Fresh off Friday night’s 5-3 loss at Baltimore that dropped them to 38-57, good for fifth in the AL Central, the Kansas City Royals shifted their focus to the future on Saturday.
The 2026 MLB Draft opened Saturday in Philadelphia with Rounds 1-4, and the Chicago White Sox got things started by taking UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky No. 1 overall. Five picks later, it was Kansas City’s turn.
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With the No. 6 overall pick, the Royals selected Louisville outfielder Zion Rose. The pick was one of 21 selections the club holds in this year’s draft.
Rose entered the day ranked No. 30 on MLB Pipeline’s draft prospect list, making him one of the first round’s more surprising selections. But the Royals saw enough in the 21-year-old’s bat and speed to take him well ahead of that ranking, and his college production shows some of the reasons why.
As a junior in 2026, Rose hit six home runs and stole 24 bases for Louisville. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, the right-handed hitter went 55-for-61 on stolen base attempts across his final two college seasons.
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The production was nothing new, as Rose earned Freshman All-American honors in 2024 after hitting .380 with five home runs and 32 RBIs, then made All-ACC as a sophomore with 13 home runs, 67 RBIs and 31 stolen bases.
Gavin Kilen, the San Francisco Giants’ 2025 first-round pick and Rose’s former teammate at Louisville, described what sets him apart in a pre-draft profile from MLB.com’s Jesse Borek.
“He’s an absolute ball player,” Kilen said. “Even when he first got there as a freshman, you could just tell there was a type of edge, there was a type of maturity level that he had.”
“He’s very competitive and you can see it in his nature and the way he plays and how much he wants to be out there,” Kilen added.
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Rose also has deep roots with MLB itself, having taken part in eight MLB Develops events beginning at age 13 in 2018. He later served as an ambassador for the program, a role he spoke about in the same profile.
“Embrace it, don’t take it for granted,” Rose said. “Be grateful for the position you’re in.”
Rose’s next step is signing. The No. 6 selection carries an assigned slot value of $7,746,100, and Kansas City’s total bonus pool for the draft sits at $15,954,000 (via MLB.com).
The Royals pick four more times Saturday at Nos. 30, 56, 91 and 119 before the draft wraps up Sunday with Rounds 5-20, giving Kansas City plenty of chances to build out the rest of its draft class.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
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