Levine: White Sox Look For Impact Player In MLB Draft
By Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The White Sox have the 10th pick in the MLB amateur draft that begins Thursday evening.
Fittingly, a South Side resident and projected early first-round pick may be the White Sox's choice when their selection time comes around.
Corey Ray, a Simeon Academy graduate playing at Louisville, could be the next speed and power player of note out of this draft. Ray is a product of the White Sox's urban youth baseball initiative. That organization was founded by team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf 10 years ago. The program involves more than 1,000 boys and girls in the inner city and has produced more than 120 men and women playing college baseball or softball.
Ray is a talented outfielder who has stolen 39 bases this season without being thrown out. He has hit .325 with 15 home runs and 59 RBIs. Known as an incessant hard worker, he would be the first position player chosen with the first pick by the White Sox since 2013. That year, the White Sox chose infielder Tim Anderson, who is now the top prospect in the organization.
The White Sox also pick 26th in the first round as compensation for losing right-hander Jeff Samardzija in free agency. At that spot, Chicago may look at Miami catcher Zack Collins, a 6-foot-3 220-pound 22-year-old left-handed power hitter who has improving catching skills and may project more as a first baseman.
Chicago's second-round pick comes at No. 49 overall. The first and second rounds of the draft are being held Thursday (picks 1-77). Round 3-10 will be held Friday, while rounds 11-40 will be conducted Saturday.
"We have heard there are 31 guys who will be picked before us at (No.) 10," joked White Sox scouting director Nick Hostetler, who's preparing for his first draft in this role. "Once Thursday morning hits, the truth starts coming out. We will go for best player available when our picks come up. One of our goals this year is to draft more true baseball players (not just best specimen). We want position players that make contact, pitchers that throw strikes (and) to get back to drafting the tools of baseball concept."
In the past, the White Sox have drafted athletes in the first round who they thought could be converted into ballplayers. This theory has produced young men who swing and miss at near a 35-percent plus clip in recent drafts.
The White Sox haven't had many sustainable major league first-round picks since 1990, and they're really struggled to find dependable position players. Outfielder Aaron Rowand was taken late in the first round in 1998 by the White Sox and played a key role on the 2005 World Series champions. Otherwise, only Gordon Beckham has made a big league impact as a position player since Frank Thomas was drafted in the first round of the 1989 draft, and Beckham's contributions were rather modest.
This season, the White Sox are in position to get the minor league system restocked through the draft. They have traded 11 minor league players in four deals since December 2014.
"This draft is really strong at the high school level," Hostetler said. "There are a lot of good high school pitchers. The big thing for us is to see them in the summer and see the hitters with wooden bats in their hands.
"It is hard with the high school guys. There are a lot more misses with those guys. At the same time, your superstars, for the most part, usually come from the the high school ranks."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.