How the KC Royals managed the MLB Draft to land unique prospect Austin Charles

In the middle of a summer being dominated by two larger-than-life figures — New York Yankees record-setting slugger and outfielder Aaron Judge and transformative two-way player and Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani — the Kansas City Royals made perhaps the most intriguing selection of the MLB Draft.

They selected Austin Charles out of Bakersfield, California, and Stockdale High School where he’d drawn comparisons to Judge because of his size and athleticism. Meanwhile, Charles’ potential on the mound — including a fastball between 90 and 95 mph — caused scouts to seriously debate if he’d be better suited as a position player or a pitcher.

The 6-foot-6, 215-pound Charles, 18, signed with the Royals despite being selected in the 20th round with the 595th overall pick after having been rated by MLB.com as the 109th-best prospect in the draft class.

The selection left Royals scouting director Danny Ontiveros joyfully elated following the draft.

“It’s a mold of clay that you can just build,” Ontiveros said of Charles’ potential. “The ceiling is just very high.”

Ontiveros, who first met Charles’ family more than a decade earlier while scouting his older brother, gushed about the selection. He described Charles as a “tremendous athlete” with “tremendous upside” who played shortstop at 6-foot-6 and made it “look easy.”

Then Ontiveros couldn’t help himself as he dropped a tremendously lofty comparison on Charles.

“I saw Aaron Judge. I don’t want to say he’s Aaron Judge, but I saw Aaron at Linden High School,” Ontiveros said. “ … When you look at Austin, it’s the first thing that comes to mind.”

Charles began his professional career as a shortstop at the Royals’ training complex in Arizona this summer.

Getting him into the fold took a combination of old-school scouting acumen, creative thinking in how to manage the draft, the Royals’ willingness to take the risk on a player they weren’t assured to sign and their belief in the player and his unique talent.

A surprising and shrewd selection

Charles had committed to play collegiate baseball at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Based on what he’d heard leading up to the draft, Charles thought a team might select him on the first day of the draft (the first 80 picks) or the second day (316 total picks), but he didn’t go in with any steadfast expectations.

“I feel like everything happens for a reason,” Charles said of being drafted by the Royals during a recent phone interview with The Star. “I’m just thankful for the opportunity, blessed.”

Some teams viewed him as a pitcher only. Others saw him as a shortstop. Some were open to him being a two-way player, at least to start his career.

Of course, once no team picked him through the first two days of the draft, it became somewhat of a risky proposition for any team to select him. After all, he had the option to not sign, go to college, potentially raise his draft stock and profile and then re-enter the draft in three years.

But the Royals rolled the dice in the final round and selected the two-way talent.

”Honestly, I was surprised that they took me,” Charles said. “I had talked to them a little bit, but I wasn’t sure how interested they were.”

Maximizing the draft

MLB regulates the amount of money a team has to spend to sign draft picks. The “draft pool” is a set allotment based on the number of picks and the position of those picks.

The Royals reduced their draft pool a week before the draft by trading away a competitive balance round pick to the Atlanta Braves. However, the Royals have had a history of signing top picks for an amount below the slot value of that pick in order to spend that savings later in the draft.

They did it in 2013 when Hunter Dozier signed for a below-slot value, and then they got Sean Manaea to sign for a bigger bonus than the slot value for his draft position.

They signed 2021 first-round pick Frankie Mozzicato for below the slot amount and then used those savings to sign both Ben Kudrna and Carter Jensen at above-slot amounts. Luca Tresh, selected in the 17th round of that draft, also signed for a value commensurate with a fourth- or fifth-round selection.

After Charles signed this summer, Royals general manager J.J. Picollo also indicated that the Royals had Charles in mind as they maneuvered to create pool money savings with signings in the top 10 rounds of the draft.

Charles reportedly signed for a bonus of $429,500.

“We were very excited,” Picollo said. “He was a 20th-round pick but certainly not a 20th-round talent.”

Picollo echoed Ontiveros’ physical comparison to Aaron Judge and added that other scouts saw elements of Hall of Famer Dave Winfield’s swing in Charles.

“You can dream a lot,” Picollo said. “This is what scouting is about. You find a guy who has got strength and tools and a desire to play and wants to play professional baseball. It causes us to be excited.”

Baseball America (No. 16) and MLBPipeline.com (No. 18) already rank Charles among the top 20 prospects in the Royals’ organization.

A standout with room for growth

“I think (the Royals) getting Austin the round (they) did is the steal of the century,” Stockdale High School baseball coach Brad Showers said.

Showers felt Charles compared favorably to another Bakersfield-area prep product in Cutter Coffey, who the Boston Red Sox selected in the second round of the draft (41st overall)

“Boy, getting that talent in the 20th round, unheard of,” Showers exclaimed.

With Charles leading the way as a senior, Stockdale won the Southwest Yosemite League and Central Section Division I championships. Charles batted .483 with 13 doubles, 13 home runs and 57 RBIs.

As a pitcher, Charles featured a three-pitch mix (fastball, changeup, slider) and posted a 5-0 record with a 1.36 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings. He tossed a complete game with 10 strikeouts in the Central Section championship game.

“I’ve told myself if he can’t make it, I don’t know how good you’ve got to be — because he’s the best ballplayer I’ve seen,” Showers said. “I’m 53 and I’ve been doing this for 30 plus years. I’ve never had a 6-foot-6, 210-pounder do what he could do.

“He’s going to end up being a big man, a big, strong man.”

Charles’ mother, Brandy, was an All-American volleyball player at Cal State Bakersfield and still ranks among program’s all-time leaders in blocks. His father, Arthur, played Division I basketball at Boise State.

His eldest brother, Art, was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles out of high school and then by the Toronto Blue Jays out of college. He’s currently playing in the Mexican League. His other brother, Aaron, pitched for Cal State Bakersfield.

Not only does Charles have physical growth ahead of him, Showers painted Charles as just starting to grow into his skill set.

As a senior, things “clicked” with his swing, and his strength showed more at the plate. He was also a threat on the bases, and Showers raved about Charles’ smoothness in the field.

“Of course, I thought he’d grow out of the position,” Showers said. “But he got better. He totally got better. I know all the scouts that have scouted him think that he’s going to be a corner guy or possibly an outfielder. But he’s the best high school shortstop I’ve seen. I don’t know if they’re going to stick with him, but he’s got options. He could play anywhere.”

Taking the leap into pro ball

Even with the steps the Royals took to make a strong offer, Charles still had a decision to make between going pro or going to college. The day he had to decide whether to sign with the Royals was also move-in day at UC Santa Barbara.

He continued to weigh both options for as long as possible because he wanted to be absolutely certain, and he couldn’t rush certainty.

“I didn’t have anything packed yet,” Charles said. “I was just thinking a lot, talking to my parents, just trying to really, really figure out what I wanted to do.”

His parents were going to support whichever decision he made. Charles picked the brain of his older brother, Art, who’d been through the draft process and also decided to play in college.

Ultimately, Charles chose to start working on things now in hopes of accelerating his path to the big leagues.

“I just came to the realization that if I started doing this process now, it’s going to put me ahead in the long term,” Charles said.

The Royals told Charles from the beginning that they’d develop him as a position player, if that’s what he wanted. They’d look at pitching as a fallback option.

“The Royals, they believe in me,” Charles said. “That’s nice, having somebody that also believes in you. They’re going to let me do what I love until I can’t anymore, pretty much.”

They also made it clear that they would start him at shortstop, his natural position. The Royals’ message to him so far has been: You go and play ball the way you know you can and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.

“I truly believe that I’m a shortstop at the next level,” Charles said. “I feel like I could do it. That’s kind of like the new game. If you look at the shortstops, a lot of these dudes are taller dudes now.

“I always believe in myself and feel like I can keep going as long as I keep working and staying mobile.”

As far as the Judge comparisons, Charles has heard them before. Being his size and playing high school baseball in the same state that produced Judge, it was fairly inevitable.

If there are similarities between Charles’ swing and Judge’s, it’s not coincidental.

Charles breaks down Judge’s swing and looks for things to incorporate into his own game. Since they’re similar in height and have long limbs and levers to sync up, it only makes sense.

“I’m not going to have the same swing as somebody who is 5-8,” Charles said.

But Charles doesn’t look at the comparisons as pressure or expectations. He’s not trying to be Aaron Judge, but he’s also not going to turn his nose up at the idea that he could have a similar impact.

“Whenever I hear that Aaron Judge comp, I take that as a compliment,” Charles said. “You look at the stuff that he’s doing now and the season he had, his successes, I feel like that’s a compliment to me.

“I’ve always been a utility guy, so if that’s what it comes down to — me playing the outfield — I feel like I could do that well too.”