The Major League Baseball draft is basically a lot like stamp collecting, and just as exciting, but it is still very important. Look no further than the late ‘80s-early ‘90s Chicago White Sox, who built a winning ball club around a core of four absolute slam dunk picks (Jack McDowell, Robin Ventura, Frank Thomas and Alex Fernandez)…and then Scott Ruffcorn happened.
Anywho, the Rick Hahn rebuild is moving along at a glacial pace, and it remains to be seen when his grand master plan will convey real progress, if ever.
This year the Chicago White Sox have the third overall pick in the draft, and that’s a plum slot. They might be best deserved by picking a prospect that could be fast tracked to the big leagues and thus, get some instant impact- lord knows the franchise needs more reasons for hope right now.
Let’s take a look at a collection of assorted MLB mock drafts all across the web, and see what the draftniks believe the Cubs will do with this pick.
2019 Chicago White Sox MLB Draft Mocksourcing
MLB.com C.J. Abrams, SS, Blessed Trinity HS (GA)
The official Major League Baseball site points out how the Southsiders have drafted college position players in the first round of their last three drafts and thus could go in a different direction now.
It also might be time to try and help build up the middle of the team, as they have already stockpiled at the corners.
SB Nation (Lookout Landing, Seattle Mariners blog) Andrew Vaughn, 1B, Cal
I guess fellow SB Nation minds think alike (check out the latest edition of the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast at this link), as LL seems to agree with my take on the White Sox rebuild going absolutely nowhere and how they need someone who will be ready for the show as quickly as possible:
“The White Sox are struggling to ignite their pilot light at the end of a long rebuild, but Vaughn is a good fit by best available talent. Even better, it’s not hard to envision his fast-tracked college bat arriving in a few years.”
The Big Lead Andrew Vaughn, 1B, Cal
Can’t go wrong with a Golden Spikes Award winner (like past Sox draft picks Robin Ventura and Gordon Beckham)
Fangraphs C.J. Abrams, SS, Blessed Trinity HS (GA)
The website claims that “heavy-hitting White Sox personnel have seen Abrams a combined five or six times recently.”
Full Press Coverage Andrew Vaughn, 1B, Cal
Vaughn appears to have some defensive liabilities, but he more than makes up for them with his really big bat.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.