Mock Version 4.11 ;)

[OsandBohs11]

Why would the Royals take Beckham? They took Moustakas last year and he's supposed to be a stud SS. Makes more sense for them to take a pitcher.

[Stotle]

Why would the Royals take Beckham? They took Moustakas last year and he's supposed to be a stud SS. Makes more sense for them to take a pitcher.

Moustakas figures to shift to 3b (I believe he has already). Beckham is one of the few prep SS who projects to stay at SS.

[Hutman]

Why would the Royals take Beckham? They took Moustakas last year and he's supposed to be a stud SS. Makes more sense for them to take a pitcher.

I could see the Royals going both ways in this draft. They have a good GM in place who is drafting some very nice players. I think Crow is a given if he drops to 3, Melville is certainly a possibility too. But I'm sure they would look long and hard at Beckham if he is there at 3 as well. He's a huge upside guy.

[DennisTheOsFan]

If the draft goes like this:

1) Alvarez

2) Crow

3) Beckham

then I'd probably take Matusz over Smoak with our 4th pick. If he's as good as advertised, he's the guy I'd prefer (even though we are short on positional players).

Yes, we do have a lot of young arms in the minors. But a good majority of them will not live up to their potential. We may have 10 young guys we are optimistically penciling in as our future arms in Baltimore, but odds are only a handful of them will make it (if that).

Matusz could give us another arrow to aim at the bullseye with, in the event that our other arrows miss the mark.

In the lucky event that we hit the jackpot with a lot of our young arms, we can use the excess to reel in positional players to fill in holes.

Strong pitching (and good defense) will always keep us competitive in games. I like that McPhail is focusing on these 2 areas.

[allstar1579]

Moustakas figures to shift to 3b (I believe he has already). Beckham is one of the few prep SS who projects to stay at SS.

Depends on when they are planning on competing. Gordon is blocking Moustakas at 3B, but that won't be an issue for another 2-3 years. Same thing with Beckham, as he is a HS SS, he wont be ready for a good 2-4 years, and won't help them in the short term. With the spending trend they have been on lately, I think you can look for KC to take the best college SP to pair with Hochever, Bannister, and Meche. If there was a stud college corner OF going in the top 5, I'd say that is their pick, but I expect them to start shifting from future picks to now picks.

That being said, PIT is a team that is looking for a Beckham. They have time to wait for HS players to develop, traded away a big SS prospect in Lillibridge, and avoid Boras clients.

Of potential droppers, I'd look for Alvarez to be the most likely to slide to us, with Matusz, Hosmer, and Smoak all still on the board.