Oswego East’s Dominic Battista selected by Kansas City Royals in fourth round of MLB Draft

Oswego East outfielder Dominic Battista was selected by the Kansas City Royals on Saturday in the fourth round of the MLB Draft with the 119th overall selection.

Dominic Battista’s spring started in a most inauspicious, painful fashion. His summer is going better. The Oswego East outfielder on Saturday was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the fourth round of the MLB draft with the 119th overall pick.

Battista was the second Chicago-area product drafted by the Royals Saturday. Lyons pitcher Jack Slightom was selected with the 56th overall pick. Battista is committed to play collegiately at UIC.

But he could forego that to sign with the Royals. The slot value for the 119th pick is $651,500. Battista, a left-handed hitter with speed, is the No. 4-ranked player in his class by Prep Baseball Report.

But the senior center fielder broke the hamate bone in his wrist the first at-bat of the spring. He finally returned to the lineup at the beginning of May, and didn’t miss a beat. He returned to play 21 games and hit .442 with a .607 on-base percentage and .837 slugging, with 19 hits, four homers, three doubles, one triple, 28 runs scored, 17 RBIs and program record 37 stolen bases.

Battista is also program’s career stolen base record holder. Battista joins two fellow Oswego East graduates in the professional ranks. Pitcher Noah Schultz, drafted in the first round by the White Sox in 2022, made his big-league debut with Chicago in April.

Another pitcher, Ashton Izzi, drafted in the fourth round in 2022 by the Seattle Mariners, is at Double-A in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. This story will be updated.