Royals focus on pitching during Day 2 of 2024 MLB Draft
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Kansas City Royals showed a focus on replenishing their farm system with pitching during the second day of the 2024 MLB Draft.
General manager JJ Picollo and the Royals made eight draft picks in rounds 3-10, using seven of them on pitchers. The pitching-heavy focus on Monday followed the Sunday night selections of Florida Gators two-way star Jac Caglianone and 17-year-old Pennsylvania prep pitcher David Shields.
READ MORE: Royals add star two-way player from Florida, high school pitcher in MLB Draft’s first 2 rounds
In the third round, Kansas City selected Tennessee right-handed pitcher Drew Beam with the 76th overall pick. Beam was a third-team All-American and helped the Volunteers win the national championship in 2024. Over three seasons in Knoxville, Beam went 26-8.
Beam’s college teammate at Tennessee, A.J. Causey, was picked by the Royals 138th overall in the fifth round. Causey and Beam were two of the five players from the Southeastern Conference the Royals selected in this draft. That makes up half of the club’s draft class thus far.
It wasn’t until the ninth round that the Royals selected a position player. There, they added Canyon Brown from North Carolina A&T. Brown, a 20-year-old who participated in the 2024 MLB Draft Combine, hit .310 this season.
In all, here are the Royals draft picks through two days:
| Player | Position | School | Round | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jac Caglianone | 1B/LHP | Florida | 1st | 6th |
| David Shields | LHP | Mt. Lebanon High School (Pa.) | 2nd | 41st |
| Drew Beam | RHP | Tennessee | 3rd | 76th |
| LP Langevin | RHP | Louisiana-Lafayette | 4th | 105th |
| A.J. Causey | RHP | Tennessee | 5th | 138th |
| Tanner Jones | RHP | Texas A&M | 6th | 167th |
| Dennis Colleran Jr. | RHP | Northeastern | 7th | 197th |
| Nick Conte | RHP | Duke | 8th | 227th |
| Canyon Brown | C | North Carolina A&T | 9th | 257th |
| Nate Ackenhausen | LHP | Louisiana State University | 10th | 287th |
The 2024 MLB First-Year Player Draft continues at 1 p.m. CT Tuesday with rounds 11-20.
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