If the White Sox fail to provide their fans any respite -- and losing the first two games of a three-game series in Oakland paints a pretty bleak picture -- the MLB draft will provide some short-term distraction. It starts on Friday with the first two rounds, followed by rounds 3-10 on Saturday, and the final 10 rounds on Sunday.
You can start by brushing up on all of the FutureSox MLB draft coverage to catch up on prospect profiles, news and notes. If you want to know where to start, the mock drafts below have the most recent information on which players the White Sox might prefer.
(Oddly enough, Baseball America hasn't run a mock draft more recently than June 8, when they had Miami third baseman Yohandy Morales headed to Chicago. If they happen to post one at some point today, I'll add it to the list.)
MLB Pipeline (June 29)
White Sox select: Jacob Gonzalez, SS, Mississippi
Previous mock: Chase Davis, OF, Arizona
Jim Callis' view: Though the White Sox desperately need pitching, they'd prioritize the available bats over Waldrep, the last of the four college arms who are first-round locks. Might they consider White? There are mixed reports as to whether Chicago prefers collegians (Taylor, Gonzalez, Wilson, Shaw, Troy, Schanuel, Bradfield, Davis, Miami third baseman Yohandy Morales) to prepsters (Houck, Miller, Mitchell, shortstop Walker Martin).
The top three college arms are LSU dynamo Paul Skenes, Wake Forest righty Rhett Lowder and Tennesssee righty Chase Dollander, all of whom are selected in the top 10.
2023 MLB Draft Profile: Jacob Gonzalez
Keith Law (June 29)
White Sox select: Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Florida
Previous mock: Yohandy Morales, 3B, Miami
Keith Law's view: I’ve heard them on a couple of the college arms, including Dollander, as well as [TCU third baseman Brayden] Taylor and Yohandy Morales. It sounds like there may be two camps in the front office, one favoring an arm and one a bat.
When it looked like the White Sox stood a chance of rolling into 2024 with a promising roster hamstrung by thin pitching, picking the best collegiate arm available didn't seem like a terrible strategy. If the White Sox take a step back from immediate contention plans, then position really doesn't matter.
2023 MLB Draft Report: A look at Hurston Waldrep's SEC tournament start vs. Alabama
ESPN.com (June 26)
White Sox select: Tommy Troy, 3B, Stanford
Previous mock: Colin Houck, 3B, Parkview HS (Ga.)
Kiley McDaniel's view: I also think the White Sox are kicking the tires on the prep bats here (Houck, Mitchell and Aidan Miller are mentioned most) and would consider Dollander and Meyer. But ultimately, I guess they'll do what they tend to have done in the past and get a safer college type up top. This is also probably Yohandy Morales' first real landing spot.
An infield featuring Troy and Zach Remillard would warm my former Trojan heart.
