5 Players the Chicago White Sox could take in the 2023 MLB Draft
By Todd Welter
The Chicago White Sox farm system is considered to be one of the worst in baseball.
This Sunday, the Sox get a chance to improve their stock with three picks in the MLB Draft’s top 100.
Chicago’s American League team will have the 15th pick in the first round.
General manager Rick Hahn has received heavy criticism for the rebuild being a failure. He has done pretty well with his first-round picks since becoming the general manager in 2012.
The Sox have taken Tim Anderson, Carlos Rodon, Andrew Vaughn, Jake Burger, and Garrett Crochet under Hahn’s oversight.
His three busts were Carson Fulmer, Zack Burdi, and Zach Collins, but they did reach the big-league level. Nick Madrigal was traded to get Craig Kimbrel for the 2021 postseason stretch run.
The Sox’ top prospect is 2021 first-round selection Colson Montgomery. Last year’s White Sox top pick Noah Schultz is the team’s fourth-best prospect. He is dominating at Low-A ball.
Hahn has had three different amateur scouting directors control the draft for him since 2012. Doug Laumann oversaw the draft when Hahn was promoted to the general manager job. Nick Hostetler took over the draft room after the 2015 draft, and Mike Shirley is currently running the draft after being moved into the role after the 2019 draft.
The Sox’ problem with their drafts has been injuries delaying prospects’ arrival to the bigs (Jake Burger) along with being unable to get those players to reach their full potential (or rushing them to the Majors like Andrew Vaughn).
The other issue has been they have taken players high in the draft with flaws in their games that would translate into limited success in the Majors. Madrigal was a slap hitter at Oregon State when the modern game is all about power. Vaughn was a hitting prodigy, but he has limited power and can only play first base.
Shirley’s drafts under Hahn have seen the team take two pitchers and an infielder. Montgomery and Schultz were selected straight out of high school, so it has been hard to get a true profile of what route Shirley and Hahn might take with their first pick.
There are five players in different mock drafts that project who the Chicago White Sox might take with the 15th pick in the first round.