White Sox likely targeting college player with No. 26 overall pick
The White Sox last held the No. 26 overall draft pick in 2016.
They also had the No. 10 selection that year, which they used on catcher Zack Collins.
The No. 26 pick was compensation for the Giants signing Sox free agent Jeff Samardzija, and Zack Burdi's name was called.
At the time, it looked like a solid choice.
Not only was Burdi a decorated collegiate closer at Louisville armed with a 100-mph fastball, he was a local product (Downers Grove South High School) and avid White Sox fan.
A series of injuries shortened Burdi's stay on the South Side, and the 27-year-old is currently on the comeback trail with Class AAA Rochester in the Nationals' system.
The Sox have the No. 26 overall pick in Sunday's first round, but this time it's due to the price of success.
At 93-69 last season, they had the sixth-best record in baseball.
Last year, the White Sox targeted high school infielders with their top draft picks, selecting shortstop Colson Montgomery in the first round and third baseman Wes Kath in the second.
So far, so good on the young prospects.
Heading into Saturday night's game against Asheville, Montgomery had reached base safely in a staggering 48 straight games. The streak started when he was at low Class A Kannapolis and continued after a June 24 promotion to high A Winston-Salem.
Kath is projected as a left-handed power hitter, and he has 9 home runs in 74 games with Kannapolis.
This year, all signs are pointing to the Sox getting back to drafting a college player on the first round, something they've done 15 times in the last 17 years.
"I think the strength of the class is the college position player as a whole, at the top especially," said Mike Shirley, the White Sox's director of amateur scouting. "There are a lot of position players that we really like in this draft."
Don't be surprised if the Sox wind up drafting a college pitcher at No. 26.
"I think it's critical in any draft moving forward with how the pitching landscape has changed so much in our game, health, starter, reliever, what a reliever means to you," Shirley said. "The dynamic that comes with managing a game today, the pitching thing is really critical. It's something I think every major-league team in every room presently is trying to figure out, the pitching landscape most importantly and then you have to weigh those position players against that.
"At the end of the day, the preference may be a pitcher but that doesn't mean if the right position player is available that we will not walk down that road."
Baseball America is predicting the Sox are going to draft East Carolina's Carson Whisenhunt at No. 26.
The left-handed starter began attracting major-league attention in 2021, when he went 6-2 with a 3.77 ERA to go with 79 strikeouts in 62 innings.
Whisenhunt didn't play for ECU this past season. He was suspended for the entire year after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug but has been pitching in the Cape Cod League this summer.
MLB.com has the White Sox drafting Tucker Toman in the first round.
This pick seems unlikely, considering Toman is a high school third baseman like Kath was last year.
Outfielders Jordan Beck and Drew Gilbert, who were college teammates at Tennessee, are other first-round options, as are college pitchers Gabriel Hughes (Gonzaga) and Cooper Hjerpe (Oregon State).
"In all my years of doing this, when you get outside of pick eight or nine, I think you have no idea what's going to happen," Shirley said. "In my history, I don't think we've ever had to work on so many players who possibly could be there at 26."