OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Former Creighton outfielder and Omaha native Nolan Sailors is set to begin his professional career and journey to Major League Baseball.
The Ralston High School graduate was selected by the Kansas City Royals 128th overall in the fourth round of the 2025 MLB Draft on Monday.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is crazy. This is happening,’” Sailors said. “It was definitely a crazy experience. This whole thing going down is crazy just to be able to have the opportunity to play pro ball.”
Should Sailors ascend through the minors, he has a chance to return home to play professionally, as the Omaha Storm Chasers are the Triple-A affiliate of the Royals.
“Seeing my name selected by the Royals, it’s absurd,” Sailors said. “Growing up, Omaha kid, you’ve got the Storm Chasers and then Kansas City down the road. It’s awesome to stay in the Midwest, can’t wait to go down there.”
Sailors capped his final college season with career highs in nearly every major statistical offensive category. He batted .389 with a .485 on-base percentage and collected 88 hits, 60 runs and 27 stolen bases over 59 games — all personal bests, while slugging 1.069.
Sailors played in 207 career games for Creighton — starting 203 — and helped guide the Bluejays to 43 wins this season, the program’s highest total since 2011. The Bluejays swept both the Big East regular-season and tournament titles and reached the NCAA Regional Final for the first time since 2019.
Sailors is the 88th player in Creighton history to be drafted and the fifth to be taken by the Royals, per Creighton Assistant AD/Communications Rob Anderson.
Nolan Sailors is the 5th former Creighton player to be drafted by the Kansas City Royals, joining
James Lemon, 1973 Round 39
Steve Hinton, 1991 Round 9
Nicky Lopez, 2016 Round 5
Michael Emodi, 2018 Round 11 https://t.co/f44pTiDnxa
— Rob Anderson (@_robanderson) July 14, 2025
“There’s definitely a lot of people around here — friends, family — who are Royals fans, so that’s awesome,” Sailors said.
Sailors’ final season coincided with the end of Ed Servais’ tenure as head coach at Creighton. Mark Kingston has since taken over the program.
Servais reflects on upcoming retirement from Creighton baseball
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