White Sox director of player development Paul Janish wouldn't refer to himself as a big decision-maker when it comes to this weekend's MLB Draft, but he's around for it for a reason.
"Just being a resource is probably the best word in terms of the draft prep," Janish said in a pregame media scrum on Thursday. "I love being in the room, I love hearing about the players. I coached in college for a while prior to this role and so I have a pretty strong network on that side. So the ability to reach out to college coaches and background check on players, definitely players we take and even on some of the guys we’re talking about in the room. Putting all that information in the database relative to players is probably a little bit of an addiction for me. So, I enjoy it."
The Sox host a post-draft camp next week for new additions, so they're clearly expecting some tidy negotiations. But despite the quick start, the phenomenon of none of their pitching selections from last year getting into affiliated games until the following season is likely to continue for as long as the draft remains in mid-July.
"Most of the guys we take, even if they played in college versus a high school pick, they haven’t thrown competitively in a while," Janish said. "You have the draft in July, the minor-league season is over in early September. There’s not a huge window. You take all those things in consideration, really the motive is health. We’re going to get you as ready as you can be for next spring training to have a good first full pro season."
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Until then, Janish can probably best provide insight on what sort of pitching reinforcements the White Sox can expect internally. For example, if the Sox want a burly right-hander who can touch triple-digits in relief, that's what Tanner McDougal is now preparing to do for the rest of the season.
"The decision with Tanner has been made," Janish said. "You are going to pitch in the pen for the rest of the year, and going into next year we still aspire for you to train and build up as a starter in the offseason. But for the purpose of impact on the major league team, Tanner is going to be in a situation where he’ll pitch out of the pen with the abilities to go [multiple innings] and pitch two out of three days. Those are things he hasn’t done before, so we want to make sure we get him exposed to those things before he comes up and does them."
Janish cited McDougal missing two months of action due to a right flexor strain and limited time left in the season to build him back up as part of the impetus for the transition, though the right-hander himself has been stating his willingness to move to the pen to accelerate his arrival to the majors for a while. But with Hagen Smith just throwing his first side session on Thursday after missing the last four weeks with left shoulder impingement, wouldn't he be in a similar spot?
Yes, he likely will be, even if the decision doesn't yet have the finality of McDougal quite yet."
"They are actually in pretty similar boats, I wouldn’t necessary say they are different," Janish said. "I think we’ll get him in a game right after the All-Star break. All signs are pointing in a good direction for Hagen."
Shane Smith threw 52 pitches in his last rehab outing and will continue to stretch out as a starter. His most recent second inning of work wasn't a great demonstration of the idea, but Janish is optimistic that he was able to work away at the delivery mechanic fixes the Sox had in mind for him while he was rehabbing.
"He’s very self-aware, the ability to watch video and refer back to stuff he had done in the past and some of the conversations we were able to accomplish," Janish said. "Even without the act of actually physically throwing, some of that stuff can be done on the side in terms of targeting specific things relative to the delivery, even if he’s not throwing 100 percent during the rehab. But at this point, he’s back on the bump and turning and burning."
Drew Thorpe is back throwing after both a spring setback and a case of appendicitis during the season, but when asked straightaway whether he will pitch in the majors this year, Janish couldn't lie.
"The unfortunate thing with the appendix, it kind of muddies the water a little bit in terms of the timeline," Janish said. "Optimistically I would like to say yeah, but that's a tough promise to make."
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Last year's 10th-overall pick Billy Carlson is right up against the end of the 4-6 week absence he was projected for after suffering a fracture in the tip of his left thumb in late May. Janish said he's going to return to game action in Arizona on Saturday, and then return to Low-A Kannapolis shortly afterward.
The 19-year-old Carlson was hitting .257/.386/.340 (106 wRC+) in 39 games at the time of his injury. His return will seemingly be a welcome sight for many.
"I tell you what, the worst thing for Billy is not playing in games," Janish said. "He needs to channel his energy into playing in between the lines."
The White Sox never provided a similarly specific timeline for William Bergolla Jr. when he collided with Sam Antonacci in the outfield in Charlotte on April 9. But suffice it to say that few on the public side of things expected an injury categorized as a shin bruise to have the promising infield prospect out for the last three months, and still ramping up his running in the hope that he can return to an affiliate by the end of July.
"Unfortunately the process has taken a little bit longer than for sure he would have liked," Janish said. "It kind of has maybe taken a little bit longer, but based on what the injury was, we knew it was going to be a minute. But definitely wouldn't say there was any setback, per se. But you're kind of at the disposal of it healing and him feeling good. That's going to take what it's going to take."
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With Anthony DePino, Colby Shelton and Boston Smith all starting their first full professional seasons at the age of 23, the Sox always hoped to promote them quickly to Double-A Birmingham if their performances could justify it.
That DePino has hit the ground running with a .264/.384/.477 batting line in 50 games with the Barons made him Janish's pick for the best under-the-radar success story in the Sox system this year thus far.
"Obviously played really well and really hasn't hit much of a speed bump," Janish said of DePino. "He's probably the one that sticks out to me. Not that we didn't think he was going to perform or hit or whatever, but he's performed at a pretty high level for somebody in their first full season."
