The White Sox opened the third day of the MLB Draft by selecting Kelvin Maldonado out of Pro Baseball High School Academy in Puerto Rico. He didn't rank in Baseball America's Top 500, but his Perfect Game profile says he's a true shortstop and a plus runner, just without anything from his offense right now.
Nick Hostetler told James Fegan that Maldonado was a top target, and since they had the fourth pick, there's reason to believe him. But we'll have a better understanding of how much the White Sox wanted one player or another when the bonuses come in. Major League Baseball caps the signing bonuses for players selected in the 11th round and later at $125,000, and overages count toward the team's bonus pool.
The Sox have a history of ponying up over the first 10 picks on Day 3. Intriguing prospects who signed for the max or more in previous years are Seby Zavala ($100,000 in the 12th round in 2014) and Ian Hamilton ($101,800, 11th round, 2016). The bonus limit was $100,000 in those years.
The whole list of draft picks is on MLB.com, but here's a glance at the more notable profiles.
Top 500 types, pitchers
- Isaiah Carranza (No. 116; 12th round)
- Jason Bilous (No. 175; 13th round)
- Davis Martin (No. 119; 14th round)
Carranza is a former Oregon player who moved to Division II Azusa Pacific. He's a right-handed reliever who sits 93-94, has room for projection, and also has little in the way of secondary pitches. Bilous started for Coastal Carolina, but both Baseball America and MLB.com says he projects to move to the bullpen because 1) his fastball plays up into the high-90s there, and 2) he's walked 143 batters over 180 innings as a Chanticleer due to long arm action that doesn't repeat well. Martin stands in contrast as a right-handed starter whose college results were better than his stuff suggests, but his performance tailed off in his junior year at Texas Tech. Throw in 15th-round pick Luke Shilling out of Illinois, who has a big arm but missed the season with an injury, and Hostetler hopes to strike gold here:
Top 500 types, position players
- Ty Greene (No. 243; 16th round)
- Romy Gonzalez (No. 410; 18th round)
BA likes Greene as a catcher who has hit at every level he's played, including wood bat leagues. He had a sub-.100 ISO this spring with the Cal Bears, and is considered an average defender, so he'll be seeing how far his hit tool takes him. Gonzalez is a guy Hostetler singled out, and he's played all around the diamond with flashes of power between Miami and the Cape Cod League, although he strikes out a little too much right now.
Prep players
- Bryce Bush (No. 402; 33rd round)
- Adrian Del Castillo (No. 196; 36th round)
- Mason Montgomery (No. 244; 39th round)
Bush is a corner player committed to Mississippi State, Del Castillo a catcher to Miami, and Montgomery a left-handed pitcher to Texas Tech. Valenzuela does not have a college commitment listed, but the catcher was on the White Sox' Area Codes team.
Draft stories
- Alec Valenzuela (34th round)
- Cannon King (37th round)
- Matthew Klug (38th round)
- Kyle Salley (40th round)
Valenzuela is the son of Sox scout Derek Valenzuela, so that explains that (h/t asinwreck). For the second consecutive year, the White Sox drafted one of Larry King's sons. Cannon King follows his brother Chance in this strange pattern that Larry thinks is Dennis Gilbert's creation. In a better tradition, the White Sox drafted Salley with the 40th round selection that's usually reserved for a product of their Amateur City Elite program. The Homewood Flossmoor product is headed to Duke. Hostetler picked Klug from Brookwood High School in Georgia after reading an article about his hardships. Klug lost his best friend and both parents within a two-year span, but kept playing baseball.
