White Sox Draft LHP Brooks Gosswein in the Fourth Round (124th overall)

With the 124th overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, the Chicago White Sox took a chance on a college lefty from Bradley University in Brooks Gosswein.

According to the report from MLB Pipeline, the 6´2´´, left-handed pitcher has a lot of potential upside, but also comes with a ton of risk. That’s typically what you’re looking for in these rounds of the MLB draft.

He’s a local product out of Barrington, and was born in Chicago. Of course, he stayed at home for his college career, as well, with Bradley University in Peoria.

As a freshman in 2018 Gosswein posted a 3.41 ERA in 34 ¹⁄₃ innings, with 24 strikeouts to 20 walks for a WHIP of 1.66. He moved primarily to the rotation in 2019 and had decent success with a 4.38 ERA in 63 ²⁄₃ innings with 51 strikeouts and a 1.35 WHIP, but he continued to struggle with the walks by issuing 36 free passes.

It was not a great start for him in 2020 before everything got shut down. And honestly, the numbers weren’t all that great in 2021, either, for somebody playing in a small conference.

Still, the White Sox took a chance on him because he can throw in the upper 90s and has a decent slider. That’s all of the tools you need to be a successful high-leverage reliever, which is where his future likely lies.

This also feels like a money-saving pick for the White Sox, who took a player who wasn’t ranked in MLB Pipeline’s top 250. The White Sox probably feel like they can sign Gosswein under the slot value of $460,000, to use some of the money saved for their higher picks or on a hail-mary lottery ticket in the late rounds.