KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -After limping home from a 1-8 road trip, the punchless Kansas City Royals stepped onto the field at Kauffman Stadium and caught a glimpse of what they’re so desperately lacking.
Time after time, 18-year-old Eric Hosmer launched towering line drives in his first swings in a major league park. A week after signing for a $6 million guarantee, the Royals’ first-round pick met the Kansas City media Friday and then suited up for batting practice.
The Royals, in last place in the Central Division and ranking near the bottom of the American League in home runs, RBIs and runs scored, must have been pleased.
One drive off the bat of the 6-foot-4 left-handed first baseman carried into the second tier of the water display behind right field. Only a few balls have been hit that far this season by a team trying to avoid its fifth straight last-place finish in the division.
“It’s always a pleasure to watch a player who has those unique abilities that Eric has,” said Deric Ladnier, the Royals’ director of scouting. “As a scout, you fill out the box with power, with fielding, with the ability to hit, ability to throw. With Eric, it was very easy. You filled out every box.”
The third overall selection in the June draft, Hosmer will report on Saturday to Idaho Falls, a rookie short-season league. How long it will take him to start hitting home runs in Kauffman Stadium for real will be entirely up to him, said general manager Dayton Moore.
“We’re not going to put any artificial timetable on him,” Moore said. “He’s going to start at Idaho Falls and move from there. As he meets the challenges of professional baseball, he’ll graduate from level to level.”
Hosmer spent the summer playing for a team based in Cincinnati in the Connie Mack League. He helped take them to the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, N.M.
“The thing that’s great about Eric and speaks to who he is and the type of baseball player Eric is, and the way he respects the game, is the fact he’s already been away playing in the summer against great competition,” Moore said. “So he already has had that sense of what professional baseball is all about.”
In brief remarks to the media, Hosmer seemed unusually mature for an 18-year-old who’ll be leaving home for the first time.
“I’ll just go out wherever these guys send me and just play the game, play the game I’ve been playing since I was a little boy,” he said. “I’m just going to go out wherever they send me and just have fun. I don’t know how many other guys got picked in the draft, but as of now we’re all in the same spot.
“When I go to Idaho, I’m an Idaho Falls Chukars just like everyone else,” he added. “I’m going to do whatever I can to help that team win.”
Mike Hosmer, a Plantation, Fla., firefighter who helps coach high school baseball, said the entire process with his son has “been quite a ride.”
“The best advice he got was from one of his advisers. He told him, ‘Understand one thing: Baseball is what you do, it’s not who you are,”’ said the elder Hosmer. “If he can remember that, he’ll be OK.”
Asked what he wants for Eric a year from now, Mike Hosmer quoted his wife: “I want my kids to go to bed with a smile and wake up with a smile. It may sound tacky, but that’s the God’s truth. He’s been blessed with ability, with talent, size. He’s just been blessed. Take it and have fun with it.”
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