft.
Royals assistant GM/amateur scouting Lonnie Goldberg and Royals general manager Dayton Moore made a decision earlier in the day about what they’d do in that situation, but they still weren’t necessarily expecting it to materialize.
“We had already been through that,” Moore said. “It wasn’t a surprise to us. When we had to make the decision, we’d already made the decision. We just didn’t think it was going to happen.”
Roughly an hour and a half before the draft, Goldberg shared with Moore that maneuvering at the top of the draft might lead to that very scenario.
“That was something that we were ahead of,” Goldberg said. “We’d already decided it. We didn’t know it was going to come down that way, but we’d made an advance decision. ...
“We were fortunate it happened. I mean, we didn’t go to bed last night thinking Asa Lacy might be there at the fourth overall pick. To the credit of all the guys and all the work that they did — the job that Chris Reitsma and the guys have done, our cross-checkers — we were prepared for it and ready for it if it happened.”
A 6-foot-4, 215-pound junior out of Texas A&M with a fastball reaching 98 mph, Lacy becomes the Aggies’ highest baseball draft pick ever (Jeff Granger, fifth overall in 1993).
He’s also the highest-drafted Royals pitcher since Luke Hochevar was selected No. 1 overall in 2006. Mike Stodolka was picked No. 4 overall by the Royals in 2000.
His performance early this season, which included three double-digit strikeout performances in four starts, made him undoubtedly the top pitcher in the draft in the Royals’ estimation.
“The thing that separated him is, obviously, he’s left-handed, but last year he had a plus changeup,” Goldberg said. “This year, he has a plus changeup, has his plus slider and he’s throwing anywhere from 92 to 98, and his strikes were better. He was better composed. He just kind of blew past everybody. His stuff is crisp. It’s no-hitter type stuff. He’s got a chance every night he goes out with that kind of stuff.”
Lacy, 21, went 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA (2.0 earned runs in 24 innings) with 46 strikeouts, 8 walks and a .111 opponents’ batting average in four starts this spring before the COVID-19 coronavirus forced the suspension of the college season.
As a sophomore, Lacy held opponents to a .162 batting average.
“This is one of the best left-handed pitchers we’ve had in the SEC in the 18 years that I’ve been there,” Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said during MLB Network’s draft broadcast.
MLB.com graded three of Lacy’s pitches (fastball, slider, changeup) at a 60 on the 20-to-80 scout’s scale. His curveball received a grade of 55.
“You can squint and look at the arsenal of guys in the big leagues and say Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, that sort of upside if it all comes together,” ESPN analyst Kiley McDaniel, a former MLB scout and front office executive, said during a pre-draft conference call last week. “The command is the issue right now. He has to iron out his delivery some. To me, you’re getting a front-line pitcher.”
Lacy further bolsters the Royals’ organizational pitching depth, which already featured the likes of top pitching prospects Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Daniel Lynch and Kris Bubic.
A versatile find
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Loftin has shown a wealth of versatility while playing for Team USA as he started at five positions.
Loftin also began his collegiate career at Baylor as an outfielder before taking over at shortstop in the middle of his freshman season.
A right-handed hitter, Loftin batted .313 with a .371 OBP in his 122 college games. A high-contact guy in college, Loftin averaged 13.8 at-bats per strikeout last year as a sophomore.
The No. 4 pick carries an approximate slot value of $6.6 million, while the No. 32 pick holds an approximate value of $2.26 million.
On Thursday, the Royals will select at Nos. 41, 76, 105 and 135.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 6:52 PM.
