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Hey everybody, it’s Draft Day!
Wait, you forgot that MLB decided to turn this into an amusement park week ... beginning on a Sunday (?), now combining Futures Game, Home Run Contest, All-Star Game and MLB Draft all into three days. It’s the first time since the amateur draft began in 1965 that the baseball draft has occurred outside of the month of June.
The draft begins tonight, at 6 p.m. CT (an hourlong preview on MLB Network begins at 5 p.m. CT). The first round will be broadcast on MLB Network and ESPN. With four minutes between picks, the White Sox should be selecting around 7:30 p.m. CT.
Both Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com see the White Sox bucking a decade trend away from prep bats and selecting high-schoolers with their pick:
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We will be providing comprehensive coverage of all 20 picks this year, digging a little deeper than we have in years past, profiling every pick with a separate story. Brett Ballantini will lead off coverage by writing up the first-rounder tonight, joined by Jeremy Karll, Joe Resis, Jake Mastrioanni, Darrin Brown and me on Monday and Tuesday. Our yeoman draft and minors guy Darren Black should be providing at least a comprehensive look at the full draft once it’s over.
Not sure whether we’ll do a draft-thread on Monday and Tuesday given the 9-10 features per day we’ll be putting up, but feel free to use this space to talk early draft and speculate on who the White Sox will snag.