With Zach DeLoach and Prelander Berroa currently scuffling in Charlotte, the Competitive Balance Round B pick the White Sox received from the Mariners to complete the Gregory Santos trade became a lot more important.
The White Sox used that pick -- the third and final pick of Day 1, 68th overall -- to draft Blake Larson, a 6-foot-3-inch, left-handed pitcher out of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
Larson hails from Des Moines, where he was an Iowa Little League legend and later attended Dowling Catholic High School before moving to Florida with the hopes of raising his draft profile. It worked, as the White Sox selected him on the first day of the draft, and will buy him out of his commitment to TCU.
What's Blake Larson's game?
It took just three picks for the White Sox to select two lefties who throw from a low three-quarters slot. Larson doesn't throw as hard as first-round pick Hagen Smith, as his velocity sits around 93 mph. He also throws a high-70s slider and a changeup that's reportedly pretty firm at the moment.
Of course, Larson is just 18 years old, so he has projectability on his side. Baseball America says he can touch 96 right now and 100 isn't out of the question down the line, but he'll also have to hone a high-effort delivery into something more repeatable. The BA description incorporates rather stormy imagery:
He has a high-effort delivery with a lot of moving parts, including a high leg kick, a sharp stabbing action in the back of his arm stroke and a violent finish including a head whack and a hard fall off to the third base side.
Where does Blake Larson rank?
- Keith Law: 81
- ESPN: 86
- Sox Machine: 96
- MLB Pipeline: 104
- Baseball America: 121
What does Blake Larson look like?
Any good anagrams?
None worth relaying.
