2001 Draft in Review

[danman31]

2001 Draft in Review

A look back at how the White Sox drafted four years ago.

By Jason Gage

 

The 2001 draft appears to have gone much better than the 2000 draft. The White Sox selected RHP Kris Honel in the 1st round as well as RHP Wyatt Allen (supplemental 1st round for the loss of Charles Johnson). While those picks didn’t fare all that well, the Sox have gotten a lot of value out of some of their latter picks. more...

[MnSoxFan]

2001 Draft in Review

A look back at how the White Sox drafted four years ago.

By Jason Gage

 

The 2001 draft appears to have gone much better than the 2000 draft. The White Sox selected RHP Kris Honel in the 1st round as well as RHP Wyatt Allen (supplemental 1st round for the loss of Charles Johnson). While those picks didn’t fare all that well, the Sox have gotten a lot of value out of some of their latter picks. more...

 

 

Good stuff, I liked it, only thing I saw that might be corrected is that Collaro signed the next year as a draft and follow, not a redraftee.

[danman31]

Good stuff, I liked it, only thing I saw that might be corrected is that Collaro signed the next year as a draft and follow, not a redraftee.

Yeah, I thought that was weird, but I had no way of checking on it so I just trusted knew what he was talking about. Oh well, I'll fix it. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Chisoxfn]

Crap my mistake. I edited that in the copy I had but I never gave that copy to Dan. I've been so swamped with finals.

 

Thanks for getting that up Dan

[BuehrleTheAce]

Crap my mistake.  I edited that in the copy I had but I never gave that copy to Dan.  I've been so swamped with finals. 

 

Thanks for getting that up Dan

 

Aaack, all my hard work down the drain! I'm so depressed...

[Chisoxfn]

Aaack, all my hard work down the drain! I'm so depressed...

Its my fault. I've been swamped with finals and haven't been back to the computer I have that version on. Once I go back I'm going to swap them.

[danman31]

Well you didn't get it up for a while so I'm not going to sit around and wait till the draft to get it up. If you want your edited piece up and Jason doesn't get it up send it to heads or myself.

[Chisoxfn]

Well you didn't get it up for a while so I'm not going to sit around and wait till the draft to get it up. If you want your edited piece up and Jason doesn't get it up send it to heads or myself.

Nah its my fault. He got it to me pretty much immediately. I just haven't been back at the office since than so I haven't had that version. Schools been about the only thing on my mind.

 

So I must say thank you to the two of ya...for trying to make my grammar stink, just a little bit less

 

 

Last final tomorrow

[BuehrleTheAce]

LOL no problems, I was just teasing

 

Thanks for the opportunity!

[YASNY]

Is the link to this review not working for anyone else?

[Kalapse]

Is the link to this review not working for anyone else?

The link is dead.

[AnthraxFan93]

The link is dead.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

3rd this motion..

[Chisoxfn]

FutureSox will be down for a few days or so it looks. f***ing registar never extended my domain name so now I'm jumping through hoops trying to get it activated.

 

Pain in the freaking ass. I extended it by like 3 or 4 years last year, but it never went through cause the domain was locked and the old email addie it was under got deactivated or something.

[hi8is]

can u post the review of the draft in here so i can read please

[Chisoxfn]

I'll do it when I get back. I just finished sending emails all over the place (no one has freaking phone numbers on the net). How some company in Europe is in charge of the domain I'll never know.

 

Don't worry about Soxtalk...its fully in my control and won't be expiring till 2009

 

Now Its just getting FS back online.

[danman31]

2001 Draft: A Review

 

The 2001 draft appears to have gone much better than the 2000 draft. The White Sox selected RHP Kris Honel in the 1st round as well as RHP Wyatt Allen (supplemental 1st round for the loss of Charles Johnson). While those picks didn’t fare all that well, the Sox have gotten a lot of value out of some of their latter picks.

 

First let’s talk about Kris Honel. The right hander was a local product out of Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, Illinois. The confident righty was advertised with a low to mid 90’s fastball and a nasty knucklecurve. Honel signed relatively quickly and pitched fantastic during his first three years in the system, never once posting an ERA above 3.11 (except for two outings he made in Birmingham at the end of 2003 where he had a 3.75 ERA).

 

Honel was pretty much as advertised. He didn’t have the fastball many publications reported, but it was good enough when mixed with his knuckle curve and good command and he was the best rated starting pitcher in the organization and set to pitch in Birmingham in 2004. The Kris Honel from 2004 and beyond has been a totally different pitcher. He suffered from a mysterious injury and saw his velocity slip into the low 80’s. Along with that his command went south and he ended up pitching in just 4 games last year.

 

The question was would Honel return to form? Thus far the easy answer is no, although one positive sign has been a slight improvement in his velocity, which now finds itself in the mid 80’s. Honel just came back off the disabled list and the organization has been tight lipped on what has been ailing him. He has struggled mightily with his command this year having walked 15 batters in 21.2 innings (4 starts).

 

It’s my belief that Honel is no longer considered a top prospect and won’t be until he can once again pitch at his previous level, which now seems like so long ago. What makes it even worse is what happened to 2nd round pick Ryan Wing. Wing, along with Honel had dominated the low-minors together and helped lead Winston Salem to the Carolina League title in 2003. Wing missed all of 2003 after undergoing surgery and was than picked up by the Rangers when the Sox tried to sneak him off the 40 man roster.

 

At the end of 2003 the two looked like sure fire bets to make the majors. Even now Wing still appears to have a good chance, but it won’t be with the Sox. Wing is 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in 4 games (3 starts) with the Bakersfield Blaze (High A Ball) and has limited opponents to just 10 hits in 19 innings. The loss of Wing was a major hit to the 2001 draft and was a mistake by the organization in my book.

 

Late Round Jewels

While the top picks in the 2001 draft aren’t likely to contribute with the White Sox, the Sox were able to get help from the latter rounds. Fifth round pick Andy Gonzalez is a tremendous defensive shortstop who has struggled with the bat. However, this year he’s made great strides for the Barons batting .274 with a .347 OBP and 21 RBI.

 

Better yet, 16th round selection Chris Young has found his way onto the FutureSox top 10 and has a very high ceiling. The power hitting outfielder plays tremendous defense and tends to draw walks. He has garnered comparisons to former White Sox CF Mike Cameron and has played well for the Birmingham Barons (especially considering he skipped High A) batting .241 with 8 HR and 21 RBI but most impressively 24 extra base hits. The Sox also drafted Tom Collaro in the 27th round and the outfielder hit 18 HR’s in 2004 with Great Falls and already has 13 this year at Winston Salem. Collaro was a draft and follow signing the following year after playing a season at junior college.

 

The White Sox also drafted a reliable group of starters/relievers who all have at least some shot of making the majors. LHP Jim Bullard (9th Round), RHP Brian Miller (20th Round), RHP Josh Fields (23rd Round), RHP Charles Haeger (25th Round), LHP Nik Lubisich (31st Round) have all had some sort of success. Josh Fields has made the most strides of the group and has pitched well for the Charlotte Knights while Bullard has excelled as both a starter and reliever throughout the minors and is currently on the disabled list for the Barons. Charles Haeger has pitched outstanding as a starter for the Winston Salem Warthogs while Nik Lubisich has pitched well for the Barons. While none appear to be stars in the making, all have at least a shot at making the major leagues.

 

Helped via Trade

The Chicago White Sox also drafted a few players that won’t reach the majors with their respected clubs, but did help the Sox acquire talent for the stretch runs the past few years. 15th round pick Anthony Webster was the most talented of the group and ranked in the top 10 at the time he was dealt to Texas as one of the key players of the first Carl Everett trade. LHP Tim Bittner (10th Round) was part of a deal that helped bolster the White Sox bullpen when they acquired LHP Scott Schoenweis.

 

The Ones that Got Away

The Sox drafted two highly ranked prospects that they weren’t able to sign. In the 3rd round of the 2001 draft they chose catcher Jonathan Zeringue. Zeringue opted to attend LSU instead and was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks and is already in AA. The Sox also selected LHP Zack Jackson in the 50th round and Jackson attended Louisville instead and was a 1st round selection by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2004.

 

Overall the 2001 draft wasn’t amazing; however, it was light-years better than the 2000 draft. If Honel and Wing didn’t get injured, and injuries do play a large factor in the success/failure of a draft class, then you’d be talking about a very good draft. However, as of now this draft will hinge on Chris Young, who is the most likely player of the bunch to make an impact with the Sox.

[Chisoxfn]

Looks like it will be a few days. This is really ticking me off. I'm hoping to get a response back by tomorrow and than move it from there.

 

As long as I can get it renewed (which I should assuming I can finally get a hold of the right people...they just give me the run around and its easy to do considering they are way the hell over in England) than it should just be a 24/48 thing...the key is getting to that point.