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.”

On an almost daily basis throughout the Royals’ march to back-to-back World Series in 2014 and 2015, you heard reference to two trades that changed the landscape in Kansas City: “The Zack Greinke Trade” and “The James Shields Trade.”

Those two moves, which will be remembered for as long as baseball is played in Kansas City, filled essential gaps and transformed the Royals into winners. And one man, rarely mentioned when the trades are remembered, was a key component in each.

Minnesota Twins star pitcher Jake Odorizzi crisscrossed the country as a piece of both trades, a helpless but not undervalued commodity.

When the Royals dealt Greinke, their lone star at the time, to the Milwaukee Brewers, they demanded in return a haul that included outfielder Lorenzo Cain, shortstop Alcides Escobar, and pitchers Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress. (The Royals included their own shortstop, Yunieski Betancourt, in the deal.) Just 20 years old and still in A ball, Odorizzi was no mere throw-in. He was the Brewers’ first round pick in the 2008 draft and a highly rated prospect.

“I didn’t know what to think at that point,” said Odorizzi, who was named to the American League All-Star team this year. “I was only two years into my professional career, and I was probably like everyone else who just assumes they’ll make it to the big leagues with the team that drafts them. Obviously that was not the case.

“It was a lot to take in at that point, because I had just made friends with guys in the Milwaukee system, and now it was pretty much like I got re-drafted and had to start all over again with a new organization.”

Odorizzi made the most of the new opportunity, shooting rapidly through the ranks of the minor leagues and reaching the Royals’ major league roster at the end of the 2012 season. At just 22 years of age, he pitched in two games in a Kansas City uniform and appeared destined to be a fixture in the rotation of the up-and-coming Royals.

But then the second blockbuster trade took place, which built the championship team in Kansas City but also sent young Odorizzi packing. The Royals dealt top prospects outfielder Wil Myers and pitcher Mike Montgomery, plus Odorizzi and a minor leaguer named Patrick Leonard, to the Tampa Bay Rays for veteran pitchers Shields, Wade Davis and utility man Elliot Johnson.

The trade was dubbed “The James Shields Trade,” but it ultimately was Davis who was essential to the Royals’ 2015 championship run. Odorizzi, meanwhile, had to prove himself in yet another organization.

Odorizzi said he made friends and grew as a pitcher during his two years with the Royals.

“My time (with the Royals) was good. I got to see a bunch of levels between High-A and the big leagues in a two-year time span. So it was a relatively quick ascension through the organization. I got to see a lot of places and meet a lot of people.”

He said pitching in the major leagues for the first time, in a Royals uniform in 2012, is something he’ll never forget.

“I kind of kept doing what I was already doing my first two years, but with the Royals I was able to put it together and move up. Once you get to Double-A, that’s the biggest adjustment period, and I did it with the Royals. So it was good while I was here. I learned a lot.

“My time in Tampa really probably helped me more, because I spent most of that time at the big league level, learning what it means to do it at this level. I spent five years there, so I bonded more with the players there. During my time with Kansas City I was still learning and coming up, whereas with Tampa, I really started to understand myself and know what I was doing.”

While he made a name for himself in the Rays’ rotation, Odorizzi watched from afar as his old teammates marched to two World Series. While the Illinois native admits it was bittersweet, he was happy for his friends.

“It was good to see everybody I had met during that short time come to the culmination of winning. They had built a team that had a lot of homegrown guys that worked together really well outside of the trades I was involved in. I was happy that they were able to win because I know how dedicated the fan bases in the Midwest are. Being from the Midwest myself, I understood how special it is when you have a team that everyone rallies around and it does well.”

And thus Odorizzi’s name was permanently etched into Royals’ history. He was a key piece in two history-making trades. He played a part in a championship without winning a game in Kansas City.

“I don’t think I was referenced too much during that time,” the pitcher said with a chuckle. “It was usually referenced as the Wil Myers for James Shields trade, which obviously Wade Davis wound up playing a huge part, a bigger part in that trade. It’s funny when you look back at trades down the road and you see what they were called and remember that other guys were involved. It can turn out to be a lot bigger than the headline of the deal at the time.

“That’s my stamp on Royals history, I guess, is being a part of getting the pieces here to do what they did.”

Odorizzi made one friend in particular while with the Royals who has since become a nemesis. Whit Merrifield, his roommate in Wilmington, has since hit Odorizzi well in the big leagues.

“We lived together for about half a year my first year of High-A,” recalled Merrifield. “He’s a great guy. He’s had a lot of success up here (in the major leagues), which is great to see.

“I’ve been able to get a few off of him. Luckily, if he makes a mistake, I’ve been able to hit it.”

The Kansas City Royals went 71-91 in 2011. While that sounds great in comparison to the current iteration, it was at the time considered by most to be just another rotten season by an inept franchise.

But anyone really paying attention might have noticed that on May 6 of that year, a rookie named Eric Hosmer was promoted to the big leagues at just 21 years of age.

Just a few days later, on May 18, Hosmer was joined by 22-year-old pitcher Danny Duffy. The two knew each other well, having played together at nearly every level of the minor leagues.

On June 11, 22-year-old Mike Moustakas joined the party. Then on August 10, Salvador Perez got called up not long after his 21st birthday. And on Sept. 21, yet another 21 year old, flame-throwing reliever Kelvin Herrera, was promoted to the big leagues.

At the time, hardly anyone noticed the tidal wave of talent crashing upon Kauffman Stadium. To some it might have appeared to be another move of desperation by a team without direction. But that wave had been planned, nurtured and timed with great precision.

Fewer still noticed when pitcher Greg Holland and outfielder Jarrod Dyson debuted in Kansas City at the tail end of 2010. But those seven players were a wave drafted or signed to international free agent deals by General Manager Dayton Moore several years earlier. Moore wasn’t just collecting talented players either. He was uniting them at the lowest levels of the minors, where they could play video games and cards together, go out at night together (years before they could legally buy a drink), sleep on the bus together, and learn the game together.

“In the minor leagues you don’t really have anybody else,” Duffy said. “You spend more time with these guys than with your own family. Hosmer is one of my best friends. Same with Moose. Same with Salvy, and so forth. That’s not only because of what we’ve done here (in Kansas City) but the road we took to get here.”

In a game where it’s hard to find one or two good major leaguers in one year, Moore signed Perez and Herrera as 16-year-olds in 2006, the same year he lucked into Dyson in the 50th round. The 2007 draft brought Moustakas (first round), Duffy (third round) and Holland (tenth round). Hosmer was added in the first round of 2008.

Duffy mentioned several others when recalling the wave of talent that came up around him, including Wil Myers, John Lamb and Mike Montgomery, each of whom was traded for key components of the championship club.

“I wouldn’t say we felt pressure. I think it’s exciting more than anything,” Duffy recalled. “We just had a good time playing. It feels, looking back, like it was one of the best Double-A teams ever. We were like 94-56 when you include the playoffs.”

Coming up together experiencing success is part of the process. Putting that many good players together should foster a winning culture that moves with them as they matriculate up the minor league ladder.

Moore is trying to replicate that wave again, and the ripple is currently building strength at Lexington, Kentucky, home of the Single-A Legends. The 2017 amateur draft brought a highly-regarded cohort that forms the foundation for the wave. First baseman Nick Pratto, catcher M.J. Melendez, pitcher Daniel Tillo and outfielder Michael Gigliotti, drafted in the first through fourth rounds, respectively, gave the farm system an instant boost. After getting their feet wet in rookie ball, the quartet, plus seventh round pick outfielder Brewer Hicklen, moved up to Lexington this spring.

The 2018 draft, heavy on college pitchers, doubled the size of the wave instantly. Added to the group at Lexington during the summer were pitchers Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch and outfielder Kyle Isbel.

The prospects from those two drafts are teamed with a handful of international signings including sensational outfielder Seuly Matias, who leads all of minor league baseball in home runs. In all, Lexington served as home to 13 of the Royals’ top 30 prospects, including six of the top 10. They have nearly every position covered, apart from second and third base, with a top 30 prospect. And they have six top 30 pitchers.

As happened with Duffy and friends, the Lexington wave is experiencing winning. The Legends, who finished their regular season schedule on Labor Day, are currently battling in the South Atlantic League playoffs.

“Learning to win together is a big part of it,” said Duffy. “We won in the Midwest League, we won in the Texas League, we won in the Pacific Coast League three times. We were pretty successful in the minor leagues. Fortunately it translated to the big leagues. We won a World Series and almost another one.

“It’s not about the kind of players they are, but how great these guys are, how good these people are off the field. I have no doubt that Dayton is going to put together the same type of clientele as far as character goes.”

Duffy has seen the majority of the players making up his wave depart over the years. Only he and Perez remain. He admits it’s hard to watch players you’ve grown up with go their separate ways.

“My advice to (the Lexington team) would be just to enjoy every moment of it, because it goes by really quick. Once you get here, you start seeing people part ways. So just enjoy your time together because that’s what it’s all about.

“It happened very fast. I had a lot of people telling me it would go by really quick, and yet you don’t see it until it’s gone.”

The Lexington wave will take time to arrive. Most of those players will advance just one rung of the minor league ladder per year. That means you won’t see most of them on your TV any sooner than 2021.

Duffy said he would encourage the next wave to try to soak up each day, while still keeping the end goal in mind and working hard towards it.

“You’re always looking to get to the big leagues. That’s your number one goal and the destination. But there is something to be said for trying to just enjoy where you are each day. I would tell those guys coming up to just enjoy every moment. Enjoy the Arizona days, even though they’re hot. Enjoy the 12-hour bus rides. Because it’s a simple time. It doesn’t seem like it in the moment, but you have a lot of fun in front of you if you just enjoy it.”