\n
Player to watch: Ethan McElvain, LHP<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n- Round 5, Pick 151<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Bats\/throws:<\/strong>\u00a0S\/L<\/li>\n
- School:<\/strong>\u00a0Arkansas<\/li>\n
- Calling Card:<\/strong>\u00a0McElvain established himself as one of the top lefty relievers in the Draft with more success at Arkansas this past spring than Vanderbilt the previous two seasons. He posted a 1.88 ERA with a 34.4 percent strikeout rate and a drastically improved 8.1 percent walk rate with the Razorbacks, who had him rely heavily on his mid-90s fastball that touches 98 mph with good carry. He pairs that with a cutter, and there\u2019s potential for a breaking ball in his arsenal as well. McElvain\u2019s improved command has the Royals thinking he can pitch effectively out of the bullpen, and his stuff, mentality and presence on the mound could find him in a late-inning role.<\/li>\n
- Quote:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cKicking [Day 2] off with McElvain and what he\u2019s done as a left-handed reliever, he\u2019s kind of elite in that league. I think he\u2019s only given up two hits all year against left-handers. Just getting that kind of guy with his makeup and that mentality. Not to speak too soon, but I think [we\u2019ll see him] sooner rather than later.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 Bridges<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Rounds 11-15<\/strong>
The Royals continued to stick with pitching but used the middle rounds here to grab two up-the-middle players in St. Mary\u2019s outfielder Tanner Griffith and prep catcher Banks Wickersham out of Fort Dorchester (S.C.) HS.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
Player to watch: Tanner Griffith, OF<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n- Round 11, Pick 329<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Bats\/throws:<\/strong>\u00a0L\/R<\/li>\n
- School:<\/strong>\u00a0Saint Mary\u2019s<\/li>\n
- Calling Card:<\/strong>\u00a0Griffith had a standout year for the Gaels, who made it to the NCAA Tournament this past spring. He slashed .342\/.477\/.545 in 62 games and performed well in the postseason, including going 3-for-3 with a run scored and a double in the NCAA Regional final against Cal Poly. Griffith is a toolsy hitter, and all 60 of his defensive appearances this past year were in center field \u2014 so his athleticism certainly fits with what the Royals have targeted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Rounds 16-20<\/strong>
The late rounds is where you start to see teams take some more chances on players who might have signability issues, and the Royals have leaned into the trend over the past couple of years \u2014 often with success at getting the player into their organization. They\u2019ll hope that\u2019s the case again with righty Hudson DeVaughan, an Alabama commit who brings a lot of upside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
Player to watch: Hudson DeVaughan, RHP<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n- Round 19, Pick 569<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Bats\/throws:<\/strong>\u00a0R\/R<\/li>\n
- School:<\/strong>\u00a0Mooresville (Ind.) HS<\/li>\n
- Calling Card:<\/strong>\u00a0The Royals made a splash here by taking DeVaughan, who was ranked 138th on Pipeline\u2019s board. There\u2019s middle-to-upper end rotation potential here with his projectable 6-foot-5 frame that should add strength \u2014 and he\u2019s already sitting 93-95 mph with his fastball that rides. He also has a cutter, two-seamer and a feel for two breaking balls that show some promise. DeVaughn dealt with injuries over the past year but emerged as one of the best prep arms out of the Midwest this Draft, and the Royals took a chance on him late. It sounds like DeVaugan is the one player they might be concerned about not being able to sign, but they\u2019ll do everything they can to get him into pro ball.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.adastraradio.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Royals took a bit of a different route on the first day of the 2026 MLB Draft, at least according to the industry, especially with their first pick when they selected Louisville outfielder\u00a0Zion Rose\u00a0at\u00a0No. 6 overall\u00a0on Saturday. On Day 2, they went heavy on arms, with 13 of their 16 picks being pitchers. By […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2180438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[340464,492916,27155],"class_list":["post-2501391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-340464","tag-picks","tag-royals"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Royals-Hire-McFerran-from-As-to-Replace-Bove-as-Assistant.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2501391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2501392,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501391\/revisions\/2501392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2180438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2501391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2501391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2501391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}