Well the draft got off to a wild start when the Houston Astros passed on Mark Appel, whom everyone had penciled in as the first overall pick. Instead, Houston selected Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa as the first overall pick.
Coupled with the Minnesota Twins selecting Georgia high school outfielder Byron Buxton, it allowed Kansas City to have the ability to at least be able to draft one of the top three college pitchers that were thought to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
So with the fifth overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft, the Kansas City Royals selected pitcher Kyle Zimmer out of the University of San Francisco.
In baseball, you rarely are ever selecting for need, but the Royals really needed an advanced pitcher who could advance through the minor leagues quickly. The Royals were certainly poised to be in position to select Mark Appel from Stanford University. Appel, a Scott Boras client, possibly fell because of signability issues after Houston passed on him as the first overall pick.
Zimmer, who was ranked third overall by Baseball America, has only been pitching for two years. He best pitch is his mid to high 90's fastball, which lead him to 5-3 record this season with a 2.85 ERA. He truck out 104, while walking just 17.
At 6'4" 220 lbs, the big right-hander has drawn early comparisons to Jarrod Parker and/or Adam Wainwright.
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