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I thought it would be fun to do a quick review of the picks the Sox have made under Hostetler. For clarity, Nick took over the draft process in 2015, but according to FutureSox it was Doug Laumann who handled the first pick (Carson Fulmer). Therefore, I'm excluding that pick from his record. For this exercise, I'll be listing all picks in the top 10 rounds of each draft and any other of significance. 2015 Draft 4. Zack Erwin, LHP 5. Jordan Stephens, RHP 6. Corey Zangari, 1B* 7. Blake Hickman, RHP 8. Casey Schroeder, C 9. Ryan Hinchley, LHP# 10. Jackson Glines, OF# 12. Seby Zavala, C 15. Chris Comito, * 22. Danny Mendick, SS 27. Alex Katz, LHP Comments: Obviously not making the 1st round pick and not having 2nd or 3rd rounders is going to make the results look a little worse. However, there are a couple of decent picks here, in particular Stephens in the 5th & Zavala in the 12th. Mendick in the 22nd could also be considered a pretty good find. Couple other things to note. First, Erwin & Katz were used in trades, the former in the Brett Lawrie deal & the ladder in exchange for nearly $800k in slot money. Second, Nick only selected/signed two high-school players and both to over-slot deals. It remains to be seen what we have in Zangari, but the early results weren't overly promising prior to his injury. 2016 Draft 1. Zack Collins, C 1. Zack Burdi, RHP 2. Alec Hansen, RHP 3. Alex Call, OF 4. Jameson Fisher, OF 5. Jimmy Lambert, RHP 6. Luis Curbelo, SS* 7. Benardo Flores, LHP 8. Nate Nolan, C 9. Max Dutto, SS# 10. Zach Remillard, 3B# 11. Ian Hamilton, RHP 12. Mitch Roman, SS 20. Matt Foster, RHP 22. Joel Booker, OF Comments: Now this has the chance of being a special draft. Those first three picks all have the potential of being impact major leaguers. Collins is currently 3rd in the Southern League with a wRC+ of 167. Burdi struck out nearly 14 batters per 9 in AAA last year, has three plus pitches, and projects to be an elite back-end reliever. And Alec Hansen, who led the minors in 2017 with 191 Ks, has legit TOR potential. Getting three players of that caliber (still early I know) would be a huge win in any draft, but beyond on that there are several other players of note. Lambert & Flores are both having good to solid seasons in the Carolina League, with Jimmy sporting a 2.77 FIP so far. Ian Hamilton is dominating AA and looks like another future back-end option in the bullpen. Call has regained some prospect shine with a solid start to the 2018 season. However, the real wild card here is Curbelo. Luis was Hostetler's only high school pick and a well-above slot signing. Now playing 3B for Kannapolis, the kid has the tools to rapidly move up the organizational rankings. 2017 Draft 1. Jake Burger, 3B 2. Gavin Sheets, 1B 3. Luis Gonzalez, OF 4. Lincoln Henzman, RHP 5. Tyler Johnson, RHP 6. Kade McClure, RHP 7. Evan Skoug, C 8. Sam Abbott, 1B* 9. Craig Dedelow, OF# 10. JB Olsen, RHP# 11. Will Kincanon, RHP 12. Justin Yurchak, 3B 13. Tate Blackman, 2B 14. Alex Destino, OF 17. Blake Battenfield, RHP 21. John Parke, LHP 28. Laz Rivera, SS Comments: Still way too early to jump to any conclusions here. Losing Burger for the year hurts and his injury adds further skepticism of playing 3B long-term. Sheets has demonstrated excellent plate discipline in High A, but has yet to demonstrate his plus power potential. The vast majority of these picks are college guys now playing in Low A. While the numbers for these guys are generally good to insane (Luis Gonzalez's wRC+ of 168), everything must be taken with a grain of salt until they reach a more age appropriate challenge in High A. Regardless, there is a lot to be optimistic about including 28th pick Laz Rivera looking like he just may be a thing. Couple other comments. Once again, Hostetler only selected one high school player, but Abbott wasn't a huge over-slot signing. What's stranger is Hostetler signed multiple college picks to over-slot deals. These include Sheets +$600k, Gonzalez +$120k, Johnson +$50k, McClure +$70k, & Skoug +$100k, along with Kincanon, Yurchak, & Destino each counting $25k against the pool.

Yeah, he pleaded guilty. That, to me, is more than random speculation.

You really don’t speak all over the partisan spectrum. What you now call stimulating conversation, you often complain about being “groupthink “ ganging up on you. You make yourself a victim, just like Trump, yet have no problem ripping anyone else. Also just like Trump. Now you are bragging about replies to your posts, just like Trump and his crowd size. The fact is people respond to your posts not for this stimulating conversation you now call it, but to call out your many inaccuracies. I really don’t keep score. I just know everything you feel necessary to accuse others of doing, you re guilty of doing yourself. Again, just like Trump. For a guy who says he doesn’t like Trump, you sure seem to defend him and his conspiracy theories often. I haven’t seen you rip him . Maybe you have, I don’t read every post. But if you have, it is not nearly as much as you have defended him which we all know would be quite different if he was doing the same thing with D after his name.

What happened to our precious draft thread

Pleading guilty means you re guilty. Pretty solid proof.

Yea, Lebron is great, but East is weak, and that's an understatement that I cannot say enough. Here's two shocking stats for you: 1. There has been exactly only 3 East players aside from Lebron who made All NBA 1st team in this DECADE. Howard 2x, and 1x for both D Rose and Noah. 2. And take a look at the East vs. West record since 99-00 below. East won more games vs West exactly ONCE in the last 18 years. That is an INSANE stat and speaks volume to how much better the competition is better in the West than East during that span. Then take a look at the head to head record in the 90's when Jordan suited up, East was the clearly the superior conference at the time. And yet people wondered why Lebron made the Finals every year but is only 3-5 so far (let's say he's 3-3 because he really didn't have a chance against he 07 Spurs and 17 Warriors). The dude sleep walks the weak competition in the East every year, but when he actually faces a good team from the West even when his team is at the same level or better than the other team, he's batting only .500. Yet he has suddenly became GOAT because of all the recency bias. What this means is Lebron would have trouble making the Finals every year had his team played in the superior conference. OTOH, MJ took his team to the Finals in a superior conference and never looked back. It's still shocking to me the guy won 6 championships without playing a game 7, and has only played in a game 7 for a whopping 3 times in his career.

#ShitForWitt

Ouch. Time to close the Charlotte game log.

Guilty doesnt mean you did it. And I know youve argued this type of thing in the buster many times about defendants who were convicted wrongfully. I think this is the specific case: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/nyregion/5-exonerated-in-central-park-jogger-case-are-to-settle-suit-for-40-million.html (edit) Now imagine those guys had been given an offer "plea guilty and youll get 5 years probation, it then gets sealed and expunged." Not a bad deal when the other option was they went to jail for multiple years. (edit 2) And I dont want to clog up this thread, so basically there are 2 worlds you can live in. World 1: The justice system is perfect, innocent people are never convicted or World 2: The justice system is imperfect and innocent people are wrongfully convicted. If you live in world 2 than you have to understand why given the circumstances he would have taken the deal even though he was innocent. That is not to say he is 100% innocent or guilty, just that it is understandable why an innocent person would take a deal.

You are being ridiculous. Of course I don't and you know I don't. I live in Illinois, never heard of this kid until last year, and am not a private investigator. And while they are two different things, there are consequences to pleading guilty in a court of law, one of which, is essentially admitting guilt.

I will pass on the molester in any round.

This is the exact reason why he had to plead guilty and take the deal. Even though all of the evidence suggests he is innocent, you adamantly say he is a child molester without any fact that supports your conclusion. /shrugs

Own up to what actions? He has always said he was innocent, his lawyer suggested he take a plea deal so that he could move on with his life. Even right now, knowing the facts of the case, most people seem to assume he did it, when all of the facts suggest the contrary. I dont think the Sox should take him for pr reasons, but he did what many reasonable people would have done given the circumstances. Especially as his parents were pressuring him due to an unrelated matter that involved custody of his brothers/sisters.

Uh yeah, no thanks on Heimlich. There's nothing anyone can say that can change my mind on that. I don't give a shit if he was underage, he was old enough to know better and that's what matters. I hope he doesn't get drafted and becomes a burger flipper at McDonald's.

Yeah, and I don't even care about losing at this point in the rebuild/development. It's just discouraging when your manager stinks and you have to watch him constantly blunder. Then, watching your young players botch the fundamentals of the game (i.e. our horrific defense) which also goes back to managing/coaching. Rebuilding isn't supposed to be fun, but it doesn't have to be everything we're experiencing either. I mean, whatever... hopefully in a couple of years, games like these will be apart of the days we look back and laugh at. This stuff doesn't ruin my day. Just annoys me a bit.

Yeah, seemed pretty dumb. Almost seems like Renteria is in on the tank.

I am astonished by how poor of a manager Renteria is. Didn't think it could get too much worse than RV, but everyday it's a pitcher left in too long... bullpen mismanaged... an absurd bunt call. Just hangs his starters out to dry when they've clearly lost their stuff. Couldn't be more obvious that Shields was cashed last inning. Sending him back out with 100 pitches... Golly man.

Hopefully the Brewers like what they see in Shields

Adley. Rutschman.

C'mon Sox , "so let us not talk falsely now , the hour is getting late" Hit some runs !

He can, I just hope it isn't with the White Sox.

It's amazing how oblivious you are as to why so many give you so much shit. Desperately seeking attention...

Cool. You must have a good job. Isn't that about 50 bucks?

The Sox inability to remain atop that weak division after winning it all in 05 is one of the great tragedies in Chicago sports history.

Greg this isn't a matter of opinion. Media market is defined by target, demographic, and literal media reach. Cubs have a larger footprint and compete with the Sox in bulk of the Sox footprint. They live in a major city, but their media market is mid-sized.

Did you like the Dunn signing? Probably. Cabrera signing? Probably. Robertson signing? Probably. Samardzija trade? Probably. Unless you’re Boston, LA, or NYY, you have to rebuild to win. I can even make an argument that those teams are so successful because of their youth or the great youth they dealt to acquire vets. We’ve been over this. Imagine a farm so great that they can afford to trade this #4 pick, or Dunning, or Gonzalez, etc in 1-2 years to acquire a big FA at the deadline to seal their championship fate, ala Torres for Chapman.

Let's strive mightily to win today!

Was at the game tonight. I am now 2-0 on the year haha. Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket... Nice crowd tonight. Lots of drunks. We we're all yelling "juuuuice" when Braun stepped up. Then a little 3 year old started yelling it. Everyone was into it. Food was great. Fireworks we're great. Sox win was great. Doesn't get much better for a Friday night.

Not sure what the parameters are involving this discussion but the time period from 1951-1967, the "Golden Age" of White Sox baseball the Sox outdrew the Cubs in 16 of those 17 seasons, sometimes by a wide margin...they also got the lion's share of media coverage in the market and had a radio network of approximately 100 stations throughout the Midwest and down into the South including Jackson, Mississippi, Atlanta (before the Braves came) and most of Florida (because they trained in Sarasota.) Generally until the Tribune Company bought the Cubs in 1981, and used their tremendous marketing and media influence, the team that was winning more usually drew better between the two clubs. After that though because of John McDonough (who grew up a Sox fan by the way) and again because of the power of the Tribune Company (to say nothing of the Sox not being willing to even fight for their own market i.e. "we're Chicago's American League team...) the Cubs have dominated since 1984. I have in my library a story out of The Sporting News in 1993 where Ron Schueler was quoted as saying that the Sox were in first place, the Cubs in last, yet they were still outdrawing them. Part of that dynamic was because the Tribune Company had done a wonderful job selling the "Wrigley Field experience" as well as the Sox not being in the playoffs for 10 years at that time. There is no easy or simple answer to this situation. You have to examine history, understand the dynamics of the two fan bases and look at the outside factors that have played heavily into the situation.

The Chicago White Sox have not lost a single game since their closed door, players only meeting in May.

There are way too many good reasons to take a hitter, given our position in this rebuild. And since we're all but guaranteed that one of Bohm or Madrigal is available at 4, choosing Singer will be extremely disappointing.

I'm not sure how much you know about Chicago, but uh -- it was still that way BEFORE the Cubs got good. You know, when it was 100+ years since they won a World Series? When they were on the longest, most famously pathetic championship drought in sports history? They still outdrew the White Sox, and they very much enjoyed a larger media market. They still do, and it's got absolutely nothing to do with winning.

And look where it fucking got us. Honestly, open your fucking eyes or shut the fuck up, because you can’t have it both ways. We were mired in mediocrity while going for it and had a bottom five farm system to boot. If we did not rebuild when we did, we’d probably be looking at a 5 to 10 year rebuild in the near future just to become decent again. If all goes right now, we should be a legit World Series contender within three years. So if you aren’t on your death bed, for the love of god stop your fucking whining and give this rebuild a chance to actually work. And shame on me for wasting two minutes of my life responding to your ignorant, attention seeking ass.

Goodness, you can be such the broken record sometimes, with your gratuitous fan bashing and your nonsensical insistence that the CHICAGO White Sox are a middle market team. As it relates to the latter, Steve Stone would probably direct your stubborn attention to ye olde “sweetheart lease deal”, whereby if you were so inclined to focus on its contents, you’d realize this team is guaranteed “major market” revenue streams through very generous subsidies each and every year, whether there are 30,000 fans in the park each night or 964. So you can choose to keep your head in the sand on this subject and keep presenting this erroneous point of view, or take the lead of the very knowledgeable Steve Stone and recognize the obvious, which is the FACT that the White Sox are clearly a “major market” team.

Yes. Somehow being an MJ fan precludes us from admitting he's at least been equaled. I've come to terms with it. Lebron is fucking unreal.

I want to see Stephens in Chicago, like now. He'll be 26 in September. Let's see what we have before the rotation spots get harder to come by in the next couple seasons.

I always get a kick out of whenever you write this BS. You endlessly defend him, and rarely, if ever, find anything wrong with what he does, at least to the point if a person with a D after their name did the exact same thing.

What would prevent him? Maybe the teacher's license, but in states like Indiana, you don't even need one of those anymore.

Ironically enough, it slowly went south when they started making similar moves you keep clamoring for.