Royals feel they got a steal in Baylor’s Loftin, their 2nd pick on draft’s first day
Long before anyone from the Kansas City Royals knew a thing about Nick Loftin, there were sacrifices made by folks around him to facilitate his baseball dreams. So it’s not shocking that Loftin felt the need to single out his mother the day after the Royals made him the No. 32 pick in the 2020 MLB draft.
After all, his mom, Kathy, a former softball player, passed on to him her love of sports and talented skill-set and didn’t mind getting dirty to foster her son’s baseball aspirations. Loftin recalled how she’d hit him ground balls and even plop down on a bucket and serve as his catcher while he fired pitches.
“My mom, she’s been through it all,” Loftin said on a video call Thursday afternoon. “She even retired early just to take me around to practice, to travel me across the country. She even caught my bullpens as a kid. Unfortunately, when I turned 13 and started throwing a little bit harder, she couldn’t catch me.”
The Royals won’t ask Loftin to step on the mound — he made four appearances as a pitcher at Baylor — but they do believe he’s capable of contributing in a lot of ways on the diamond and in the batter’s box. Like his mother, he’s got a wealth of versatility in his game.
A 6-foot-1, 180-pound shortstop and this year’s Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, Loftin said the only position he didn’t play while growing up was catcher. He played outfield at the beginning of his career at Baylor.
Last summer, for Team USA, he started games at shortstop, second base, third base, left field and right field.
That ability to move around the diamond has drawn comparisons to versatile Royals All-Star Whit Merrifield.
“Whit Merrifield, one of the better, versatile guys in the game,” Loftin said. “Definitely it’s exciting, just because of his sheer ability to play the game and play it the right way. When they say guys who will do anything to win, play anywhere to win — that’s just kind of my mentality, as well. I’m here to win, whether that’s me at shortstop, me at second, me in the outfield or me on the mound — I’m there to win and compete.”
Loftin seemingly fell in love with the Royals organization during the scouting process. He referred to the Royals’ scouts and front-office staff as the “most genuine” people he’s met in the game.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore said some of his evaluators compared Loftin favorably to Vanderbilt infielder/outfielder Austin Martin. Martin was widely considered one of the top three prospects available.
Moore went so far as to say there was a “split camp” in the club’s deliberations between Martin and Loftin, at least in part because the Royals’ scouts believed Loftin has the ability to stay at shortstop.
If Texas A&M left-handed pitcher Asa Lacy hadn’t been available at No. 4, the Royals would have considered selecting Loftin that high, Moore said.
“We were sweating it out big-time on Loftin because it was a little bit tough wondering if he’d get to us,” Moore said.
A right-handed hitter, Loftin posted a slash line of .313/.371/.481 in 122 college games. He averaged 13.8 at-bats per strikeout last year as a sophomore. In 14 games this season, he had two homers, two triples and four doubles in 57 at-bats.
Royals scouts like Loftin’s approach and ability to make consistent contact. And they think he has the potential for more power to come.
Royals assistant general manager/amateur scouting Lonnie Goldberg said that the club’s analytics department had its sights set on Loftin since the early winter.
“We think there’s power in the bat, but the things that he brings to the table, the intangibles, the versatility, we still think there’s a lot of ceiling in Nick,” Goldberg said.
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Royals feel they got a steal in Baylor’s Loftin, their 2nd pick on draft’s first day."
