"Prosek was viewed in large part as a future third baseman following the summer, though he's been catching some this spring and there are people who think he may start off there in pro ball. A lot of the value here will come with bat, but it's a very, very good one."

2B was/is the other position he has been listed as...

From Kiley at ESPN:

Best value: 3B/C Cole Prosek (second round) is a prep position player who is older for the class, but is quite polished and performed well in the summer. He might be a 55 hit/55 power combo from the left side with a solid fit at third base and a shot to turn his raw catching skills into something more.

Quickest to the big leagues: SS Roch Cholowsky (first round) is the easy answer here, as a big part of his scouting report is that, whatever he's going to be, he should get there pretty quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if he was ready for the big leagues as soon as next summer and contributing in all phases right off the bat.

Sleeper to watch: RHP Joey Volchko (third round) looked like a late first-rounder in his first few starts this spring, as Georgia unlocked some new pitch shapes with an arm slot change (roughly 12 degrees lower) from his days at Stanford. The issue is his command is still a notch away from being a starter and, while nasty, he threw only 6% of his pitches with arm-side movement (i.e. fastballs or changeups), relying on four breaking-ball shapes with 94% of his pitches.

Solving both things is a tall task for the pitching development group, but the upside could be huge if they can make Volchko perform more often the way he did in Omaha. Though Volchko isn't the same as Grant Taylor, the overall idea (huge stuff, let's see what role it will come in) is similar.

One big thought: I like the mix here, which is easier to accomplish with a giant draft pool and the options that provides. Cholowsky gives the class a very high floor, and SS Landon Thome (comp round; son of Jim), Prosek, Volchko, CF Alex Weingartner (sixth round), and RHP Kyle Casteel (11th round) give plenty of upside around more predictable college drafts; Volchko and Weingartner have the highest upside of this group if things click because of their massive raw tools.

6 hours ago, Timmy U said:

Interesting. I've read big throwing arm, probably not athletic enough to stay at short, probably too good a hitter to let develop at catcher, so 3b. That does sound like a lefty Bonemer to me.

Nice to read a different perspective. It seemed his lack of position was due to a lack of defensive ability and speed. He's also old for high school which is a little concern. Seems like a lesser version of Brett Baty. TBD

Edited yesterday at 11:58 AM1 day by Look at Ray Ray Run

6 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

"Prosek was viewed in large part as a future third baseman following the summer, though he's been catching some this spring and there are people who think he may start off there in pro ball. A lot of the value here will come with bat, but it's a very, very good one."

2B was/is the other position he has been listed as...

I thought I heard Shirley basically saying, not his exact words, if catching is going to impact Prosek's bat development he would consider other positions, possibly corner OF.

DH the kid

59 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Nice to read a different perspective. It seemed his lack of position was due to a lack of defensive ability and speed. He's also old for high school which is a little concern. Seems like a lesser version of Brett Baty. TBD

Colson Montgomery was a similar age on draft day.

5 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Colson Montgomery was a similar age on draft day.

Montgomery was also doubted on his SS ability, and he passed that test with flying colors.

29 minutes ago, SkokieSox said:

DH the kid

that will work

17 hours ago, DirtySox said:

Man the Twitter app does not auto load properly for me

20 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

So Burdette is better than Burress? Seems pretty laughable to me. And people thought me liking the #8 prospect more than the #2 prospect was crazy!

I guess that the night Roch came to meet the team (Braden walkoff night), Getz told Mike Shirley not to be there, I guess he didn't want Roch to feel any pressure from the scouting dept

30 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

These quotes always remind me of Mike Trout draft when 25 teams passed up on him, but pretty much every GM that did was quoted at some point as saying Trout was #2 on their board. If it were really true, how did all of those other players get picked by the team ahead of the 7th round?

48 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

These quotes always remind me of Mike Trout draft when 25 teams passed up on him, but pretty much every GM that did was quoted at some point as saying Trout was #2 on their board. If it were really true, how did all of those other players get picked by the team ahead of the 7th round?

It's fluff. Drew Burress was also on this field in question. In no world did they like Burdette more than him. Just talking up a guy they seem to like a whole lot.

I can easily see a world where we just drafted four first round talent types. Crazy good draft, easily the best I’ve seen since following the draft… which I’m sure was 20 some years ago.

1 hour ago, DirtySox said:

It's fluff. Drew Burress was also on this field in question. In no world did they like Burdette more than him. Just talking up a guy they seem to like a whole lot.

Given sox predilection for height, I can somewhat imagine this.

Look through the starting lineups for the all-stars with an eye to draft position. A lot of second, third, and fourth rounders. Even a 13th round guy or two.

That means we drafted like 7 future all-stars and we are the next baseball dynasty. Obviously.

6 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Nice to read a different perspective. It seemed his lack of position was due to a lack of defensive ability and speed. He's also old for high school which is a little concern. Seems like a lesser version of Brett Baty. TBD

Of course the scary version of this profile is Wes Kath. His hit tool was vastly overrated and the old Sox PD group couldn’t help him. I hope this turns out better.

10 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

Of course the scary version of this profile is Wes Kath. His hit tool was vastly overrated and the old Sox PD group couldn’t help him. I hope this turns out better.

I loved his swing. I held out irrational hope for far too long.

16 hours ago, hi8is said:

Winston - no way you’re serious.

I was going to say straight to Chicago but where's he gonna play 😎

33 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Look through the starting lineups for the all-stars with an eye to draft position. A lot of second, third, and fourth rounders. Even a 13th round guy or two.

That means we drafted like 7 future all-stars and we are the next baseball dynasty. Obviously.

Even though this is hyperbole it's what I've been trying to impart about the Gonzalez trade and what Kiley McDaniel said about how having a giant draft pool impacts everything. It's just so much more than Gonzalez for Thome or missing some imagined opportunity to get temporary pitching. It's long haul team building vs. short term stab in the dark. What good does winning one round do? It's a little extra playoff money but at what cost to the future where young players you trade away can make a difference because you lost depth.

Don't get me wrong, when playoff talk 1st started I think I quoted a post from @Chimpton that said I thought making the playoffs was always very important. But there are levels to making the playoffs and actually having a real shot to win the World Series. For this year I'd like to at least make 1 move that tells the young guys the organization cares about winning now and let's it be known that we believe in you all to achieve now and in the future with who we already have and we will work as hard as you all do to provide help where it's needed.

1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

It's just so much more than Gonzalez for Thome

Yep

5 hours ago, Timmy U said:

Of course the scary version of this profile is Wes Kath. His hit tool was vastly overrated and the old Sox PD group couldn’t help him. I hope this turns out better.

And the drafters haven't changed. And the old PD, which apparently was the bigger part of the problem, was headed by Getz.
All so weird.

Edited 20 hours ago20 hr by GreenSox

Sorry for jumping ahead but this roster is in a really good place already for 2027 and for years beyond. If there's no stoppage and Roch is ready for the show, just how does the roster look? If Acuna keeps ascending, it's going to be really hard to not keep him around, esp with his PR ability. I imagine they let Grichuk & Hays go but also have Pereira, Baldwin, & Perez waiting in the OF/DH wings.

Time will tell, but what a sweet problem to have. So friggin exciting to be a Sox fan so soon after such an embarrassing horror show!

I can't even begin to apologize to Getz for my very bad take on his hiring! I haven't been this wrong about a sports decision ever!

7 minutes ago, Rounding_Third said:

can't even begin to apologize to Getz for my very bad take on his hiring! I haven't been this wrong about a sports decision

I think just about everyone is happily eating Getz crow. That dude is proving to be a straight up G.