caption bats birth_place debutyear statyear statvalue team position statlabel debutdate birth_date number image article_title debutteam name throws
hosmer with the kansas city royals in 2011 left miami , florida 2011 august 14 , 2015 .282 739 73 346 kansas city royals first baseman batting average hits home runs runs batted in may 6 24 october 1989 35 kansas city royals first baseman eric hosmer.jpg eric hosmer
 kansas city royals eric hosmer left
eric hosmer

eric john hosmer -lrb- born october 24 , 1989 -rrb- is an american league first baseman for the kansas city royals of major league baseball -lrb- mlb -rrb- .
he has played for the royals since making his mlb debut on may 6 , 2011 .
a highly touted prospect coming out of american heritage high school in florida , hosmer was described as a `` left-handed hitter with raw power '' by scouts .
he was drafted as the third overall pick in the 2008 mlb draft where he received a $ 6 million signing bonus .
he advanced relatively quickly in minor league baseball , before debuting in mlb .
he finished third in the rookie of the year ballot for the 2011 season after hitting .293 with 19 home runs in 128 games .
