After drafting two position players over the last three years who have to fight to stay off first base, the White Sox used their first round draft pick on a guy who has nowhere else to go.
That would be Andrew Vaughn, the University of California first baseman who won the Golden Spikes Award as a sophomore and is a finalist again this year. You don't normally see right-handed first basemen given top-five consideration, but with Vaughn's bat considered the best in the draft class, the White Sox couldn't resist.
The first two picks of the draft went as planned -- Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman to the Orioles, and Texas prep shortstop to the Royals -- and the White Sox met expectations as well.
How does he rank?
- Baseball America: No. 3
- MLB.com: No. 3
- 2080 Baseball: No. 5
- Keith Law: No. 2
- FanGraphs: No. 4
What does he look like?
What's to like?
The White Sox drafted one of the few candidate who could make a claim for the best collegiate hitter in the country. The Golden Bear won the Golden Spikes Award last year, and he's a candidate to do it again after hitting .381/.544/.716 with 15 homers and 14 doubles over 52 games with Cal -- and that's while being pitched around. Nobody has any issues with his swing or pitch recognition (59 walks to 33 strikeouts), so he should be somebody who can rise through the system quickly.
What's not to like?
He's a first-base only candidate, and a little undersized at that (6 feet, 214 pounds). He's also right-handed, so he's an unusual candidate for a top-three pick. He should be able to make all the plays, but his entire stock rides on the strength of his bat. It'd be a lot more exciting if the White Sox hadn't seen similar bat-first draft picks Zack Collins and Jake Burger fail to light up A-ball pitching (and even Nick Madrigal to a lesser degree), and struggle to distinguish themselves defensively at non-first positions (Madrigal doesn't apply here). He's not responsible for the shortcomings of previous picks, but it'd be nice if he could quash those immediate reservations in order to have a bit of a honeymoon period.
How does he fit?
The White Sox have a handful of guys who can move to first -- Collins, Burger, Eloy Jiménez -- as well as second-round pick Gavin Sheets, who's already there at Birmingham. If Vaughn lives up to the billing, everybody's going to have to get out of his way.
Want to read more?
Vaughn was the subject of one of Josh's pre-draft profiles, as well as a debate in Josh's head about drafting a right-handed first baseman with such a high pick.
