The Kansas City Royals are just three weeks away from making a big organizational decision. On July 11, the Royals will select at pick No. 6 in the 2026 MLB Draft. Two years ago, they used the same slot to select rising outfield star Jac Caglianone. And 24 years ago, they selected Cy Young award winner and potential future hall of famer Zack Greinke in this spot. History shows the Royals know what do when picking here.
However, 2026 is a whole new season and nothing is guaranteed based on the past, making their current conundrum of who to select with their first-round pick a tricky one. In FanSided’s latest mock draft, they had the Royals taking prep outfielder Eric Booth Jr., similar to what they had earlier in the year.
However, in their last rendition they had the Royals selecting Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress and according to FanSided writer Mark Powell, neither seems to be their ultimate interest with their first-round pick.
“In our last mock, I had the Royals selecting Drew Burress, as Booth Jr. was off the board,” Powell wrote. “The Royals would really prefer to land [Jacob] Lombard in this spot.”
As more time goes on and more mock drafts come out, it appears the high school shortstop in Jacob Lombard could be off the board by the time the Royals are on the clock. And it’s easy to see why. The Florida prep product ranks fourth in MLB Pipeline’s draft rankings with a dazzling 60 overall grade with 55 grades in every tool besides the his arm.
This means that perhaps if they want to go the positional route here, the Royals might have to resort to selecting Booth Jr. or Burress.
There’s pros and cons to be had for selecting either Eric Booth Jr. or Drew Burress
Now “resort” might a bit of an extreme term here when it comes to describing these two talents. Both are worthy Top 10 consideration and both could be transformative to the Royals’ system in their own unique ways – even if neither are Lombard.
Looking at Booth, his ceiling is high as a high school prospect. With above-average grades in both his hit tool and field tool, according to Pipeline and blistering 70-grade speed, he’s very multi-faceted, especially with average ratings in his power and arm tools as well. Dare I say, with the right development he could be somewhat a five-tool threat.
The issue is though, as a teenager his potential may be there, but he doesn’t solve the fact that the top-end of the Royals’ system is very young already and potentially not ready to help them at any point in their competitive window between now through 2030 while Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia are under contract.
This is where Burress could fit in. While he may be more of a molded talent already as a collegiate outfielder, his ETA would surely be sooner as a 21-year-old than Booth’s. And from a talent standpoint, Booth’s “weak spots” are Burress strengths with 60 grades on his power abilities and arm. With 55 grades on everything else too, according to Pipeline, he too could be an all-around threat if his full potential is reached.
The cons however comes in the fact that his ceiling may be lower as an older talent and his physical makeup might be his biggest flaw. Booth stands at 6-feet tall while Burress is an undersized outfielder at 5-foot-9, with the Pipeline crew referring to him as “shorter than his listed 5-foot-9”. Height isn’t the be all end all, but more often than not smaller physical profiles aren’t exactly safer, especially at the big league level.
This leaves the Royals with a real tough decision to be made. While anything can happen on draft day and they could very well receive some luck and have their desired choice in Lombard fall right to them, it’s easy to get the sense that that may very well not happen. So, perhaps it’ll come down to Booth and Burress for them.
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