There's not a wealth of public longitudinal studies about baseball developmental outcomes for younger brothers; it remains just an anecdotal preference for White Sox scouting director Mike Shirley. But it at least plays a role in the origin story of his most recent second-round draft pick, Caleb Bonemer.
By the time Okemos High baseball coach Raul Presas saw the right-handed infielder as a 12-year-old, Bonemer already bore the polish of someone who had spent his life trying to play up to the standard of his older brother Gabe, who went on to play Division III baseball at nearby Calvin University.
"He processes things in a very professional manner," said Presas. "Many times you see guys, you give them some instruction, they tell you, they nod that they're getting it and you never see them apply it. He's just the opposite."
The level of ready-made baseball skill Bonemer brought to Okemos quickly made him a local sensation, and "the most gifted athlete [on campus]," per Presas, as he also excelled in basketball and had interest from the football team. At a school where Paul -- not Cal -- Quantrill is the only other MLB draftee in Okemos history, Bonemer was an easy four-time all-conference selection, and won Gatorade Player of the Year for Michigan his last two seasons despite being sidelined with a back injury the summer before his junior year.
Having never dealt with a prospect of this caliber before, and flooded with unprecedented scouting interest like when Bonemer grew into a power-hitting frame as a junior, Presas sought to do right by his local prodigy. Okemos loaded up this past season's schedule with the toughest opponents they could book across the state, and Bonemer hit the showcase circuit to face a level of pitching he wasn't going to see in the greater Lansing area.
"Playing against some of the top guys in the country, as a northern guy from Michigan, we don’t always see that," Bonemer said. "To play on that level of game definitely helped a lot. [Playing at Area Codes] definitely helped me get on the White Sox radar a little bit, a few White Sox scouts in the dugout I was able to interact with."
Bonemer showed out in front of key Sox decision makers at Perfect Game's national showcase, and especially at Area Codes, where he had a two-homer game for the best team the Sox have compiled at the event in years. He returned to Michigan with notes on his game that seeing 75 mph fastballs from opposing pitchers weren't going to provide.
As much as Bonemer showed off a precocious feel for driving balls to the air pull side, scouts saw his swing as stiff and vulnerable to popping up and whiffing under elevated velocity.
"I’ve been working a lot on swing mechanics," Bonemer said. "Had a little bit of a problem in the spring getting under balls a little bit, kind of dropping the backside a little bit. Kind of working on flattening out my swing a little bit. And sometimes I have the tendency to stride a little bit too far. Tightening up some things in my swing has kind of been my main focus."
"High velo fastballs up in the zone, just being able to get on plane with that earlier," Bonemer continued. "Before I was super uphill. I would say elevated heaters, it helped me a lot, flattened out my path. And also using the other field, the opposite field a little bit more and being able to catch balls a little bit deeper."
While there was once first-round heat around Bonemer, being taken 43rd overall still makes him the highest drafted Greater Lansing native ever. With even Bonemer himself acknowledging a move to third is possible and something he'd be open to, chances are the lack of traditional shortstop range and athleticism can't be overcome. But what his toolkit is capable of delivering, Presas feels will be realized, as Bonemer has been striving to play over his head his whole life.
"His safe haven, his sanctuary is that baseball diamond," Presas said. "He's a young man that is going to work harder than anyone else."
Last summer, White Sox fifth-round pick Sam Antonacci was teammates in the Cape Cod League with monstrous power-hitting prospect and Sox 17th-round pick Lyle Miller-Green.
Stylistically, they're a little different.
"If you're showing up early to watch batting practice, I'd probably suggest watching him and closing [your] eyes for mine," Antonacci joked by phone. "Mine's probably a bit boring, just spraying line drives all over the field. Every now and then I may try to let one eat, but that's very rare. Just something I've always done and always worked for. It's what works for me. It may be a bit boring, but fun for me."
Antonacci can be self-effacing for spurts about his contact-and-versatility profile. He quips that he "wasn't very good" at high school basketball, and never even thought of himself as a potential pro baseball player until dedicating himself to the sport full-time at junior college. His favorite defensive position is shortstop, but readily offers to throw on catching gear if it makes him more appealing for the major league club. Antonacci certainly doesn't blanche at Shirley projecting him as a potential everyday second baseman.
At the same time, the lefty-swinging Springfield native bypassed White Sox interest in drafting him a year earlier to see if he could raise his value by showing his mettle against Division I pitching at Coastal Carolina. After a season where the 21-year-old adjusted to the best pitching he's ever faced to the tune of a .367/.523/.504 with contact rates over 90 percent, he's fairly matter-of-fact about his faith in his plate discipline and two-strike approach that are the foundation of his offense.
"I think really good hitters are happy with their walks, and will take them whenever they can," said Antonacci, who defines himself as a hitter who can "make the pitcher frustrated, just because I can find any way to get on base."
Antonacci feels grafting his "hit it where it's pitched" approach to Division I pitching required a few weeks of acclimation, but eventually became "pretty easy" as his numbers would attest. His stance and leg-kick adjustments with two strikes have grown muted enough that "when you look at video, there's probably no difference at all," and while playing professional baseball is a huge personal accomplishment that will begin in earnest as Antonacci flies out to the Sox team complex in Arizona this weekend, he's long since set bigger goals.
"My freshman year, I started to see the changes in myself, and I knew that I would be in pro ball someday," Antonacci said. "Obviously, a lot of people's goals are to play pro ball, but ultimately mine is to be a big leaguer and not just play pro ball. I want to be a big leaguer for a long time and have success there, and hopefully win a couple championships."
