The Kansas City Royals shocked the baseball world in last year’s draft by selecting Frank Mozzicato with the seventh overall selection. Mozzicato, a left-handed pitcher from a cold weather state, was roughly a top 50 player—a bit of a far cry from a top 10 player. The Royals’ selection of Mozzicato echoed their selection of Hunter Dozier in 2013, a play made by the team to strategize around the somewhat convoluted draft signing bonus pool rules. By picking a player who would accept an underslot bonus with their top pick, a team can instead spread around that bonus to multiple players.
The 2021 Royals draft class, one year later
