gold star for USAHOF
 
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44. Bud Black

For three seasons, Bud Black was a successful Starting Pitcher for the Kansas City Royals.  In 1984, Black would go 17 and 12 with a WHIP of 1.128, which was good enough to lead the AL in that statistical category.  Bud Black would later assist the Royals in winning the World Series and afterward would be in the bullpen for two more seasons.

Black had a 56-57 record with a 3.73 ERA for Kansas City.

Mike Moustakas played the first eight and a half seasons of his career with the Kansas City Royals, where he may not have been the best player, but he was among the most popular.  While it can be debated that he hasn’t had the production you would hope for in regards to a second overall pick, Moustakas (or “Moose” as he is called) has certainly had a good career and was vital to the Royals 2015 World Series Championship.

Tom “Flash” Gordon’s long baseball career began with the Kansas City Royals where in 1989 he would be the runner-up for the American League Rookie of the Year Award.  Arguably this would be the best year he would have as a Starting Pitcher where he went 17 and 9 with 153 Strikeouts but he would have three more seasons with Kansas City where he whiffed 140 or more batters.  Gordon would go 79 and 71 for Kansas City but would achieve greater success in his career as a Relief Pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.

Greg Holland rose up the ranks in the Kansas City Royals organization where he was designed to be a reliever from the get-go.  With his reliable four-seam fastball, Holland would never start a game for KC but would work his way from middle relief to the full-time closer’s role when Jonathan Broxton was traded to Cincinnati on July 31, 2012.  It proved to be a wise trade for the Royals.