MLB Draft 2012: Kansas City Royals Should Focus on College Pitchers

The 2012 Major League Baseball draft kicks off tonight, and the Kansas City Royals find themselves in an all-too-familiar position of selecting their first player nearly right out of the gate.

Finishing at or near the basement over the years has afforded general manager Dayton Moore and the Royals organization the luxury of assembling what many have considered the best minor league system in all of MLB. Finally having some of that talent make its way to Kansas City should lead toward a reversal of fortunes.

The issue though, is that the starting pitching prospects haven’t quite lived up to the hype or simply haven’t had the opportunity to do so due to injury.

It is all for naught when Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and, eventually, Wil Myers are smacking the ball all around the field if the Royals can’t find ways to develop and maintain the health of starting pitchers like Danny Duffy, John Lamb and Mike Montgomery—all once thought of as top prospects.

Small-market teams like the Royals are crippled in that there isn’t a hoard of cash to buy top-end free agents, and if there is money available, such players want more of it to forfeit playing in cities like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.

This makes scouting and development the most vital aspects of running a small-market team. If the draft is used properly, depth should never be a concern.

Sure, there is a drop-off in talent throughout an organization, but there should be plenty of capable options should injuries or letdowns occur.

Not only have the Royals been stricken with an abnormal amount of injuries to their young starting pitchers, but the lack of development at the major league level has created a perpetual sense of mediocrity around Kansas City. And the lack of money, or lack of ownership’s desire to spend money on free-agent arms, has held this franchise back for years.

If the resources are going to be limited, Moore must be creative in building depth within the organization. There is no better way to add depth than the draft, and with most of the position players in place for the foreseeable future, the Royals need pitching pronto.

While all draft-eligible pitchers have yet to face entire lineups of major league hitting, college pitchers have at least provided the scouts with a sufficient track record and have built up their stamina enough to shorten their time spent in the minor leagues.

The Royals cannot wait for another group of young pitchers to get their feet wet in hopes they will one day have what it takes to serve it up to the big boys.

While the Royals can’t lose sight of their recent philosophy of selecting the best available player who will have the most impact on the big league team, they also need to adequately fill the holes that have been created through their own blunders and/or injuries to key players.

The fact that the Royals need starting pitching is yesterday’s news, but they can make tomorrow’s headlines by stockpiling as many close-to-big-league-ready arms as possible.

Contact Jeremy at [e-mail], on Twitter @KCPopFlyBoy and at popflyboys.com.