How the Royals won the recruiting battle for a free agent with ‘light-tower power’
Arkansas-Little Rock catcher Kale Emshoff didn’t face the type of recruiting crunch going into college that hit him on Sunday morning.
A 6-foot-2, 228-pound right-handed hitting farm boy from South Texas, Emshoff found himself in the middle of Major League Baseball’s free-agent frenzy as soon as teams were allowed to contact undrafted free agents at 8 a.m. Central Time (9 a.m Eastern).
Ultimately, he chose to sign with the Kansas City Royals in what Baseball America dubbed the top free-agent signing of the first day of post-draft activity. Emshoff, who had Tommy John surgery in October 2018, ranked No. 174 on Baseball America’s top 500 draft prospects (160 players were drafted last week). MLB.com ranked him No. 146 in its top 200 draft prospects.
Having gone undrafted last week, Emshoff woke up around 7 a.m. Sunday, made some coffee and sat down with his computer, iPad and cell phone in front of him ready in case any teams reached out.
“Right when it hit, I had 15 phone calls in that one minute,” Emshoff said in a phone interview with The Star. “To be honest with you, I didn’t even get a chance to get through them all. Because a scout would call, I would answer and they’d be like, ‘Hey, we’re going to get you on with our GM.’ You can’t tell them no. This is a professional baseball club.”
Throughout the day, clubs blitzed Emshoff with telephone and Zoom calls. Some used former big-league players and perennial All-Stars as part of their recruiting pitch. Others enlisted the help of former teammates and friends who are currently playing within their respective organizations.
Emshoff was talking via speakerphone with the Milwaukee Brewers when he saw Royals scout Matt Price’s call show up. Emshoff and Price formed “a good connection” well before the draft, even before Emshoff’s redshirt junior season this spring.
Emshoff said he and Price had a heart-to-heart in the fall. Price “laid it all on the line” and explained the draft process and how the Royals operate.
Price left a lasting impression, and the Royals’ pitch Sunday sealed the deal.
“Probably the one thing that stuck out the most was how they handled scouting me,” Emshoff said. “Matt Price was just awesome. What a great guy. He preached nothing but family. He wasn’t trying to sell me like a used car salesman. Some of the other clubs were saying, ‘We’ve got this, this, this and this, come here.’
“Matt and the Royals weren’t like that. They were like, ‘Hey, you know what you’re getting into. We’re a family. We don’t cut our minor-leaguers. We pay our minor-leaguers.’ It spoke loudly to me.”
Royal reputation
The Royals have signed six players for $20,000 each since free agency opened: Texas Tech right-handed pitcher John McMillon, Washington State left-handed pitcher A.J. Block, Tennessee right-handed pitcher Chase Wallace, LSU catcher/DH Saul Garza and Georgia outfielder Tucker Bradley and Emshoff.
That group included the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-best signings of the day, according to Baseball America’s Ben Badler.
Last month, Royals general manager Dayton Moore spoke passionately about the club’s decision to not cut any of their minor-league players and to continue to pay them through the minor-league season. Some other clubs have cut players and withheld pay as means of saving money.
Emshoff’s college coach at Arkansas-Little Rock, Chris Curry, had first-hand knowledge of the Royals beyond the Moore quote that “went viral at all levels of baseball.”
A minor-league catcher for eight seasons with the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants, Curry’s last experience in professional baseball came when the Royals released him at the end of spring training in 2007. That was the first year after Moore took over as GM.
Curry insists he didn’t try to steer Emshoff’s final decision, but he’s never forgotten the way in which the Royals, specifically Moore and assistant GM J.J. Picollo, handled his final days in pro ball. They even offered to help him get into scouting or coaching.
“They say in baseball everyone gets told when it’s time to hang the spikes up,” Curry said. “J.J. Picollo and Dayton Moore told me when it was mine, but I have always respected them so much for how they handled it with class.”
Scouting report
In 17 games before the coronavirus put an end to the season, Emshoff hit .417, slugged .800 with a .527 on-base percentage and a Sun Belt Conference-best seven home runs. He ended the shortened campaign on a 13-game hitting streak and had just started to feel like his throwing arm was back to full strength.
“One of my favorite all-time players,” Curry said of Emshoff. “I’ll tell you what. The Royals got a steal, an absolute steal. They got probably a third-round talent for free-agent money.”
If not for his Tommy John surgery going into his junior year, Curry said he expects Emshoff would’ve been a high-round draft pick. His receiving skills, soft hands and ability to block balls in the dirt impressed scouts, Curry said.
But his calling card is his power.
“That has never been a question,” Curry said. “He has light-tower power, middle-of-the-order, major-league power. The key was, ‘Can he stay behind the plate?’ Well, he won the catching job his freshman year. He actually beat out a senior who signed with the Cardinals.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 4:37 PM with the headline "How the Royals won the recruiting battle for a free agent with ‘light-tower power’."
