Sox ring up a Sale in first round of draft

The White Sox went into Tuesday's first-year player draft with a roster full of holes to plug.

Director of amateur scouting Doug Laumann said he had an open mind with the Sox' first-round pick (No. 13 overall).

"We talked a lot about the fact that we were looking for college pitching and things of that nature," Laumann said in a conference call Monday night. "And if something happened, maybe we'd go a little bit away from that."

Laumann might have pounced on a pair of collegiate position players - Texas-Arlington outfielder Michael Choice and Miami catcher Yasmani Grandal.

When both players were selected at No. 10 and No. 12, Laumann was happy to see left-handed pitcher Chris Sale still on the board.

"We certainly had (Sale) targeted to a certain degree," Laumann said. "A lot of the projections earlier in the process had him going ahead of us, but it is what it is come draft day and we were really happy to get him."

Sales, a 21-year-old starter for Florida Gulf Coast University, just completed his junior season and was 11-0 with a 2.01 ERA, 14 walks and 146 strikeouts in 17 games (15 starts).

"Chris is one of the top left-handed pitchers in the country," Laumann said. "He pitched in a smaller conference but had outstanding numbers and showed very well against high-level competition. We believe Chris is not real far away from contributing at the big-league level."

Laumann personally saw Sale pitch against Wichita State and Clemson.

"He fared as well against that level of competition as he did in his own conference," Laumann said.

Sale is not a White Sox fan, but he was thrilled to be selected by the South Siders.

"I was really excited when I saw the White Sox picked me up," said the Lakeland, Fla., native.

Sale is being advised by Hank Sargent and he wants to sign with the Sox as soon as possible.

"I hope so," he said. "No one's getting better working out a deal. I'm a baseball player and that's what I like to do. The sooner the better but if it takes some time, it takes some time."

The White Sox first started noticing Sale last summer when he was 4-2 with a 1.47 ERA and 57 strikeouts over 55 innings in the Cape Cod League.