Tonight's MLB draft could lead to an exciting first round. There's no consensus first pick among the mock drafts and based on what John Manuel wrote, the mock drafts may not be alone.
The Phillies, picking first this year for the first time since 1998, also don’t appear to have a set pick. Philadelphia appears to have settled on a group that includes outfielders Mickey Moniak and Blake Rutherford, preps from Southern California; colliegians Kyle Lewis (Mercer) and Corey Ray (Louisville); prep lefty Jason Groome; and lefty A.J. Puk of Florida.
With that in mind, let's take a look at who the White Sox may be looking to pick.
Pick | Jim Callis MLB.com |
Jonathan Mayo MLB.com |
Keith Law ESPN Insider |
John Manuel Baseball America |
Christopher Crawford Sports Illustrated |
10th | Blake Rutherford, OF, Chaminade Prep (Canoga Park, Calif.) | Justin Dunn, RHP, Boston College | Dakota Hudson, RHP, Mississippi State | Zack Collins, C, Miami | Blake Rutherford, OF, Chaminade Prep (Canoga Park, Calif.) |
26th | Gavin Lux, SS, Indian Trail Academy (Kenosha, Wis.) | Eric Lauer, LHP, Kent State | Zach Burdi, RHP, Louisville | Eric Lauer, LHP, Kent State | Robert Tyler, RHP, Georgia |
If you've been following the mock drafts before today, most of the names should be familiar by now. Law and Callis have both gone with Rutherford and Lux before. Law has moved onto other picks, but they're both talked about for the Sox in all the mock drafts. John Manuel sticks to his guns with Collins and Lauer although he mentions Lux with the tenth pick and calls Lauer "nothing sexy". Crawford follows up on that point when talking about Lauer as a later pick.
Every draft class has the "safe" lefty, a guy who isn’t going to need much time to develop in the system but doesn’t offer much upside. That’s what Lauer is, and that also describes Anthony Kay of UConn, another name I’ve heard the Mets are heavy on.
Keith Law has switched things up and has the Sox going with Mississippi State RHP Dakota Hudson at number 10. Law still likes Ray and Rutherford for the Sox too. Chris Crawford has Hudson going to Detroit with the ninth pick but notes "If it were legal for the White Sox to trade up and take Hudson, they probably would."
Zach Burdi is a newer name that Jim wrote about this morning. John Manuel has him going to Detroit at nine, but mentions "There are a lot of rumblings that if Burdi doesn’t go at nine, he could fall to the 20s." That makes sense for why Keith Law sees him going to Chicago and adds "I was told this is a "lock" if Burdi gets this far." in talking about the White Sox 26th pick. He was the closer for Louisville, and, with a 100 mph plus fastball with a lot of arm side movement (see the filthy video below) and a plus slider, he has a stronger case to see Chicago this season than the previous two first round picks for the Sox.
This is what a Zack Burdi fastball looks like from behind the plate. 96 mph is slow for him! #MLBDraft #VineFault: https://t.co/4XquzdjLMU
— Michael Lananna (@mlananna) June 9, 2016
A few extra notes...
- I lied. All the mock drafts do agree on one thing. There is almost no way that Corey Ray would get past the White Sox.
- While the White Sox have been strongly linked to Lux throughout the spring, the fall of Delvin Perez possibly makes him the top shortstop on the board for a lot of teams now. As Lil Jimmy wrote a couple of days ago, the Sox may be considering Lux with the tenth pick now.