Draft

[BigEdWalsh]

I just thought I'd post this so that it's all there to see without having to go through 60 pages.

Of the White Sox 49 picks, 29 were college players and 20 were from the high school ranks. The Sox selected 20 pitchers (16 right-handers and four lefties), 16 infielders, seven catchers and six outfielders.

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8 Beckham, Gordon U Georgia SS

86 Morel, Brent Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 3B Great Falls

120 O'Neil, Andrew Penn St U RHP

150 Hudson, Daniel Old Dominion U RHP

180 Williams, Kenneth Wichita St U CF

210 Danks, Jordan U Texas Austin CF

240 Dubler, Kevin Illinois St U C

270 Strauss, Ryan Florida St U RHP

300 Sauer, Stephen Arizona St U RHP

330 Leesman, Charles Xavier U LHP

360 Upchurch, Steven Faith Academy (AL) RHP

390 Carter, Dexter Old Dominion U RHP

420 Merry, Jorden U Washington RHP

450 Kuhn, Tyler West Virginia U SS

480 Basham, Brett U Mississippi C

510 Weaver, Jonathan East Leyden HS (IL) RHP

540 Billeaud, Joshua U Southern Mississippi RHP

570 Kuehn, Justin Santa Clara U RHP

600 Greene, Justin Francis Marion U CF

630 Garcia, Andrew UC Riverside 2B

660 Vargas, Jose Ventura Col 3B

690 Long, Kyle St Anne's-Belfield School (VA) LHP

720 Graffy, Brett U Notre Dame RHP

750 Thompson, Taylor Auburn U RHP

780 Castillo, Jorge Florida International U 1B

810 Thennis, Doug Texas Tech U 1B

840 Short, Brandon St John's River CC CF

870 Thorpe, Randall Heritage HS (TX) CF

900 Asselin, Kevin Sonoma St U RHP

930 McCann, James Dos Pueblos HS (CA) C

960 Marrero, Concepcion Reynoldsburg HS (OH) 2B

990 Young, Edward Christian HS (CA) SS

1020 Semien, Marcus St Mary's HS (CA) SS

1050 Riggins, Harold Normal West HS (IL) 1B

1080 Keegan, Jordan Silverado HS (NV) CF

1110 Doyle, John Boston Col RHP

1140 Domecus, Steve Moorpark Col C

1170 Shellhorn, Rusty Central Valley HS (WA) LHP

1200 Hawkenson, Mark Red Mountain HS (AZ) RHP

1230 Radeke, Mason Santa Barbara Sr HS (CA) RHP

1260 Sabatino, Steven Lockport Township HS (IL) LHP

1290 Farris, Cory Boone County HS (KY) C

1320 Cron, Christopher Mountain Pointe HS (AZ) C

1349 Kenner, Julian Whitney-Young HS (IL) SS

1377 Fischer, Lee U Missouri Columbia SS

1404 Hayden, Daniel Xavier U C

1431 Alvarez, Ricardo San Fernando HS (CA) 2B

1458 Otto, Travis Wheaton North HS (IL) 1B

1485 Florence, Steven Simeon Vocational School (IL) SS

Edited June 9, 2008 by BigEdWalsh

[SoxFan1]

I played against 3 players drafted today, and I'm 99.9% sure I struck out one of the White Sox selections.

 

Now, after doing a little research, there are a few guys I think have some promise and would love to throw some money at. Obviously Gordon Beckham is a guy you want to be your top prospect as soon as he is signed. Of the other guys, here's who I'm liking:

 

RHP Andrew O'Niel: He was an All Big-Ten closer at Penn State and broke a lot of records there for relievers. He was picked in the 8th roudnd by the Reds last season and seems to have some dominant stuff, giving up only 1 earned run in his last 2 seasons in Big Ten play and completing 22 of 23 saves in his PSU career. He is regarded as one of the nation's best relievers, being up for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award. He seems like he could move up pretty fast through the system and has been compared to Joe Smith of the Mets. Oh yeah, he allowed a TOTAL of 3 flyballs in 2008...all season.

 

RHP Daniel Hudson: He is a strikeout machine, ranking 2nd all time at ODU behind a certain Tigers pitcher named Justin Verlander. Has pitched 5 complete games in 3 seasons at ODU and has good size at 6'4, 215. He struck out 15 in a game against Delaware and has many ODU and CAA conference records.

 

OF Jordan Danks: We all know he has 1st round talent but the Boras factor played into him falling into the 7th round. A guy who can do it all, a 4 1/2 tool player as his power numbers aren't quite there yet. I'm hoping he turns out to be what we all expected, and more, of Brian Anderson/Jeremy Reed.

 

RHP Steven Upchurch: We picked him out of high school and he has signed a letter of intent to play at Auburn, but we could lure him with the dollars. He's a big RHP and was rated as Alabama's #1 HS pitcher and #72 overall on Rivals top 100 HS players. He's a power pitcher with a plus changeup and has potential to be a top of the rotation starter. He was part of Auburns nationally 5th ranked recruiting class.

 

RHP Dexter Carter: This is the guy I see Flash falling in love with. Apparently he has some "lighting" stuff, but with incredibly bad control. He's your Francisco Liriano potential pick. He's 6'6, 200 pounds and gets it up there. If they can teach him to get the ball over the plate consistently, he could be something special. Before transfering to Old Dominion, he was the 22nd rated junior college player.

 

LHP Kyle Long: The guy is a monster. 6'7, 280 pounds and gets it up in to the 90s but he also has some huge power potential as a hitter. People are giving the Sox no shot to sign him as he is really bent on playing at FSU next season but I'm sure he can be lured in with money. He hit over .500 in his high school career with a .900 slugging percentage and struck out 100+ as a pitcher too.

 

If the Sox could ink all these guys, as well as their top picks in Beckham and Morel, it would be a huge upgrade to a very weak farm system. And hopefully with the lack of a 2nd round pick, they'll have the extra money to sign some of these guys. God knows we need it.

[witesoxfan]

OF Jordan Danks: We all know he has 1st round talent but the Boras factor played into him falling into the 7th round. A guy who can do it all, a 4 1/2 tool player as his power numbers aren't quite there yet. I'm hoping he turns out to be what we all expected, and more, of Brian Anderson/Jeremy Reed.

 

If Danks can be Jeremy Reed, I'd be ecstatic.

[29andPoplar]

General comments on this draft ...

 

Laumann says they went after potentially high impact guys. Good strategy but now the challenge is to get these kids signed. Doubtful that many of these raw high school types will sign, especially those taken after round 20. They tend to want to go to college and increase their draft status for later.

 

Some curious picks, obviously starting with the GM's son. I love the Danks pick even if he flames out. Danks is a good fit with this organization and it appears he wants to start pro baseball and I believe they'll get him signed in August.

 

Supposedly they targeted the 3rd round pick, 3B Morel. He merits watching closely because if you target a guy who wasn't rated that highly, it's a judge of the scouting staff. Also I find it extremely interesting they'd spend a high draft pick on a 3B.

 

Several CF and SS types were selected which is a good strategy in my book. Those are generally the best athletes and this organization needs good athletes.

 

A few intriguing pitchers, it appears they targeted O'Neill for his ground ball tendancies and possibly he can move up fast. The other thing I noticed with their pitching selections is they took quite a few guys who just had poor seasons. So obviously they see something they like and are looking past stats. Again, a good way to see if these scouts know what they're doing. Also it will be a big test for the development people.

 

It is unreasonable to expect much more than 10% of these picks to work out but this was a critical draft for a weak farm system. Hopefully they did the right things scouting these players and didn't get blinded by the halo effect. Sometimes scouts fall in love with a player and even with a bad year, they see only the positive.

 

All in all, it seems they did the right things in this draft. One thing I did not like though is they took a lot of college seniors which to me screams organizational filler.

 

Should also add, one more thing I did not like - I didn't see them draft any potential leadoff hitters. Possibly some of the high school players have that potential, the speedy kid Thorpe might be one. But really, they should have focused on taking 5-6 of this type of player and hope that one works out.

Edited June 7, 2008 by 29andPoplar

[quickman]

General comments on this draft ...

 

Laumann says they went after potentially high impact guys. Good strategy but now the challenge is to get these kids signed. Doubtful that many of these raw high school types will sign, especially those taken after round 20. They tend to want to go to college and increase their draft status for later.

 

Some curious picks, obviously starting with the GM's son. I love the Danks pick even if he flames out. Danks is a good fit with this organization and it appears he wants to start pro baseball and I believe they'll get him signed in August.

 

Supposedly they targeted the 3rd round pick, 3B Morel. He merits watching closely because if you target a guy who wasn't rated that highly, it's a judge of the scouting staff. Also I find it extremely interesting they'd spend a high draft pick on a 3B.

 

Several CF and SS types were selected which is a good strategy in my book. Those are generally the best athletes and this organization needs good athletes.

 

A few intriguing pitchers, it appears they targeted O'Neill for his ground ball tendancies and possibly he can move up fast. The other thing I noticed with their pitching selections is they took quite a few guys who just had poor seasons. So obviously they see something they like and are looking past stats. Again, a good way to see if these scouts know what they're doing. Also it will be a big test for the development people.

 

It is unreasonable to expect much more than 10% of these picks to work out but this was a critical draft for a weak farm system. Hopefully they did the right things scouting these players and didn't get blinded by the halo effect. Sometimes scouts fall in love with a player and even with a bad year, they see only the positive.

 

All in all, it seems they did the right things in this draft. One thing I did not like though is they took a lot of college seniors which to me screams organizational filler.

 

Should also add, one more thing I did not like - I didn't see them draft any potential leadoff hitters. Possibly some of the high school players have that potential, the speedy kid Thorpe might be one. But really, they should have focused on taking 5-6 of this type of player and hope that one works out.

 

Interesting observations. First i think the morel kid won't amount to anything, but as you point out that is not really the story here. As you know i always look for an angle. It is interesting that they would draft a 3b. Could it be that means they will sign crede, and trade fields? Interesting. maybe thats the angle. I hope they sign danks and you know they will sign KW jr. He stinks by the way. Jordan Danks will rise way quicker than he will, but he (KW) does project as a leadoff type hitter. With danks and him and owens, andersons days are numbered once again. I like the pitchers, if we can get one of them to stick that would be great.

 

[29andPoplar]

Interesting observations. First i think the morel kid won't amount to anything, but as you point out that is not really the story here. As you know i always look for an angle. It is interesting that they would draft a 3b. Could it be that means they will sign crede, and trade fields? Interesting. maybe thats the angle. I hope they sign danks and you know they will sign KW jr. He stinks by the way. Jordan Danks will rise way quicker than he will, but he (KW) does project as a leadoff type hitter. With danks and him and owens, andersons days are numbered once again. I like the pitchers, if we can get one of them to stick that would be great.

First off, yes, you always do look for an angle. Or curves for that matter. Yesterday you had your eye on lots of curves, you know exactly what I'm sayin'.

 

On the 3B thing, yes I do believe that very quietly the Sox brass has begun considering whether or not Fields is their guy. Just a hunch on my part. He has been nicked up by injuries this year but the strikeout rate continues to be alarming. Again, just my hunch.

 

Reflecting on this, my biggest disappointment is I did not see a true leadoff hitter type drafted early (first 5 rounds lets say). It needs to be done. How long have we looked for a leadoff hitter? I would say almost as long as you've been looking at curves. That's a long time.

[29andPoplar]

Oh and by the way, in the Baseball America chat someone asked that mealy mouthed Jim Callis about his impressions of the White Sox draft.

 

He said he loves Gordon Beckham but that the rest of the draft class looks ordinary. Which makes me optimistic. And why is that? Because I have learned to take everything Baseball America says with a huge grain of salt. More than a grain actually, a whole salt lick.

 

Not that it matters but did anyone see Callis on the ESPN2 draft coverage, I mean come on, does the guy realize he's on tv, does he understand how to smile and not look like he's been turned to stone? This is two years in a row that he came across like a zombie. Which has nothing to do with anything, just an off the cuff observation.

 

As always, time will tell with this draft. I feel the same way after every draft, could have done better, could have done worse, why didn't they draft a true leadoff hitter type in the early rounds, etc. etc.

[29andPoplar]

Wow, Sox drafted Travis Otto at 1458 from Wheaton North. Very cool.

The only thing cool about that is he spells his last name backwards and forwards the same way.

 

That said it's nice to draft local products I suppose. Not to mention Otto's dad does some scouting for the Sox. All in the family as they say.

[fathom]

Oh and by the way, in the Baseball America chat someone asked that mealy mouthed Jim Callis about his impressions of the White Sox draft.

 

He said he loves Gordon Beckham but that the rest of the draft class looks ordinary. Which makes me optimistic. And why is that? Because I have learned to take everything Baseball America says with a huge grain of salt. More than a grain actually, a whole salt lick.

 

Not that it matters but did anyone see Callis on the ESPN2 draft coverage, I mean come on, does the guy realize he's on tv, does he understand how to smile and not look like he's been turned to stone? This is two years in a row that he came across like a zombie. Which has nothing to do with anything, just an off the cuff observation.

 

As always, time will tell with this draft. I feel the same way after every draft, could have done better, could have done worse, why didn't they draft a true leadoff hitter type in the early rounds, etc. etc.

 

They really can't choose a worse representative than Callis. Will Kimmel's been doing a much better job with the college coverage.

[29andPoplar]

They really can't choose a worse representative than Callis. Will Kimmel's been doing a much better job with the college coverage.

Callis appears to need either electro shock therapy, a Red Bull I.V., a personality transplant, or all of the above.

 

Again it has nothing to do with the actual draft but if they're trying to PR this thing on ESPN2, get someone who doesn't come off as a bored librarian.

[fathom]

Callis appears to need either electro shock therapy, a Red Bull I.V., a personality transplant, or all of the above.

 

Again it has nothing to do with the actual draft but if they're trying to PR this thing on ESPN2, get someone who doesn't come off as a bored librarian.

 

He's a boring version of John Clayton. From what I can gather, the Sox are ecstatic with this draft, as they got the one person they wanted to get in this. When you have one pick out of the first 85, you better make that pick count.

Edited June 7, 2008 by fathom