The White Sox made a great selection by adding the best hitter in the nation with their third overall pick in the first round – Andrew Vaughn.
The White Sox added a power bat with the third overall pick in this years draft. 1B Andrew Vaughn was considered the best bat in the draft this year. This has been a continuing trend for the Sox in their most recent drafts in selecting the best college bat with names like Zach Collins, Jake Burger and Nick Madrigal being the most recent selections.
Up until Vaughn’s name was called, however, there were rumblings that the White Sox were also looking very closely at high school SS CJ Abrams. CJ Abrams had comparisons to Dee Gordon but with more power. While adding some depth to their up the middle positions was and is something they need to do, the Sox didn’t overthink this and took the best player.
Detractors of the pick suggest the White Sox already have a plethora of guys in the system with no other future position but 1B or DH. While the book is still out on the ability of Zach Collins to stay at catcher and Eloy Jimenez staying in left field.
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Add to those Jake Burger, who is just now starting to return from injury but may not have a position except for 1B/DH and Gavin Sheets who is another 1B in the system. While all of this is true, you simply don’t pass on a prospect this good because you already have a guy or guys there. You add talent no matter where he may play. And from the scouting reports, Andrew Vaughn seems to be a better hitter than any of the above named.
Should Burger come back strong and be the player we hoped we got when we drafted him, that’s a great problem to have. You never have enough quality hitters. If Zach Collins simply can’t stick at catcher but has a major league bat, you find a place for him. If Eloy just can’t play defense, you find a place for him. Or, you use these guys as trade pieces to fill in holes in your roster.
Andrew Vaughn is a right handed 1B that is not quite 6′ tall. But the kid has shown throughout his college career that he hits….and hits, and hits. He was the golden Spikes award winner, which goes to the best college player of the year.
He did that as a sophomore over the likes of 1st overall pick in last years draft, Casey Mize. Concerns over whether he could hit with a wood bat were relieved when he hit 5 homeruns in 14 games in the Cape Cod league.
Looking at a possible future infield of Moncada, Anderson, Madrigal and Vaughn looks really impressive right now. As a college player of his ability, Vaughn should be on a fast track to the majors and it would not be surprising to see him up sometime next year, providing he hits as expected.
Most scouting reports think he could hit in the big leagues right now, but, he needs to get his feet wet in rookie ball this year in Arizona. He may start next year as high as AA Birmingham and we may see him in Chicago with the White Sox as soon as late next year.