It was like looking into a crystal ball. When the Kansas City Royals held a Futures Game on April 4, 2011, it was a preview of what would be the nucleus of the 2015 world champion.

Future champions taking the field for that exhibition were Lorenzo Cain, Danny Duffy, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez, as well as Louis Coleman, and Christian Colon. The Royals’ farm system had recently been rated the best in baseball, and the futures game also featured Wil Myers, who would become an all-star in San Diego.

But the MVP of that exhibition, and the top rated of all the brilliant prospects, went on to win a World Series, just not in Kansas City.

Drafted by Kansas City in the first round of the 2008, pitcher Mike Montgomery was the #14 rated player in the minor leagues in 2011. Two seasons later, he was part of the deal that brought Wade Davis and James Shields from Tampa Bay.

Montgomery watched on TV as his old Royals mates claimed the 2015 title. But he was on the mound on Nov. 2, 2016 when the Chicago Cubs finally broke a 108-year championship drought. He threw the final pitch, thrust his hands into the air as the final out was recorded, and was mobbed by his teammates.

“It was an awesome feeling, that as time goes by, I’ll appreciate it more,” said the 30-year-old left-hander. “In the moment, and even the last few years, I haven’t really taken the time to see it for what it was.”

In the way that life brings things full circle, Montgomery is now back where it all started, traded to the Royals in July.

“Now being here, I can kind of look back on it and say ‘That was an unbelievable accomplishment,’ in what I think was one of the best World Series this game has ever seen. So to have had success in that is something that I can take with me.

“But I don’t want to be known for just that. I want to be a good pitcher for a lot of years. It was a great achievement, but I want to be able to accomplish a lot more than just that before I’m done.”

When Montgomery worked his heroics in Chicago, he did so out of the bullpen. The Cubs played 17 playoff games in that historic run, and Montgomery pitched in 11 of them. He threw some of the most important innings in the history of the franchise.

But there was one problem. Montgomery always saw himself as a starter.

He faithfully did what the Cubs asked, thankful to be in the major leagues, and eager to contend for championships. But the desire to be a starting pitcher never faded. The Cubs knew it, and they obliged. They didn’t have a spot in their rotation, so when they needed a backup catcher, they traded Montgomery to Kansas City for Martin Maldonado.

With their dismal record, the Royals have the luxury of auditioning players for the future. Montgomery will be given every opportunity to demonstrate what he can do in the rotation.

“It’s been good so far,” Montgomery said. “I’ve wanted to start, but the opportunities weren’t there in Chicago. You don’t have a lot of control over things in this game, but when I heard (I would be sent) here, I was super excited. I got drafted by these guys, and they told me when they made the trade, ‘We want you as a starter, and that’s what we want you to be successful at.’ I’m thankful for the opportunity here and I’m just trying to make the most of it.”

When Montgomery achieved elite-prospect status, he did so strictly as a starter. After two years in the Tampa Bay system, Montgomery was traded in 2015 to the Seattle Mariners. He made his big league debut that year, starting 16 games for the Mariners, which included two complete-game shutouts.

But the Mariners moved Montgomery to the bullpen in 2016, then traded him mid-season to Chicago, where Montgomery made history as a reliever. Since then, he’s been used as a “swing man,” starting when the team is shorthanded, but otherwise working in every relief situation possible.

“I didn’t ever get settled into that consistent routine,” Montgomery said about his years in Chicago. “Without that consistent schedule, it’s tough. There were plenty of times where I would start, and then I would come out of the bullpen two days later. So physically it’s hard. Mentally it’s difficult because you never really get that consistency.

“Some people are really good at (the swing role). It’s hard because you’re not able to stay sharp, when you’re coming in in the ninth inning one day, and then starting the game the next day. That’s definitely a tough role. But I’ve done that for a few years, and I felt like I did the best I could at it.

“So I’m glad to just get into one set role and see what I can do. I’ve started enough in my career to really understand that routine. I think now I know what it takes to be successful at that role. So that’s where I’m at now.”

Where Montgomery is at now is exactly where the Royals envisioned him a decade ago, when he and current teammates Perez and Duffy were storming through the minor leagues. He hasn’t forgotten the thrill of taking the Kauffman Stadium mound in 2011, in the starring role of the Royals Futures Game.

“I was a lot different pitcher back then. I was young, with a really live arm. I look back and think, ‘If I knew then what I know now, with a 21-year-old arm, yeah that would be great.’

“But you’re much better off with experience to draw from. I think now – being around the game, being with my fourth team, fourth pitching coach in four years – you just learn a lot that helps you be a better pitcher.

“That was a long time ago. I feel like I’m so much better now. But those are good memories for sure. We had a lot of fun. The fans were excited about the future, and we were excited as well.

“Now me and Duffy and ‘Salvy’ are the only ones here from that group. They had their World Series, and we had one in Chicago. It’s cool how things work out.”

Montgomery is building himself slowly back into a starting pitcher. His seven starts in Kansas City have brought mixed results. But he isn’t afraid to patiently endure the hardships, because he foresees success down the road for the Royals.

“There are good players here. You have to figure out how to win in this game. It takes more than just talent. It’s kind of a chemistry thing. For me, it’s just about taking care of my job, making sure that when I go out there, I’m fully prepared to give the team a chance to win.”

With hardly any of the fanfare of the annual NFL and NBA drafts, the major league baseball draft, which will begin Monday, will have a long lasting affect on the fortunes of the Royals, a franchise desperate for an infusion of new talent.

Not only will a lot of young amateurs become rich men tomorrow, but the futures of franchises will be largely determined by the selections made. The baseball draft is much more of a crapshoot than are the drafts of the other major sports. A surprisingly small percentage of the young players drafted will ever reach the major leagues, much less make a significant impact on the franchises that invested millions of dollars in them.

With a farm system widely viewed as the worst in baseball, the Royals need to build upon the work they did in the draft a year ago. Fans have their hopes pinned on a crop of 2017 draftees who are currently honing their skills at the A-ball level. The Royals selected high school first baseman Nick Pratto in the first round, then added a couple of other highly thought-of prospects. Based on rankings from this spring, the Royals added their second, third and fourth best prospects in the most recent draft.

They have an excellent opportunity in 2018 to stockpile even more talent. Thanks to compensatory picks awarded for the loss of free agents, the Royals possess four of the top 40 picks in this draft.

It won’t be for several years, however, before we know if the Royals drafted well or not.

Even taking into account slow development, generally you expect a high round draft pick taken out of college to reach the majors in 2 to 3 years, and one from the high school ranks pick to reach within about 5 years. In each case, that puts the player arriving at the big league level at about 23 years of age.

Using this criteria, high school players drafted between 2008 and 2013, and college players drafted between 2010 and 2015 should make up at least a portion of the Royals roster. Some advance a little quicker, some develop a little slower.

With this in mind, the Royals current problems can be blamed in large part upon unproductive drafting in the first round the past several years.

Considering that baseball drafting is very hit and miss, the Royals were considerably effective with their top picks in the 2000s, which led directly to their success in 2014 and 2015. Zach Greinke (drafted in 2002 and flipped for key pieces in 2010), Billy Butler (2004), Alex Gordon (2005), Luke Hochevar (2006), Mike Moustakas (2007) and Eric Hosmer (2008) were all taken while the Royals drafted in enviably high positions each year, due to their dreadful performance at the big league level.

Sadly, time marches on, and the Royals needed to continue their run of success in the first round of the draft to backfill as those players aged and their big league contracts ran out. For a variety of reasons, that hasn’t happened.

Imagine if, in the five years following the drafting of Hosmer in 2008, the Royals had used first round draft picks on two front-line starting pitchers, a legitimate shortstop, third baseman and centerfielder. Those players would all be relatively new to the big leagues and under club control for the next several years. With pieces like that in place, the current rebuild would be more like a reload.

Unfortunately the players described above are not to be found in Kansas City.

In 2009, the Royals drafted Washburn Rural’s own Aaron Crow, a college pitcher who contributed to the Royals rebuild, but was derailed by injuries. In 2010, they took college shortstop Christian Colon, who was with the Royals during their World Series runs, but contributed little and is now unwanted by any team.

Then the really bad luck started. In 2011, the Royals felt compelled to draft Bubba Starling a local stud with limited baseball exposure. In 2012, they selected a coveted college pitcher named Kyle Zimmer. Injuries and poor performance have knocked these two completely off course, and it’s doubtful either will ever produce anything.

In 2013, the Royals drafted Hunter Dozier, who may still contribute something to the big league club, but certainly hasn’t set any worlds on fire.

If you want to make yourself ill, take a few minutes to look over the list of players drafted shortly AFTER the Royals made those selections. You’ll find names like Mike Trout, Chris Sale, Francisco Lindor and George Springer.

The Royals did do one thing for which they deserve credit: they drafted a couple of pitchers in 2013 and 2014 that they traded for key pieces in their World Series run. Pitchers being the commodity that they are, the Royals wisely dealt Sean Manaea and Brandon Finnegan to ensure a championship.

The bad luck continued in 2015 when the Royals used two first round picks on high school pitchers who have thus far been huge disappointments. In 2016, the Royals did not have a first round selection, having forfeited it to sign free agent Ian Kennedy.

So it’s easy to see why the top picks from 2017, and those who will be drafted this week, are so crucial to the Royals rebuild.

Now obviously, just as not all first round picks are sure-fire stars, first rounders aren’t the only ones who make it to the majors. Fortunately, the current Royals include some diamonds plucked from the rough, namely Danny Duffy and Eric Skoglund (3^rd round), Jason Adam (5^th round), Whit Merrifield (9^th round), Kevin McCarthy (16^th round), Jakob Junis (29^th round) and Tim Hill (32^nd round). The Royals need to continue to scour solid big leaguers from the lower rounds. But it’s in the first round they must turn the tide.

The Royals will make some young men very wealthy Monday. Will those draft picks restore the fortunes of the Royals in turn? Kansas City is the only team with four picks in the first round. Draft history shows that not all four of those picks will reach the major leagues, much less turn into stars. But the addition of several quality prospects, combined with the solid class taken in 2017, could go a long ways toward shaping a brighter future for the franchise.