{"id":699888,"date":"2026-05-15T20:48:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T20:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/699888\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T20:48:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T20:48:19","slug":"kansas-city-royals-first-round-pick-making-noise-early-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/699888\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City Royals&#8217; First-Round Pick Making Noise Early This Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">The Kansas City Royals\u2019 Single-A affiliate, the Columbia Fireflies, features a handful of young talent. From pitchers to position players, three of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/milb\/prospects\/royals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Royals\u2019 top five<\/a> prospects are currently playing in Columbia.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">One player in particular has been turning heads and has been very productive at the plate for the Fireflies to start the season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"74\">19-year-old shortstop Josh Hammond was selected by the Royals with the 28th overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. So far this season, he is showing exactly why Kansas City took him in the first round.<\/p>\n<p>Josh Hammond joins MLB Pipeline\u2019s Top 100 Prospects list<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01krpmswj9ysgybs97fh.jpg\" alt=\"Kansas City Royals ball bag \" title=\"Kansas City Royals ball bag \" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7h\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Apr 21, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals ball bag sits on the field prior to the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\">MLB Pipeline updated its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/milb\/prospects\/top100\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Top 100 Prospects list<\/a> on Wednesday, with Hammond checking in at No. 96. He joins fellow Columbia teammate Kendry Chourio, who ranks No. 79, along with catching prospect Blake Mitchell, who sits at No. 55.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">Hammond has earned his spot on the list with the production he has provided for the Fireflies this season at the plate. Through 125 at-bats in 2026, he has posted a .296\/.382\/.480 slash line with 17 RBIs.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">The infielder was drafted out of Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point, North Carolina. While he was drafted as a shortstop, he is also more than capable of playing third base because of his strong arm.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7u\">He spent time on the mound in high school, where his fastball reached an impressive 96 mph. <a href=\"https:\/\/baseballsavant.mlb.com\/savant-player\/josh-hammond-815843?stats=career-r-hitting-milb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">According to Statcast<\/a>, he received a 65-grade arm on the scouting scale.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7x\">Hammond is a very athletic infielder who stands at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds. Entering the draft, he was viewed as a high-upside prospect because of his power potential, bat and overall athleticism.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"80\">It did not take long for him to showcase his skills at the plate. In early April, Hammond recorded a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/news\/260410-hammond-hammers-four-extra-base-hits-in-6-2-win?tag=playerid-815843\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">four-extra-base-hit game<\/a> that included his first professional home run, a triple and two doubles in Columbia\u2019s 6-2 win.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"83\">The young shortstop is off to a hot start in his professional career and is showing why he is considered one of the top prospects in the Royals\u2019 farm system. He will be a player to watch as he continues to work his way through Kansas City\u2019s organization.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Kansas City Royals\u2019 Single-A affiliate, the Columbia Fireflies, features a handful of young talent. From pitchers to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,936,2123,55,2596,2595,4,252],"class_list":{"0":"post-699888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-royals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-kansas","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-royals","12":"tag-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascityroyals","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116580562248666481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}