Kansas City Royals select Cayden Wallace from Arkansas in 2022 MLB Draft

Former Arkansas star Cayden Wallace was selected by the Kansas City Royals with the 49th pick of the 2022 MLB Draft on Sunday night. Wallace established himself as a top prospect in this year’s draft after a fantastic season and postseason with the Razorbacks at third base.

Cayden Wallace selected by the Kansas City Royals

There goes Arkansas Razorbacks third baseman Cayden Wallace as the 49th overall pick to the Royals,” said D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers of the pick. “Dayton Moore got plenty of good looks at him with the Hogs. Wallace is tooled up, has a terrific hit tool and was great defensively in the postseason.”

The Razorbacks finished last season with a deep playoff push and came within a game of reaching the College World Series finals before falling to eventual national champion Ole Miss. Wallace, the No. 31 prospect on the MLB Draft Tracker rankings this year, was a major part of Arkansas’ success — hitting 30 home runs and batting a .289 average in two seasons at the college level.

Draft experts felt that Wallace could be a late first-round, early second-round prospect in this year’s draft, and his selection in the second round is notable as the draft continued to have position players taken off the board at a far faster rate than pitchers. Wallace was selected just six spots after Ivan Melendez from Texas and two spots before Oklahoma‘s Peyton Graham.

Still available in the draft after Wallace’s selection were teammates like pitcher Peyton Pallette, second baseman Robert Moore and shortstop Jalen Battles — all three of which are listed as top-200 prospects coming into the draft.

While highlighting the talent that Wallace has shown, MLB Network’s 80-grade rating system listed Wallace’s arm strength as a 65 — one of the stronger arms of the draft and a big reason for his success at the hot corner.