Former Rockies GM says Royals should get ‘really impactful player’ in MLB draft

In the days leading up to the 2006 Major League Baseball draft, Dan O’Dowd thought the Rockies were set at third base.

O’Dowd was Colorado’s general manager at the time, and Garrett Atkins, Jeff Baker and Ian Stewart were either with the Rockies or knocking at the door.

So after the Royals chose Luke Hochevar with the top overall pick in the 2006 draft, O’Dowd passed on a third baseman from Cal State Long Beach and selected right-hander Greg Reynolds from Stanford. Reynolds made the majors two years later, but was plagued by injuries and inconsistencies.

That third baseman? Evan Longoria was the rookie of the year in 2008 and helped the Rays make their only World Series appearance.

“I made a lot of bad decisions and that one ranks right up near the top,” said O’Dowd, now is an analyst on the MLB Network. “The game of baseball is a lot like life. It’s extremely unpredictable, it’s extremely volatile, there are a lot of shades of gray. The one thing I’ve learned is you don’t predicted the future.

“You make a decision that day ... based on the variables you’re deciding on. So on draft day for me, you keep the process simple, and the process for me that creates simplicity is you take the best player available. In a given year, if there are two players that are just as good and one fills a need more than the other, so be it. But in a given year when that’s not the case, you take the best player.”

O’Dowd recalled that story after being asked about the Royals, who hold the second pick in Monday’s draft. Most mock drafts show the Royals taking shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. out of Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas.

That’s despite the Royals seemingly being set at shortstop as Adalberto Mondesi has become a breakout star.

“There are a lot of shortstop in the game that athletically, and (Witt) is one of them, that can do a lot of other things on the field besides shortstop,” said O’Dowd, who will be part of the MLB Network’s draft coverage. “Mondesi, who I love, is going to be the shortstop for the next 10 years, but you don’t predict the future. I tried to do that and it blew up on me pretty good. I learned a very painful lesson of taking the best player and the rest works itself out.”

Like the Rockies in 2006, the Royals hold the second pick in Monday’s draft, and O’Dowd expects general manager Dayton Moore and the KC front office will land a great player.

Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman, Witt and Cal first baseman are considered by many to be the top three players in the draft. O’Dowd said the Royals couldn’t go wrong with any of them.

“I think the No. 2 position, they are going to get a really, really impactful player. Either they’re going to get one who is really close to the big-leagues in a catcher or probably a young shortstop that’s got a really high ceiling,” said O’Dowd, who was GM when the Rockies made the 2007 World Series. “Either way, they’re in a really advantageous place going into the draft.

“As Dayton would tell me, ‘But yeah, we had to earn it to get that spot.’ Now that he’s picking second, I’m sure he’s excited about it and I’m sure he’s looking forward to nailing it.”

The Royals lost 100 games in 2018 and have a top-five pick for the first time since 2012. A year ago, they had four of the top 40 draft spots and took a college pitcher with each pick. The top three started the year at Single A-advanced Wilmington: Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch. Singer was promoted to Double-A Northwest Arkansas a few days ago.

O’Dowd has been impressed with the Royals’ recent picks.

“The last couple years I thought they’ve done really well with the draft,” he said. “When you look at what’s going on in Wilmington right now with the three pitchers down there, with what’s going on with their position players at the big-league level, it’s not hard to envision that all coming together for them at some point in the next 24 months to make one pretty exciting young team on the field.”