"It's a matter of waiting, at this point, for the Royals as the hours click down to 6 tonight for the start of Major League Baseball's first-year player draft. Their evaluations are in. Their draft board is in place.

Their selection with the fifth overall pick will, in all likelihood, simply be the highest-ranked player still available on their board.

"You just line the players up on how you'd select them," general manager Dayton Moore confirmed, "That takes a lot of the anxiety away because you've done all of the work."

Pittsburgh, Seattle, Arizona and Baltimore pick before the Royals, who will not make their second selection until the 65th overall selection on their regular turn in the second round.

Speculation on the order of the top selections is likely to continue until the draft unfolds, but the general view is six players comprise the upper tier of talent:

UCLA pitchers Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer; Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon; Virginia pitcher Danny Hultzen and two high school seniors: pitcher Dylan Bundy of Owasso, Okla., and outfielder Bubba Starling of Gardner-Edgerton."