If pitching is draft priority for White Sox, Singer is logical target
Based on last season's 67-95 record, the Chicago White Sox hold the No. 4 overall pick in Monday's draft.
According to amateur scouting director Nick Hostetler, the Sox are considering taking "six or seven players," just to be safe.
"The big thing now is just getting the order right," Hostetler said. "It'll stay at roughly six or seven players, and what that's going to do is give us options. There are still some high school kids that are going to be playing up until the draft. A lot of the better college teams, they're going to be playing through the draft.
"We want to be prepared if there's an injury to any of the guys in our group. Also, we want to be prepared should there be any sort of financial demands a kid makes that we just don't feel comfortable with. Then we'll move on to the next player, look for the best option for us."
The guess here is the White Sox will take Oregon State infielder/hitting machine Nick Madrigal at No. 4.
But if Madrigal is off the board, or the Sox determine pitching is a bigger need, Brady Singer is the likely choice.
Yes, the University of Florida standout starter is dealing with an injury - Singer has not pitched since May 11 due to a hamstring problem - but the 6-foot-5, 210-pounder is scheduled to return this weekend for the NCAA baseball tournament.
The hamstring injury certainly did not help Singer's draft status, but it's a minor issue and the Sox already are familiar with the right-hander.
"We've seen what he is since high school," Hostetler said. "We've seen him a lot. We have a long track record with him. You're talking about a big-game Friday night guy that has taken the ball every Friday night against the best teams in the country and the best conference (SEC) in the country, and he's put up just amazing numbers."
Just to make sure Singer is fully recovered, the White Sox will have a scout on hand Friday when the No. 1-seeded Gators open NCAA tourney play at home against Columbia.
During the regular season, Singer led the conference in wins (10) and ERA (2.25) while holding hitters to a .186 average and striking out 92 in 88 innings.
As a sophomore last year, the Eustis, Fla., native was 9-5 with a 3.21 ERA to go with 129 strikeouts in 126 innings.
"Coming into the season, he was the guy a lot of people thought was going to be the top college pitcher in the draft," Hostetler said.
• Twitter: @scotgregor