5 facts about new Royal Drew Waters: Meteoric rise, swing & miss struggles, charity dingers

Atlanta Braves top prospect Drew Waters is now a part of the Kansas City Royals organization.

The Royals added the outfielder as the biggest piece in a trade for the 35th pick in the 2022 MLB Draft on Monday.

With a potential trade of left fielder Andrew Benintendi and the injury to longtime Royal Whit Merrifield, Waters could possibly make his major league debut this season for the Royals.

He was added to Kansas City’s 40-man roster shortly after the deal was officially announced Monday.

Here’s five things to know about Waters, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound outfielder who was ranked the Braves’ No. 1 prospect by MLB Pipeline:

Georgia born, Georgia raised

Waters was as much of a hometown prospect as it gets for the Braves.

The prospect from Woodstock, Georgia hit 13 home runs and 35 RB with a 1.126 slugging percentage to lead Etowah High School to a state championship his senior season.

He also won Gatorade Georgia Baseball Player of the Year and Metro Atlanta High School Player of the Year.

Waters committed to Georgia to play college baseball before the Braves selected him 41st overall in the 2017 MLB Draft and he has played in suburban Atlanta for the Triple-A Braves affiliate Gwinnett Stripers since 2019.

Meteoric rise

After being drafted out of high school, Waters didn’t take long to make his mark in pro ball. Here’s how he played at almost each level of the Braves’ minor league system before hitting Triple-A:

Rookie: .347/.448/.571 with two home runs, 10 RBIs, seven walks and 11 strikeouts in 14 games

Rookie advanced:.255/.331/.383 with two home runs, 14 RBIs, 16 walks and 59 strikeouts in 36 games

Class A: .303/.353/.513 with nine home runs, 36 RBIs, 21 walks and 72 strikeouts in 84 games

High-A: .268/.316/.374 with no home runs, three RBIs, eight walks and 33 strikeouts in 30 games

Double-A: .319/.366/.481 with five home runs, 41 RBIs, 28 walks and 121 strikeouts in 108 games

It only took Waters two years from his first game for the Gulf Coast League Braves to be promoted to Triple-A in August 2019.

His standout performance in Double-A as one of the youngest players at that level put scouts on notice and vaulted him into many of baseball’s top 100 prospects lists.

Swing and miss struggles

When Waters first hit the Triple A-level, however, the higher level of pitching gave Waters some trouble. His 36.1% strikeout rate in his first 26 games to finish the 2019 season put a damper on his fast rise through the system.

He worked with Braves’ development staff during the canceled 2020 minor league season, and he’s only managed to show slight improvement in his 2021 and 2022 seasons, lowering his strikeout rate to 27.1% and cutting his chase rate significantly but still slashing around the .700 OPS mark in all three seasons.

With potential plus defense at all three outfield positions and speed that showed with 28 stolen bases in 2021, Waters’ performance at the plate is the last piece holding him back from a promotion.

Nagging hamstring injuries

After spending the spring in big-league camp, Waters’ regular season got off to a slow start with a hamstring injury and a rehab assignment in Class A.

It didn’t take him long to return from the injury, but the hamstring once again flared up at the start of May. This time around, a few days off and a couple of games as a designated hitter were enough for him to return to full duty.

Waters has rarely missed games throughout his career, and as more time has passed since his injury, his hitting hasn’t improved: he slashed slightly better in May than in June.

Organizing charity home run derby

As a senior in high school, Waters organized a charity home run derby to benefit a 9-year-old baseball player who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

According to the Cherokee Tribune & Ledger News, Waters hosted the event called “Crushin’ for Carson” and raised over $11,300 to benefit Carson Roszman and his family.

Waters first heard about Roszman playing while in a tournament in Florida and decided to help the younger player while he was looking at what he could do for his senior project.

More than 10 current and former baseball players participated in the home run derby and the event, which included a raffle of Atlanta sports memorabilia.