It feels like it has been quite some time since the Kansas City Royals were player development stalwarts. The no-miss drafting of the late 2000s fueled a homegrown core that eventually delivered a World Series title, but the inverse, missed drafts and stalled development, fueled the fall back to the bottom in Kansas City.
The Royals currently roster a few stellar development stories, such as shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and third baseman Maikel Garcia, but the system still is not as strong as fans would hope.
The farm is turning a corner, though, and the trend line has been moving up since 2023. A few savvy trades have helped, and the organization’s drafting and development finally appears to be finding steadier footing.
The bar was set painfully low in recent years, but even incremental progress matters, and the prospect landscape is starting to reflect it. As top 100 lists roll out ahead of pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, the Royals usually have catcher Carter Jensen or Blake Mitchell representing them.
But perhaps no ranking holds Royals prospects in higher regard than The Athletic’s Keith Law.
The Royals get some prospect shine in Keith Law’s 2026 prospect list.
Law, a long-respected evaluator, has been doing this for nearly two decades and has carved out a lengthy baseball writing career in the process.
I have met plenty of Royals fans who swear Law carries some sort of negative bias against the organization, but his 2026 prospect rankings fly in the face of that. Law not only placed three Royals prospects inside his top 61, but he ranked Jensen as a top-10 prospect in the sport.
The Park Hill alum was not ranked on Law’s 2025 list at all, and he was one of just three prospects to go from unranked in 2025 to the top 15 in 2026.
Law raved about Jensen’s progress since Kansas City drafted him in 2021, highlighting both his defensive foundation behind the plate and his patient approach at the plate.
“He’s going to be a legit Rookie of the Year candidate this year as a true catcher who could hit 20 homers with a strong OBP, and with 3-plus WAR potential right away thanks to the defense and positional adjustment,” Law wrote.
Mitchell’s rankings usually would be expected to take a step back after his lost 2025 season. A broken hamate bone in February not only delayed his debut, but that specific injury can sap a hitter’s production even after he returns.
But Mitchell actually climbed in Law’s rankings, jumping from 76th in 2025 to 56th in 2026. Law called Mitchell “the best defensive catcher in the Royals’ system,” and largely wrote off the underwhelming offensive line as a byproduct of the injury and the timing.
Jensen’s 2026 ceiling may be higher, but Law still believes Mitchell “projects as an everyday catcher who might hit .230 or so with 20 homers and plus defense, which is a regular for almost every team in baseball.”
Royals fans do not need to scroll much farther to find the next name. Sandwiched between two 2025 first-round picks sits right-handed pitcher Kendry Chourio, fresh off a red-hot 2025 season that pushed him from obscurity into real prospect conversations.
Chourio was a notable omission from MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list, even after Baseball America suggested he had a path to becoming the game’s best pitching prospect.
Law, however, is similarly bullish on the Venezuelan after his first professional season, writing that Chourio has “everything you’d want to see in a young pitching prospect, including the potential upside of 80 command.”
Overall, this has been the most favorable major list for the Royals so far. Having three top-100 prospects would be notable on its own, but having all three comfortably above the cutoff and one sitting in the top 10 is even more striking.
Maybe Law does have a softer spot for the small-market Royals than some fans have given him credit for.
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