The 2018 Kansas City Royals draft was an important one. It came in the middle of what would be the second-worst season in Royals history and was the first real draft of the new rebuild. And thanks to a mediocre 80-82 season in 2017, the departures of Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain in free agency, and the competitive balance round meant to help small market teams stay competitive, the Royals had an abundance of picks to help them kick off the rebuild.
Kansas City owned the 18th overall pick, but their true opportunity was through the sheer number of picks the Royals had.