Daniel Tillo: KC Royal, Mr. Basketball, Card Collector

“I like to listen to Big Booty Mixes”

Most of our Moonlighter’s get to look back on their careers and share their thoughts in the past tense. Most stories get a little bit better with time and a few retellings. Every once in a while we pull in an active athlete in the midst of their career with a few achievements under their belt and and their sights set on what’s next. This week’s guest brings a little bit of everything. Daniel Tillo is just getting his professional baseball career started, but he has been forced to take a step back while recovering from Tommy John surgery. 

Tillo was a three-sport star for the Sioux City North Stars who had his choice for college opportunities. At just 24 years old, Tillo has rocketed  up the ranks in the Royals organization and was primed to breakout before COVID 19 through a wrench into things. Daniel Tillo sits down with Tim to talk about his outstanding prep career, JUCO ball, and what’s next for him in KC.

Daniel Tillo grew up in Sioux City and claims his favorite sport as a kid was whatever was in season. He was drawing college interest in basketball early on in high school, including DI offers by the time he was a sophomore. As a senior he averaged 24.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game on his way to being named Mr. Basketball for the state of Iowa. On the gridiron he was a three year starter at quarterback and threw for over 5,000 yards. The outing that caught Tim’s eye was a 674 yard effort against the Fort Dodge Dodgers in 2014 that was a state record for yards in a game by an individual.

Tillo’s prowess on the mound started really drawing attention though during his junior and senior seasons. His junior campaign finished with a 0.98 ERA and he ended his career with a 22-2 record. He was drafted by the Twins in the 39th round out of high school but Tillo turned that option down to go the college route. Motivated to go to a DI program, the draw of an offer to play for Kentucky and compete in the SEC was too good to pass up. While he made a lot of friends and memories in Lexington, it just wasn’t quite the right fit and so after one year in the south, Tillo came closer to home to play for Iowa Western Community College. Tillo was drafted by the Royals in the 3rd round of the 2017 draft. Tillo played really well and consistently moving from Rookie Ball, to A and AA pretty quickly between 2017 and 2019. His preparation for the 2020 season was thrown off by COVID 19 and he blames that, at least in part, for his elbow issues.

“You know you sound like a pretty big nerd right now”

While he recovers from Tommy John, he has been able to spend a little extra time on his card collecting. Tillo isn’t your average card collector though. He is researching cards, knows the business, and speaks the language. Now that he is a big leaguer himself, some of his time is spent collecting his own cards now.

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