When the Kansas City Royals drafted Christian Binford in the 30th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, he already had a verbal commitment to play collegiate baseball at the University of Virginia but decided to forgo that and begin his professional baseball career.
It’s certainly hard to gauge what you’re getting in a 30th round draft pick but diamonds have emerged from all over. The Royals certainly took their time with Binford who had already recovered from Tommy John Surgery as a sophomore at Mercersburg Academy.
He started out the 2012 season playing for the Burlington Royals, the team’s rookie league.