Themes? Big and wild arms, fast and versatile bats
Our every-pick-in-real-time trick that has been pulled off successfully by us, whether here, South Side Hit Pen, or Sox Populi/FFSN got snapped with the Day 3 selections. Why? Reader malaise, player indifference, and of course the black cloud that is just hanging over the White Sox.
Despite putting himself up against it with three top picks all going for slot or (likely) much pricier, director of scouting Mike Shirley still had some intriguing selections up his sleeve. At first glance this might not be as impressive overall as his 2023 draft, but then again that group hasn’t set the system on fire yet.
2024 Chicago White Sox Day 3 Draft Picks
One of the Day 3 themes for the White Sox was SIZE. Pitching, position playing, they drafted some hosses. Shepardson, who Shirley tabbed in his post-draft comments as his “sleeper” pick for the draft, is big enough (6´5´´, 220) to be SCARY with his wildness (30 innings, 29 walks, 13 hit batsmen). Blake shapes up to be the hit or miss of the draft, given wildness that could slot him into Alec Hansen territory and a slider that could find him in the majors next summer.
A minor theme for the White Sox this draft is “of the year,” where seemingly at least half of draftees were top preps in their states or top players in their college conferences or leagues. Ditto Archer, the MAC Player of the Year, hitting for both average (.300) and power (35 XBH in 53 games). He also boasts plus defense and electric speed in center field, so there’s sneaky upside here.
At least in Baseball America’s mind (ranked No. 213 going into the draft), the White Sox got a steal here. But this workaholic arm chucks his fastball 97 mph ... on the LOW end. Shirley claims he saw a 103 pop up on the radar while scouting him. George is a major-program product who, like Shepardson, is scary-wild. Unlike Shepardson, is a draft-eligible sophomore who has almost no game action to scout off of. There’s big raw talent here, with an emphasis on both the big and the raw.
Sinibaldi only made the Rutgers University starting rotation in this past season, as a senior. One one hand, he threw 83 innings and had a 3.47 ERA. On the other, he’s a southpaw. Your guess as to why he ended up a 14th Round choice vs. a UDFA.
Moore was a back-end rotation guy for the Wildcats by the end of the 2024 season, but this is a raw, raw talent. Given Shirley wants to give him run as a starting pitcher first, that makes him even more raw, given his wildness and run surrender, than short men like George and Shepardson. So, we have our 2024 “project.” Moore has the makeup, and wasn’t bottom-feeding off of lower-echelon college talent, so his 5.05 ERA in 2024 gets shaved by a run or two in somewhere other than the SEC.
Moore is also a Shirley Gets His Man pitcher as well, as the White Sox were poised to draft him LAST summer as well.
Oh yeah! The White Sox need hitters! Outfielder, in particular! Just in a nick of time Shirley decided on another bat, and McCants is another good ’un, profiling similarly to Archer and a product of an even better conference (SEC) and program (Ole Miss -> Alabama). McCants slashed .306/.374/.583 and is versatile enough defensively that he’s going to be employed in a Mario Camilletti (or, if you must, Danny Mendick, Zach Remillard ...) IF-OF role. The White Sox will hope he can have 10% the professional career of Mookie Betts.
We have reached the two-way player part of the program. Now, players like Nick Altermatt and Adisyn Coffey were drafted as two-way (or potentially two way) guys, and pretty much exclusively have pitched as pros. Miller-Green may be a little different. He was in the Governors rotation this season and also found time to mash 30 homers. There is no doubt that this 6´5´´, 237-pound behemoth feasted on some less-refined pitching, but still, he’s intrigued White Sox scouts and coaches on both the pitching and hitting sides. Oh, and is a native Russian adopted into the U.S. a week before 9/11. Backstories!
Another arm with high upside but very raw results at the moment. But hey, he’s a southpaw, so what’s an 18th-rounder? Paddack is going to be a project come Fall Instructionals.
Pinto breaks theme and is just “a pitcher” (six-foot, no velo, “knows how to pitch”). It’s uncertain what the White Sox see in the Anteater, but then, this is a 19th Round pick and the White Sox don’t have to provide reasoning past the 500th or so player drafted.
This year’s George Wolkow goes by the name of Myles Bailey. The twist this season is that Bailey didn’t grow up in the Chicago suburbs and dream of playing in Sox Park, so negotiations to make him a later-round bonus baby like Big George broke down. But, given Shirley all but admitted a 20th Round pick is a punt anyway, the South Siders pushed ahead the the Florida State commit, just in case Bailey’s NIL money falls through, or something.
Or, who knows, maybe Bailey watches a Sox game this weekend, sees the diminutive first-sacker Andrew Vaughn roaming the infield and figures that maybe the road to the majors might not be so arduous after all.
The White Sox already have at least five UDFAs in the fold, and tomorrow we’ll trot out some skinnies on what now has become an unofficial “Day 4” of the draft.
