The White Sox spent the preceding days talking up their need for bats, up-the-middle athletes and their intent to invest in high school talent.
In adding Billy Carslon, Jaden Fauske and Kyle Lodise, the White Sox drafted three hitters, three players who will initially start out up the middle (Fauske is commonly seen as a future left fielder), and two prep players.
"You're trying to find players that touch it," said scouting director Mike Shirley. "With Jaden, if you just use him for example, it's decisions, contact and he touches it with some juice. And trying to push the bat speed component is critical. Like Billy. Billy moves it extremely quick, right, we feel like we're starting to get the upside to do damage as well."
Carlson's selling point is the speed and athleticism and glovework to really feel confident in his defensive projection at shortstop, and ultimately a high floor built by all the supplementary skills around the uncertainty for his bat. But he staked his belief that the White Sox were interested in him based on how he performed offensively in his workout with them.
"We did it at University of Tennessee, where I was committed for college," Carlson said. "I was hitting a few bombs, so I was pretty confident that I performed well and I think they thought the same."
Shirley revealed that Chris Getz, director of hitting Ryan Fuller and sport performance director Geoff Head were all at that workout, so Carlson probably could have gleaned the White Sox's interest solely by the head count, Geoff and otherwise. But while Shirley cited Carlson improving against the high velocity on the showcase circuit as he went along as a reason for confidence against the hit tool doubts around the 19-year-old, the Sox scouting director also rooted the team's belief that Carlson will hit in some projection of how the lanky teenager will fill out in their strength program.
"If they’re wiry and lean, they have this wiry strength plus all this projection to them, you just get super-excited about what the future could look like for Billy," Shirley said. "The bat speed. He moves very easy. Sometimes the stride gets a little bit big, but as he gets stronger that’s all going to calm down. Just think about how mobile he is. As he gets stronger, how that frame tightens up and really starts to control what he needs to do. When he touches the ball it stays in the air a long time. Really good, efficient when using the opposite field, the gap."
In other words, Carlson has a lot of extraneous movements in his hand load and lower half at present that would hinder his present hit tool grade. But in seeing his long-levered frame, the White Sox are projecting that to clean up as he gets stronger. With his bat speed and power potential, some in the organization were arguing Carlson as the highest-ceiling athlete in the draft. But he'll have to make real adjustments under their stewardship to access it.
What drove the interest in Jaden Fauske in the second round?
Fauske's participation with the White Sox Area Codes team looms large in his selection, because that player group has the attention of several of the top members of the organization's amateur scouting staff. But the Sox at least claim that their investment in Midwestern talent is about more than scouting coverage reasons. Assessments of Fauske will be dependent upon whether he develops the power necessary for a corner spot, or if there's unique belief that his hit tool will be good enough to transcend average pop, and the Sox are all about believing in hometown talent.
"He’s a local kid, man," Shirley said. "I’ve said all along, local kids, if we feel they have the ability, the White Sox are going to be in there. This is our city, man. We believe in the people that live here. He’s a fan, he’s a White Sox fan. We’re not taking anything for granted. We think these players are worthy of this opportunity to be with us, so why not put them in their hometown? And I’m excited to have another hometown kid on the resume."
Fauske also played on the Nazareth Academy team with Landon Thome, the son of Jim, who is both a Hall of Famer and a trusted voice of the Sox front office. Shirley acknowledged that as an influence due to his respect for Thome's offensive expertise, but also said Fauske's hit tool-dependent profile inspired fondness from the more objective data-oriented aspects of the Sox operation. Referring to good in-zone contact and swing decisions as hallmarks of a Fuller-approved profile, Shirley said Fauske fit the bill.
"Our [research and development] department, along with Ryan Fuller, they were super excited about Jaden as this thing began," Shirley said. "The meetings started last week and everyone thought Jaden was one of the best prep left-handed hitters in the class. So the ability to capture him was super exciting as a whole."
What's next for the final 17 rounds of the White Sox draft?
With the way the Sox shifted to Georgia Tech shortstop Kyle Lodise after two prep picks, a polished shortstop without standout offensive tools, it read as a pivot to college talent after two swings at prep talent that tends to be more expensive. But Shirley indicated multiple high school targets will be in play for the Sox with their fourth=round pick.
"We used our allocation pretty well," Shirley said. "We are prepared if we go a little over the number slotted for the fourth round, to make sure we get another good player we really like. There are some exciting players we are working for. We thought all along, we could do three position players on the front end of this and start looking for pitchers in the fourth or fifth round. We’ll look at the position players again early tomorrow, and then maybe pitchers in the fifth."
