White Sox select Andrew Vaughn in first round of MLB draft

California first baseman Andrew Vaughn (20) during a college baseball game against Arizona State on Friday, May 25, 2018, in Phoenix. (Rick Scuteri/AP Images)

After drafting two position players over the last three years who have to fight to stay off first base, the White Sox used their first round draft pick on a guy who has nowhere else to go.

That would be Andrew Vaughn, the University of California first baseman who won the Golden Spikes Award as a sophomore and is a finalist again this year. You don’t normally see right-handed first basemen given top-five consideration, but with Vaughn’s bat considered the best in the draft class, the White Sox couldn’t resist.

The first two picks of the draft went as planned — Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman to the Orioles, and Texas prep shortstop to the Royals — and the White Sox met expectations as well.

How does he rank?

What does he look like?

What’s to like?

The White Sox drafted one of the few candidate who could make a claim for the best collegiate hitter in the country. The Golden Bear won the Golden Spikes Award last year, and he’s a candidate to do it again after hitting .381/.544/.716 with 15 homers and 14 doubles over 52 games with Cal — and that’s while being pitched around. Nobody has any issues with his swing or pitch recognition (59 walks to 33 strikeouts), so he should be somebody who can rise through the system quickly.

What’s not to like?

He’s a first-base only candidate, and a little undersized at that (6 feet, 214 pounds). He’s also right-handed, so he’s an unusual candidate for a top-three pick. He should be able to make all the plays, but his entire stock rides on the strength of his bat. It’d be a lot more exciting if the White Sox hadn’t seen similar bat-first draft picks Zack Collins and Jake Burger fail to light up A-ball pitching (and even Nick Madrigal to a lesser degree), and struggle to distinguish themselves defensively at non-first positions (Madrigal doesn’t apply here). He’s not responsible for the shortcomings of previous picks, but it’d be nice if he could quash those immediate reservations in order to have a bit of a honeymoon period.

How does he fit?

The White Sox have a handful of guys who can move to first — Collins, Burger, Eloy Jiménez — as well as second-round pick Gavin Sheets, who’s already there at Birmingham. If Vaughn lives up to the billing, everybody’s going to have to get out of his way.

Want to read more?

Vaughn was the subject of one of Josh’s pre-draft profiles, as well as a debate in Josh’s head about drafting a right-handed first baseman with such a high pick.

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PauliePaulie

San Diego takes the high upside SS/CF. Hope the Sox change approach the next few rounds.

SonOfCron

Look at this farm, DH’s untold
How many Schwarbers can one system hold?

lil jimmy

Well, if we trade for Schwarber, then one more.

Right Size Wrong Shape

What’s a Schwarber?

shaggy65

Rec for the rare Little Mermaid reference on a baseball fan site

Trooper Galactus

Look at our DH stash, isn’t it neat?

Wouldn’t you say our farm system’s complete?

Lurker Laura

Wow…just…outstanding.

MrTopaz

What’s a DH? And why does it… what’s the word?

PLOOOODDDDDDD???????

Trooper Galactus

You want LuBob-bob-ombs? He’s got twenty!

But who cares?

No big deal.

We want mooooaaaaaaaar!

Trooper Galactus

And, holy hell, I want all of his dingers to be called LuBob-ombs from now on.

Patrick Nolan

This subthread made my night

shaggy65

Just too good of a hitter to pass up. Potential generational bat. He has too much upside to instead pick a high schooler (CJ Abrams) whose upside is Dee Gordon.

He might be stuck at 1st base but it should at least be a good 1st base (and he thinks he could play 3rd).

soxfan

Does this say anything about the Sox faith in Collins to stick at catcher or Burger to stick at third or is it as simple as drafting the best bat available and assuming everything will sort itself out?

PauliePaulie

They thought he was best available. No way what’s in the system pushed them towards this pick.

Lurker Laura

Whoa, a Sox prospect Keith Law actually likes.

Trooper Galactus

FKL (Friendofthepodcast Keith Law)

PopeDonnPall

I found myself excited about that too, though I felt a little dirty for it. However, he did balance it out by slamming our 2nd round pick.

“In the second round, they took prep right-hander Matt Thompson, who had a miserable spring but in the past has been mid-90s with an above-average breaking ball, and has a lot of projection left. I had him ranked much lower, having seen his velocity drop to 83-86 in the fourth inning when I saw him, but he was far better last summer and the White Sox may be betting on a bounce-back.”

PauliePaulie

Braves got their Tyler Flowers replacement.

tommytwonines

#FUCUS

Yolmer

Paul Konerko may not be the best comparison. He had many seasons where his slugging percentage started with a 4. It looks like Vaughn is a consistent .270/.370/.500 plus hitter, which were basically Konerko’s best seasons but not career numbers.

Definitely time to dump Alonso and Castillo now. The Sox need to churn through the DH/catcher prospects quickly.

Trooper Galactus

Alonso and Castillo should have already been chucked and replaced by Palka and Collins. It’s remarkable the White Sox had a good May record when he was absolutely terrible while mostly batting cleanup.

asinwreck

Am hearing the Sox will require Vaughn to transfer to Louisville to graduate or at least enroll in some grad courses. The contract will also require him to legally change his name to include a Z somewhere, so he can be a Peak Hostetler draftee.

MrTopaz

Andrew Vaughnz. Almost the perfect Chicago player.

PauliePaulie

Cali guy. It’s Zandrew.

Trooper Galactus

Hostetler was all in on Zzzax until the Hulk beat him.

melidoperez

Love the pick. Taking anyone else would have been getting criminally cute. People talk about the glut of corner offense only types, but how about the glut of guys you can guarantee won’t ever sniff a 375-400 OBP? At some point you need some of those anchors to compete annually. Think of how many years already the cubs have competed with tons of moving pieces around the consistent excellence of Rizzo/Bryant in the middle every day. 

asinwreck

Prep pitcher, as rumored, in the 2nd round. Matt Thompson.

tommytwonines

How many rounds are we keeping track of?

PauliePaulie

Matthew Thompson?
I don’t understand the thought process behind a project HS RHP with fringy secondaries and inconsistent velocity.

Smclean09

At least we wont end up at 1st base.

billyok

Until someone hits a weak grounder to Vaughn and Thompson runs over to cover first and decides he likes it over there and refuses to leave. Then what do we do.

Trooper Galactus

Maybe that’s the sort of ultra-innovative shift the White Sox should be considering.

tommytwonines

 Vaughn looks like he’s 35 in this photo. 

Just saying

ParisSox

So we drafted Jim Thome?  Cool.  No pressure kid. 

Flitcraft

(L) v (R). Advantage, Thome. As a result, we’ll all just have to forgive the kid his slightly sub-Thomian performance when he gets enshrined at Cooperstown.

PopeDonnPall

Who wins in a foot race between Vaughn, Eloy, Burger & Collins?

Right Size Wrong Shape

The fans.

Neat_on_the_rocks

I think Vaughn Would actually. Possibly Eloy if its just a straight line footrace.

MrTopaz

Hey, that’s not in the spirit of the question.

PopeDonnPall

I hope the Sox put to rest the “Maybe he can play 3b or OF” talk quickly. When Hostetler was on the Sox Broadcast and asked about the potential logjam at 1B he did mention that he had taken some reps at 3B but they way he said it sound like he wasn’t seriously viewing him as anything other than a 1B.

With Eloy a stretch in left, Collins a stretch to catch, and with Yoan looking better at 3B than 2B, let Vaughn the defensive spot that scouts are saying he’s solid at. No need to stretch another guy.

Smclean09

I will say we need to be patient with Eloy. He is actually running an above average feet per second, so yes he is an adventure out there but range is more from feel and route efficiency than pure athletic ability. He might eventually get himself to averageish

MrTopaz

Vaughn at second.

karkovice squad

Chavis and Muncy are probably more athletic than Vaughn. Maybe get him some offseason yoga lessons with McCann?

mikeyb

Has Moncada actually been that much better at 3B than 2B? I would not have guessed that was the case based on the old eye test.

Lurker Laura

My super small in-person sample size says yes. Been to two games this year, coincidentally sat behind 3rd base both times. Moncada looks infinitely more comfortable there than 2nd. Total eye test, so take with a grant of salt.

knoxfire30

Not sure I understand the worry (and maybe some of it is sarcasm) over the fact Vaughn adds to a stockpile of 1b/dh types. In the next 5-7 years this team is likely to field an infield that has Moncada, Anderson, Madrigal from 3rd to ss to 2nd and an outfield with Robert in CF… not sure too many teams are gonna have 4 athletes like that on their squad. Sure we are gonna have a weird corner OF spot and 1b/dh situation but I actually think the mix will be great if the corner OF and 1b/dh are all 30+ homer guys which I think Eloy and Vaughn eventually will be.

tommytwonines

I think Basabe might be the answer in right or center (mix/match with Robert) considering Adolfo’ issues – unless they make a free agent splash (good luck with that) or swing a trade. 

knoxfire30

Sure plenty of in house options still exist despite this years setbacks via injury or no one besides Robert hitting at AA.

Out of Basabee, Adolfo, Gonzalez, Walker, Rutherford I would hope at least one turns into a quality option at the major league level

Trooper Galactus

Of course, we kinda hoped that about Stephens, Guerrero, Adams, and Fulmer.

Torpedo Jones

Agreed on that. Picking the best player available regardless of position also potentially adds to the pool of resources that can be traded to acquire major league talent when you’re ready to contend. If the worst thing that happens to this team is having more than one good young 1B/DH type, we’ll be just fine.

Taking a lower-tier prospect who happens to fill a need in the organization over the best available in a draft setting is not a winning proposition.