White Sox 2022 MLB Draft Day 3 summary: A late bloomer, a two-way player and other projects

Jacob Burke (Photo by Samuel Lewis/Icon Sportswire)

Major League Baseball wrapped up the MLB Draft on its third and final day, just in time to get overshadowed by the All-Star Game.

We’re still learning how much to expect from a draft that only lasts 20 rounds, especially considering the pandemic stalled so many seasons at lower levels. Taking a quick look at last year’s picks, Adam Hackenberg — the catcher out of Clemson who went in the 18th round — is off to the most promising start when accounting for position, but his OPS has sagged below .700 as of late, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

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11th round: Jacob Burke, OF, University of Miami

He hit .347/.425/.599 in his first year for the Hurricanes after transfering from Southeastern Louisiana, and while the 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk rate is a problem at that level, he’s also been plunked 30 times in 131 career NCAA games. He’s more project than most in this draft class.


12th round: Brooks Baldwin, 3B, UNC-Wilmington

BA: 352

He’s the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year after hitting .347/.406/.621, and he’s a switch-hitter who can play three infield positions and all three outfield positions. This is a three-round boost over last year’s draft, when the Giants selected him in the 15th round. He has his fans, especially after a promising Cape showing.


13th round: Mason Adams, RHP, Jacksonville University

BA: 496

He’s a senior signing with a low-90s fastball and two average secondary pitches, so he seems like the kind of pitcher who will hopefully make an A-ball manager’s life easier. He’s the last of the ranked players on Baseball America’s top 500.


14th round: Shane Murphy, LHP, Chandler Gilbert CC

Murphy, a 6-foot-5-inch, 210-pound lefty, was one of the best pitchers in Arizona’s high school ranks back in 2019, but here he is, getting drafted for the first time out of JuCo ranks. He struck out 13 against two walks over nine innings for the Coyotes, for what that’s worth.


15th round: Billy Seidl, RHP, Duke

Seidl, who stands 6 feet and 220 pounds, saw his control backslide in his second year with the Blue Devils. He issued 43 free bases (34 walks, nine HBPs) over 43⅔ innings.


16th round: Tristan Stivors, RHP, Texas State

Stivors had a great season in relief for Texas State, going 7-1 with a 2.21 ERA and 18 saves while striking out 86 batters against just 19 walks over 61 innings. He attacks with sliders and curves more than a low-90s fastball …

… and he also seems to have a bit of the ass.


17th round: Nick Altermatt, RHP, Minnesota State-Mankato

Altermatt was a two-way player for the D2 program, going 10-1 with a 2.93 ERA and 75 strikeouts over 58⅓ innings on the mound while hitting .378/.444/.700 over 47 games at the plate. That he’s listed as a right-handed pitcher suggests a commitment to throwing.


18th round: Bryce Willits, 3B, UC-Santa Barbara

A teammate of fourth-round pick Jordan Sprinkle, the White Sox now have the left side of the Gauchos infield. He hit .302/.410/.517 at third base, but 10 homers over 142 collegiate games suggests strength is lacking.


19th round: Drake Logan, 3B, Shelton State CC

Logan was on track to jump from one Tuscaloosa team to another, but this selection interrupts potential transfer plans to the University of Alabama. He hit .362/.480/.485 over 51 games. A product of Colorado Springs, Logan was listed as 6 feet, 145 pounds as a high school senior, but now he’s up to 6’4″ and 185 on the Crimson Tide’s records.


20th round: Ethan Hammerberg, RHP, Ohio State

The 12th and final pitcher of the White Sox’s 2022 draft class struck out 49 batters against nine walks over 35⅓ innings. He also gave up nine homers and plunked 11, which are the peripherals that have you hang around until the last round.

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soxygen

So this sounds like a nice haul on day 3. Do any of these guys seem likely to command a bonus over slot value?

soxfan

I can’t tell you exactly how it works but the bonus pools and slots only apply to the first ten rounds. After that there’s a different bonus structure with individual limits and penalties.

Wayne

11-20th round guys (and undrafted draft eligible players) can sign bonuses up to $125k. Anything over that amount would be applied to the Bonus Pool determined by slot values from Rounds 1-10.

ParisSox

Have Tristan Stivors talk to Liam Hendricks about how to be a dude without being an ass. … And then call him up for the stretch run.

Soxfan2

Joe Doyle from Prospects Live had a glowing report on the Sox draft: https://www.prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2022/7/19/6-standout-draft-classes

upnorthsox

It’s littered with comments about if they can get this guy or that guy to throw strikes…but of course they’ve never shown any ability as an org to get guys to improve their command. That’s why I like Cleveland’s approach, get really good command guys and then try to add 4-5 mph on their fastball. It’s the better and easier approach.

soxygen

I’m warming up to the Day 1 guys, especially Pallette.

I still hate Day 2.

Day 3 looks as good as a Day 3 can look.

Overall, the big knocks for me are:

1. TINSTAAPP. A pitching heavy draft is very risky. We don’t have much track record of good development there. And we drafted several guys on the basis of very few innings of work and/or ignoring recent injury and workload concerns. I can come to peace with the 1st round upside play, and I think my own initial reaction to Pallette was too negative. But I don’t see a lot to get excited about after that. Cannon seems like a lot of injury risk for a team that is competing now and drafted a high schooler in round 1. I am interested to see how Schweitzer performs, but the others are meh.

2. You can’t build a farm system on character guys. I mean, I get it, but holy hell they somehow managed to draft “old” without really drafting a ton of high floor guys. The number of seniors and 5th year seniors has me feeling great about the minor league clubhouses, I guess, but I didn’t realize that was a problem that needed to get solved this year with so much…quantity.

Torpedo Jones

Nothing personal, but I can’t imagine “hating” baseball draft picks beyond maybe the first round or two. There’s such a vast range of outcomes for players. Cannon is a highly regarded prospect, but with injury risk – that’s true. I’m not sure how much you can expect from a late 3rd round pick to be your safe pick that will certainly help the team win NOW, though.

A 4th rounder for Jordan Sprinkle isn’t going to make or break the draft for me. Seems like his defense is legit and his speed could make him a useful bench piece. And maybe the Sox think they can fix the bat issues.

Eric Adler seems like a risk worth taking in round 6. Not sure who you would’ve slotted in for round 6, but that seems like a good enough pick to me.

And I’m not going to spend a lot of calories over the fact they drafted “old” or “high character” guys – especially as the draft progressed. I suppose folks far smarter than me can statistically demonstrate that drafting a certain profile in round 10 is better than picking Elko, for instance.

Every draft pick is a coin flip. Who thought that guys like Davis Martin or Danny Mendick would become contributors at the MLB level? And I’m honestly surprised to see that the relatively safe pick of Nick Madrigal seems decreasingly likely to meet his draft potential on the other side of town…. I’m content to wait and see. Despite their inability to typically draft and develop pitching, maybe the Sox hit on a few of these guys and they live up to their potential. I’m not going to hate it one day later, either way.

soxygen

I don’t take it personally. That’s what we’re here for. And any baseball fan who lacks humility on assessing amateur prospects is delusional.

Re Cannon, if you look at how many pitches he threw this year – most starts over 90, one at 109, one at 110 after he left a start with forearm strain…that concerns me…

Over his last 5 starts this year he gave up 26 earned runs in his 26 innings pitched. So, maybe it will be fine. Maybe not. Nobody really knows, possibly including the Sox. We’ll see.

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
Torpedo Jones

If there’s one thing my collection of Andrew Dalquist autographed baseball cards has done, it’s teach me humility….

metasox

Some of the older or character guys might help a system where every team has a losing record. Get a winning culture going

soxygen

Do you think the major league team has a winning culture? And if not, who do you think needs to be replaced and by what kind of player?

It has been an interesting discussion recently – this topic of whether the Sox are losing because of the culture/clubhouse, or whether the clubhouse culture only sucks because/when the team is losing.

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
metasox

My point was only about development in the minors. Consider which kind of teams it is better for a guy like Montgomery to come up playing with. Anyway, I think this is a point the Sox made some years ago when discussing the draft.

soxygen

Yeah, I remember that. Also, it really may be that the 2020 draft class generally is just a lot older.

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
soxygen

Interesting that 2 of the other 5 teams he mentions are highlighted in part because of how high he is on Drew Gilbert and Tucker Toman. Both were also available when the Sox picked in the 1st round and therefore represent roads not taken.

RaydrsNapoleon

It’s all educated guessing. I just hope Shirley is better at it than most.

Side note: in my personal unbiased parent opinion, they should have drafted my boy… 6’3″ 215lbs, still 17, hit 94 a few times in game but sits 88-92 ERA 1.13 this summer. Control problems on fastball, yep. Good command of the slider and curve with a changeup in progress, yep. I guess we’ll see you in 3 years.