The Royals selected high school first baseman Nick Pratto with the No. 14 overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft on Monday night, acquiring a potential building block for their next wave of talent.
Pratto, a native of Huntington Beach, Calif., entered his senior high school season drawing attention from scouts as both a position player and a pitcher. He was ranked as the 17th overall prospect in the draft, according to Baseball America.
In a pre-draft scouting report, Baseball American described Pratto, 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, as a “a left-handed hitter with strike-zone awareness and plate discipline well beyond his years.