Danish intriguing draft pick for White Sox

The White Sox might one day regret drafting 18-year-old pitcher Tyler Danish in the second round with the No. 55 overall pick.

But if you listen to Doug Laumann, the Sox' director of amateur scouting, there could be a very big reward waiting at the end of the risky pick.

“He's got kind of an unorthodox delivery and arm action,” Laumann said Friday. “But I honestly can say that after, this is my 32nd year total, I don't know that I've ever been as intrigued by a player since I've been scouting. I don't want to necessarily say he's unorthodox, but when you go see Division 8A baseball in Florida, in Hillsborough County, arguably the best baseball in the country, and a kid pitches 98 innings and gives up no earned runs, hits 14 or 15 homers, strikes out 156 guys in 90 innings and walks like 12, the performance was just so exemplary that it was almost like there's something going on with this guy. He's really, really good.”

Danish, listed at 6-feet-2, 190 pounds, actually pitched 94 innings this season for Durant High School in Brandon, Fla. And he didn't allow an earned run.

With his drop-down delivery, he ultimately could wind up in the bullpen, but Laumann sees Danish as a starter.

“Sometimes we break down guys and we try to look at arm action,” Laumann said. “We try to look at size and all this other stuff. At some point and time, you say to yourself, this kid can flat out pitch. That's how we felt about him. We had a lot of discussions about him. We looked at films. We did everything we could possibly do and finally just said we are going to go with it.”

In the third round of the draft, the White Sox selected Jacob May, a switch-hitting outfielder from Coastal Carolina.

May's grandfather is former Cincinnati Reds slugger Lee May, who is the brother of former Sox left fielder/first baseman Carlos May. May batted .321, with 7 home runs and 16 stolen bases this season for Coastal Carolina.