Before the MLB Draft starts, let's open up the mailbag and answer some questions from our Patreon supporters. Thank you again for your continued support of Sox Machine. It helps us a great deal in having the MLB Draft Show and getting intel on many players who could be drafted by the White Sox. Without your support, none of this would be possible.
Let's get to the questions:
Would drafting Ed Howard achieve two goals: filling a position of need and signing him under slot to go over later in the draft?
Andrew,
Yes, and yes. I've mentioned it a couple of times, but I'm not comfortable with the White Sox middle infield depth in the farm system. Having Tim Anderson and Nick Madrigal up the middle for at least the next four years is great, but what happens if one of them goes on the Injured List for a month? Today, Leury Garcia and Danny Mendick can help. After them, it's murky on what the White Sox have. There's hope that Yolbert Sanchez can be a thing even though at age 23 he's yet to play in A-ball, and it's still not known if he can man shortstop effectively.
If a goal in this 2020 Draft for the White Sox is to restock the farm system to start building another wave of talent, I think selecting Ed Howard with Pick 11 would be a smart move. He's going to stick at the shortstop position, and even though the bat will need more time to develop, the White Sox can afford that luxury currently. As Anderson ages and approaches the end of his current deal, they can decide if a 22-year old Ed Howard is ready to take over.
It's a decision that is more suited for long-term thinking. With the heavy rumors of Garrett Crochet going to the White Sox at Pick 11, that doesn't suggest the White Sox are thinking long-term. Quite the opposite, in fact. That type of selection would suggest very short-term with the possibility of Crochet pitching out of the White Sox bullpen in 2021.
As for the under slot perspective, the rumored price I heard it would take to sign Howard is $3.5 million. If both parties agree that's the way to go, then the White Sox could receive an additional benefit of pushing $1 million in bonus slot money to the second round. That would allow Mike Shirley and Rick Hahn to net another first-round talent using a second-round pick.
During the NFL draft, Bill Belichick's dog Nike was the star of the show. Will any of the MLB front office folks on the MLB draft display that kind of levity, and if so, who do you think is most likely to provide viewers some entertainment?
Asinwreck,
I loved the moment where a very closed-off Bill Belichick leaves the room, and his dog takes his spot. This situation is frequent in our household with Frankie, and he often takes my seat. It's a moment that made Belichick feel more . . . human? Often in his press conferences, he comes off very robotic. I watched a CNBC feature of Belichick's relationship with Nike, and it was cute. I don't think anyone has ever said that about Bill Belichick before.
Can anyone in MLB match the spontaneous moment? Rick Hahn has his kids and shared in the past that his son plays OOTP. Perhaps we could get a GM showing a future GM the ropes.
What I'm hoping to see during the MLB Network broadcast is if our good friend Jim Callis's pups make an appearance. If you didn't know, the Callis family has four golden retrievers. In past podcast recordings, there have been times they have made an appearance by entering his office to play with a squeaky toy or try to steal a baseball off the bookshelf. Definitely one of the funnier recording moments of the podcast.
If you were in charge of the draft for the Sox, who would be your ideal, yet realistic, 5 picks for this draft class?
Ed,
Great question, Ed. While this is a deep draft and the White Sox could pick five college players to add that much-needed depth to the farm system, I prefer repeating the 2019 strategy. Try to get three players ranked in the Top 75 who could provide impact.
I still think the dream is Reid Detmers in Round 1. When it comes to Round 2 and 3, I would like the White Sox to find a way to sign Jared Jones and Ben Hernandez. I've mentioned Yohandy Morales in past posts because that's a name heard connected to the White Sox in round 3. I like Jones/Hernandez more than Thompson/Dalquist from last year. Jones has the fastball velocity teams covet but needs development time to harness his control. Hernandez has an average fastball today, but a terrific changeup. With more development and physical maturity, can you gain a couple of ticks on his fastball to give him two-plus pitches? I think so, and maybe his breaking pitches can be average to plus once we have a better understanding of what the TrackMan data is reporting.
A Detmers/Jones/Hernandez draft, in addition to the Thompson and Dalquist selected last year, begins the process for Chris Getz to develop a new wave of pitchers. I still stand by my statement that Detmers could be major league ready by 2022. Nevertheless, we can see if Jones/Hernandez/Thompson/Dalquist can breakout and be future contributors in 2024 and beyond.
For round 4, I like 3B Kenyon Yovan from Oregon. Began his college career mostly as a pitcher throwing well for the Ducks. As a freshman, he closed 15 games with a 1.97 ERA and followed that up in 2018 with a 2.98 ERA in 21 appearances (10 starts). He missed all of 2019 due to injury, and the focus shifted him from mostly pitching to playing third base. Yovan had a terrific start to 2020 hitting .429/.566/.714 with four home runs. I'm not sure if Yovan, the pitcher, is still part of his future profile, but I think his skill set is unique enough to merit the White Sox using one of their five picks on him.
I have no idea what will happen in round 5. I'm expecting substantial under slot deals barely over $20,000 for teams to either save money or payout more of a bonus in earlier rounds. The White Sox could be one of those teams, and in that situation, I like RHP Luke Smith out of Louisville. He had a moment in the 2019 College World Series dropping F-bombs to the Vanderbilt dugout after a key strikeout. I like pitchers with an edge.
