White Sox select RHSP Seth Keener in third round (No. 84 overall)

With the 84th overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft the White Sox selected Wake Forest righty Seth Keener. His rise is more recent with his pop coming in the Cape Cod League in 2022. He went to Wake Forest, and maybe more so because he didn’t have a great freshman and sophomore year, he worked more out of the pen than as a starter. Regardless, his 2023 was very good in the ACC. Over 70 1⁄3 innings, he worked a 2.69 ERA, eight starts and 15 games in relief. He struck out 90 guys over that time span and showed decent command, to the tune of 20 walks.

His best pitch is his slider and he used it to better results out of the bullpen, where he could rely on that and his 91-97 mph fastball. He can throw strikes with his slider but, his issue is going deep into games — and that is where the lower end of that fastball velocity comes into play. Keener seems a safe pick because of how good he was in relief; imaginably, he can be a fastball-slider, late-inning reliever at worst. At best, he can throw (pun intended) in his change and build some stamina to see the sixth and seventh innings.

Seth Keener’s Baseball Cube Talent Ratings

Durability 100
K/BB 76
Walks 69
Strikeouts 68
vs. Power 60
Hittable 60
Team Winning Pct. .426

2023 Chicago White Sox Draft Picks

First Round (No. 15 overall) Jacob González, SS (ranked No. 18 on MLB Pipeline)
Second Round (No. 51 overall) Grant Taylor, RHSP (ranked No. 102 on MLB Pipeline)
Third Round (No. 84 overall) Seth Keener, RHP (ranked No. 108 on MLB pipeline)