Sox might select college pitcher with 13th pick

The White Sox own the No. 13 pick overall in the 2010 first-year player draft, which begins tonight and runs through Wednesday.

Doug Laumann, White Sox director of scouting, said he and his staff have a good handle on which players should be available at that point. The Sox won't select again until No. 63.

"I think we're down to a pool of about four or five guys that we think will be there, and we're trying to get those guys in the right order," Laumann said Sunday morning.

Asked if he might use that pick on a college pitcher, Laumann said "there's a high-percentage possibility. That's not to say that if one of the other guys we have in this pool is available that we might not go that route."

Multiple national mock drafts list right-handed pitchers Alex Wimmers (Ohio State), Anthony Ranaudo (LSU), Barrett Loux (Texas A&M), Matt Harvey (North Carolina) and left-hander Sammy Solis (San Diego) as mid-first round prospects who could be available at No. 13. Last June the Sox chose six college pitchers among their first 11 picks.

Laumann said general manager Kenny Williams prefers players who can make it to the big-league club quickly, though the Sox did select three high school players among their first five picks last year.

"Kenny's philosophy is get an impact guy, get a guy that we think when he gets to the big-league level he can make an impact, be a star kind of player," Laumann said. "That being said, we don't seem to be an organization that fits into a rebuilding mode to where we want to sit there and say we want to wait four, five, six years for a guy.

"We're always trying to inject guys maybe in a two or three-year time frame to the core we've got at the big-league level. When that's the case, the college kid's certainly someone that's going to be a little more attractive to us."

LSU outfielder Jared Mitchell was the White Sox' top pick in 2009, drafted No. 23 overall. Mitchell is hitting .296 this season at low-Class A Kannapolis. Gordon Beckham was the team's No. 1 pick in 2008.

Catcher Bryce Harper from the College of Southern Nevada is expected to go No. 1 overall to the Washington Nationals.

Day Tripper: Alex Rios loves the sunshine. The center fielder went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, drove in a run and scored three times Sunday. That output raised his average in day games to .433 (26-for-60) with 5 doubles, 6 home runs and 12 RBI.

His continues to lead the White Sox with a .318 batting average overall.

"I just feel comfortable with the team," Rios said of his success this season. "I've been getting good pitches to hit and I've been putting good swings on the ball. I guess if you do that, good things happen."