Most people around baseball would prefer to have an actual break during the All-Star break, but Rob Manfred has decided to stage the draft at this time in a quest to elevate its status, so the first two rounds commence tonight.
You can watch it on ESPN and MLB Network, and you can listen to Josh and James discuss the picks as they happen on Twitter Spaces.
Here's the last survey of the players the mock drafts attach to the White Sox before the real drafts render them relevant or moot.
Baseball America: Robby Snelling, LHP, McQueen HS, Reno, Nev.
Carlos Collazo says:
Still a lot of college arms linked to the White Sox. It sounds like Gabriel Hughes could be slipping and I wonder if Chicago would be interested in him or another college arm like Jake Bennett who is getting some late helium. Snelling is a name I am increasingly getting comfortable with for this pick, however, so that’s the new selection. I think the White Sox might be one of the teams in on Reggie Crawford for later.
Keith Law: Snelling
Law says:
I have had some sources say they think Snelling is gone before this pick, but there aren’t that many teams willing to take a high school arm in the top 20. The Padres, the Mets, the Angels … that’s it for teams that are clearly open to the general idea, as opposed to just liking one particular prep arm. I’ve heard the White Sox a lot with Snelling, and a lot with Hjerpe (which could very well just be because they’ve taken a lot of college arms with unusual deliveries, from Chris Sale to Carson Fulmer).
Jonathan Mayo: Tucker Toman, 3B, Hammond HS, Columbia, S.C.
Mayo says:
Toman is the best prep bat still on the board, one that has entered conversations higher than this.
Jim Callis: Drew Gilbert, OF, Tennessee
Callis says:
It's no secret that the White Sox like Toman. If they miss out on him, they could opt for another of the better pure hitters in the Draft in Gilbert, or another prep infielder in Young.
Kiley McDaniel: Toman
McDaniel adds no context, except that he had the Sox picking Arizona catcher Daniel Susac in his previous mock.
Resources
Sox Machine coverage
- Final mock draft
- Staff picks for the first round
- Profile: Cooper Hjerpe, LHP, Oregon State
- Profile: Dalton Rushing, C, Louisville
- Profile: Justin Campbell, RHP, Oklahoma State
- Profile: Brock Jones, OF, Stanford
- Profile: Blade Tidwell, RHP, Tennessee
- Profile: Logan Tanner, C, Mississippi State
- Profile: Tucker Toman, 3B, Hammond (S.C.) HS
- Profile: Gabriel Hughes, RHP,
- Profile: Dylan Beavers, OF, Cal
- Profile: Jett Williams, SS, Rockwall-Heath (Tx.) HS
- Profile: Drew Gilbert, OF, Tennesee
- Profile: Sterlin Thompson, OF, Florida
- Profile: Robby Snelling, LHP, McQueen HS, Nev.
- Profile: Justin Crawford, OF, Bishop Gorman HS, Nev.
