Chicago White Sox looking for 'true baseball players' in draft

The Chicago White Sox have plenty of holes to fill everywhere you look, so it's a good thing they have the Nos. 10, 26 and 49 overall picks in Thursday's first-year player draft.

"One of our big things this year is we want to start getting more true baseball players in our system, guys that make contact, pitchers that throw strikes and pound the zone, and just get back to the tools of the game of baseball," said Nick Hostetler, who took over as the Sox's director of amateur scouting last August.

"Try to add a few more of those guys in our system, and hopefully we can speed up the process a little bit for some of our other guys."

According to Baseball America, the White Sox are going to draft University of Miami catcher Zack Collins at No. 10.

Heading into the NCAA Super Regionals, Collins had a .358/.534/.631 hitting line with 13 home runs and 53 RBI in 57 games with the Hurricanes.

Collins is a 6-foot-2, 210-pounder and he bats left-handed.

The Sox also have been linked to Louisville outfielder Corey Ray, a South Side native who attended Simeon Career Academy and played in the White Sox's Amateur City Elite program.

"He's in our mix," Hostetler said. "There are a couple of those guys down there at Louisville who are good players."

Baseball America has Ray going to the Brewers with the No. 5 overall pick.

At No. 26, the publication has the White Sox drafting Eric Lauer, a left-handed starting pitcher from Kent State.

"We're hoping that out of our first-tier guys on our board, that we get two out of those, if not three, at 49, as well," Hostetler said.

"There are some guys that are going to go in between those picks that maybe we don't have there. But at the same time, on that first side of the board for us, I'm pretty confident we're going to get our first two picks."

Good to go:

After Tuesday night's loss to the Nationals, manager Robin Ventura said the Sox's bullpen was short because Zach Putnam had elbow soreness and couldn't pitch.

Before Wednesday's game, Putnam declined to talk to reporters, simply saying, "I'm good."

Putnam last pitched against the Mets in New York on June 1, facing just one batter.

"He's good now," Ventura said. "(Trainer) Herm (Schneider) cleared him. He'd been sore and you've got to stay away from him. Right now they say he's fine to go, so he's available today and if we need to use him, we can use him."

Putnam was pressed into early duty Wednesday after starter James Shields lasted just 2-plus innings in his White Sox debut. Putnam pitched 1 scoreless inning and allowed 2 hits.

Schedule change:

ESPN has picked up the July 26 Cubs-White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field, and the starting time has been moved up an hour to 6:10 p.m.

WPWR also will televise the game.