Royals 2025 draftee named a “pest” and pitcher labeled standout by Baseball America

As the MLB season wraps up and fanbases either move their October plans around the playoffs or lack thereof, so are baseball-centric outlets ahead of winter.

There is so much baseball action to parse out at any given time that the lack of it makes the radio seem strangely silent and MLB.TV is oddly devoid of meaningful content for many teams’ fans.

But, for Baseball America, the prospect work never sleeps, and as the Kansas City Royals pipeline is still held in low regard, seeing not one but two Royals prospects pop up in “standouts” is worth noting.

The Royals have some early standouts from the 2025 MLB Draft class, according to Baseball America

Baseball America selected “10 standout pro debuts” from the 2025 MLB class, a field that featured very limited action following the July draft date.

It’s not odd to see players log not affiliated game action after hearing their name called, instead ramping back up and heading to the instructs or focusing on drills and development over in-game work, for those that have the runway to appear in a game, bravo. But for pitcher Bryson Dudley, he seemed much more than that.

“Just 89 pitchers threw in official games, and of that group, only 15 threw 10 or more innings. Dudley was one of the most impressive of that group. He pitched as a reliever in nine games (13.1 innings) with Low-A Columbia and posted a 1.35 ERA. He led all debut pitchers with 22 strikeouts and had a 43.1% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. “

Baseball America

The Royals’ seventh-round pick in this year’s draft, Dudley, came from pitching for Texas State, appearing in the MLB Draft League, and still reaching Low-A Columbia. The Texas native is a reliever through and through, and had electric results for the Fireflies ahead of their playoff push. Baseball America saw how his fastball changed from the draft to affiliated ball.

“Coming out of the draft, we noted that Dudley sat north of 93 mph with his fastball and used a mid-80s slider as his go-to secondary. In his pro debut, Dudley averaged 93.7 mph, touched 96.3 and paired the fastball with solid riding life (17.4 inches IVB) and a -4.54 vertical approach angle. BA’s internal Stuff+ model put a 112 on his fastball, and he used the pitch to generate a 35.7% miss rate. “

Baseball America

Not too shabby at all for a first impression.

Further down the list, Baseball America also assigned some debutees a superlative, and calling Nolan Sailors a “pest” feels both demeaning yet appropriate.

“Sailors was another member of our top 100 senior sign target list before the draft because of his contact ability and speed. His 17 steals were second to Mitch Voit (20) among debut draftees this summer. He hit .283/.412/.368/ with five doubles and a pair of triples with High-A Quad Cities in 32 games. Sailors displayed a sound approach, good contact skills and plus speed out of the box that puts a lot of pressure on infield defenses. He showed an ability to bunt for a hit and also played all his games in center field after manning left field with Creighton during the spring. “

Baseball America

Sailors, a high draft pick to open funds for the slot games to follow, quickly found his way to the River Bandits before the season was done.

He was not a hard-hitting power threat at the plate, but his contact-first approach and ability to draw walks and play a mean center field may remind Royals fans of a young Kyle Isbel.

The Nebraska native will not be a prospect that fans see on the top 30 lists once baseball returns from its winter dormancy, but he did have a good start in High-A and should return there next year.