Sox Horrible First-Round Draft History

[maggsmaggs]

I posted this in another thread for another purpose, but thought it would interesting to talk about. Why the Sox have the worst first-round draft picking in baseball the last decade and a half. Take a look at the past guys:

 

Since 1994, here are the Sox's first-round picks

1994-Mark Johnson and Chris Clemons (both horrible, though Johnson at least played in the majors)

1995-Jeff Liefer (never could hit for average)

1996-Bobby Seay (never signed, granted loop hole FA)

1997-Jason Dellaero, Kyle Kane, Brett Caradonna, Aaron Meyette, Rocky Biddle, Jim Parque (only two of them played in the bigs more than 4 years)

1998-Kip Wells, Aaron Rowand (finally a good player and Wells was a huge dissapointment, but had one solid year in AAA ball aka the NL central)

1999-Jason Stumm, Matt Ginter, Brian West, Rob Purvis (again horrible)

2000-Joe Borchard (again horrible)

2001-Kris Honel, Wyatt Allen (again horrible)

2002-Royce Ring (great idea to draft a middle reliever with the first pick)

2003-Brian Anderson (so far a 4th OF)

2004-Josh Fields, Tyler Lumsden, Gio Gonzalez (finally a great pick, too bad he is with Oakland)

2005-Lance Broadway (again has been dissapointing recently, but has a chance to get back on track in the majors)

2006-Kyle McCulloch (horrible, never will be a major league pitcher, IMO)

2007-Aaron Poreda (not gonna know this result for awhile, but so far, you gotta like what you see)

2008-Gordon Beckham (Slayer seems like a solid bet to be a major league for 10+ years)

 

Why have we been so horrible?

Edited August 14, 2008 by maggsmaggs

[DABearSoX]

2004-Josh Fields, Tyler Lumsden, Gio Gonzalez (finally a great pick, too bad he is with Oakland)

 

 

Jesus, why do people hump his leg so much....why do you think he is such a great pick? What has he done in the MLB and what warrents him being a better pick than Broadway at this point? I think it just might be b/c he has a cool name...

[Kyyle23]

Who is Horribel? Has he signed yet?

[scenario]

The thing that dragged the Sox minor league system down the last few years has been trades... not drafting.

 

They're "average" in their drafting success... not a disaster.

If you doubt it, go to thebaseballcube.com and look at year to year drafting results for all teams.

There's a nice feature where you can see the highest level each player drafted achieved.

It doesn't take too long to realize the Sox are no different than most teams in draft yield.

 

The vast majority of teams with good minor league systems achieved it by:

- Sucking for long periods of time and stockpiling high draft picks

- Having free agents walk and stockpiling high draft picks

 

So... bottom line... we had an average system... and it got tapped out by trades.

Edited August 14, 2008 by scenario

[nitetrain8601]

Jesus, why do people hump his leg so much....why do you think he is such a great pick? What has he done in the MLB and what warrents him being a better pick than Broadway at this point? I think it just might be b/c he has a cool name...

 

Because he actually looks pretty good and doesn't look like a one trick pony.

[maggsmaggs]

The thing that dragged the Sox minor league system down the last few years has been trades... not drafting.

 

They're "average" in their drafting success... not a disaster.

If you doubt it, go to thebaseballcube.com and look at year to year drafting results for all teams.

There's a nice feature where you can see the highest level each player drafted achieved.

It doesn't take too long to realize the Sox are no different than most teams in draft yield.

 

The vast majority of teams with good minor league systems achieved it by:

- Sucking for long periods of time and stockpiling high draft picks

- Having free agents walk and stockpiling high draft picks

 

So... bottom line... we had an average system... and it got tapped out by trades.

The last 28 first round selections from the White Sox have a grand total of one all-star apperance and that was Rowand in 2007. As an organization, we have been terrible in assessing top talent or being cheap and signing the less talented player who signs for less.

[scenario]

The last 28 first round selections from the White Sox have a grand total of one all-star apperance and that was Rowand in 2007. As an organization, we have been terrible in assessing top talent or being cheap and signing the less talented player who signs for less.

 

That's the kind of thing that happens to teams that have long records of success.

 

Think about it. Last year was the first season in 20 years that the Sox finished lower than 3rd place. And 14 of the last 20 years the team has finished with a winning (.500 or better) season.

 

Players drafted in the bottom half of the first round are never 'sure' picks.

You have to suck once in a while to get an elite draft pick.

2007 was the first year in a looong time where we sucked.

 

So you really can't evaluate our draft success/failure of our late first round picks.

 

We've had quite a few other successful players come up through the system who were not first round picks.

Edited August 14, 2008 by scenario

[SadChiSoxFanOptimist]

Scouting, selecting and drafting is only one phase of our sad history...

 

Even if we selected and drafted the very best talent available, White Sox development staff has never been effective.

 

Face it, if we had a decent development philosophy and organizational capability, there would have been more "wins" from the hundreds of kids we drafted.

 

For me, this is the hardest part of being a lifelong Sox fan -- the much-heralded rookies aren't ready/don't perform and we have to win trades in order to compete.

 

Anyone know where we rank among MLB teams in Rookie of the Year awards?

 

 

[scenario]

Scouting, selecting and drafting is only one phase of our sad history...

 

Even if we selected and drafted the very best talent available, White Sox development staff has never been effective.

 

Face it, if we had a decent development philosophy and organizational capability, there would have been more "wins" from the hundreds of kids we drafted.

 

For me, this is the hardest part of being a lifelong Sox fan -- the much-heralded rookies aren't ready/don't perform and we have to win trades in order to compete.

 

Anyone know where we rank among MLB teams in Rookie of the Year awards?

 

 

That's an excellent point.

 

If I was going to point the finger at a flaw in the organization in the last 10-15 years it would be development rather than drafting.

[RockRaines]

That's an excellent point.

 

If I was going to point the finger at a flaw in the organization in the last 10-15 years it would be development rather than drafting.

Exactly. Thats where orgs like the twins kill us. Those guys are fundamentally sound from the bottom up and all know how to play once they reach the majors.

 

 

Of course we are considered failures on here because we havent drafted all stars every year.

[winninguglyin83]

from 1987-90 we were amazing

 

McDowell

 

followed by Thomas

 

followed by Ventura

 

followed by Alex Fernandez.

 

we have many problems.

 

Usually we have not had a top 10 pick.

 

but we've wasted money on guys like Borchard and Fields, who lost good developmental time to football

 

Need to stop that.

 

We've been burned by injuries -- Honel and Stumm.

 

And we don't do a good job of developing talent.

[SadChiSoxFanOptimist]

Anyone know where we rank among MLB teams in Rookie of the Year awards?

 

OK, I'll bite on my own question.

 

First, some history:

 

 

History Of The Award

In 1940, the Chicago chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) began presenting an informal award to the best rookie in the major leagues. In 1947, the BBWAA took over the award in 1947, and in 1949, they split the award, giving one to a rookie from both the National and the American Leagues.

 

The American League Rookie of the Year Award has been spotty at picking out future stars: only 4 Hall of Famers have won this award (although Mark McGwire and Cal Ripken, Jr.. are practical shoo-ins. Also, Lou Piniella is a virtual lock for the Hall as a manager thx caknuck) There has been only one tie for the award, in 1978, between John Castino of the Twins and Alfredo Griffin of the Blue Jays. The New York Yankees have had the most American League Rookies of the Year with 7. The newly christened Tampa Bay Devil Rays are the only team yet to furnish a winner.

 

The following Chicago White Sox players have won the AL Rookie of the Year Award since 1949:

 

1955 - Louis Aparicio

1962 - Gary Peters

1965 - Tommie Agee

1982 - Ron Kittle

1984 - Ozzie Guillen

 

(BTW, I think that No Neck Williams shoulda beaten out Lou Piniella in '68.)

 

That's not a terrible cumulative record...We were damn good in the early 60's and again in the early 80's. The Yankees had the most RoYs in this period with 7...so 5 isn't terrible.

 

What is damning is no Sox RoY winners in the 70's, 90's or the 00's.

 

No Sox winners in 23 years. That sucks.

 

So now we have the Buddy Bell Sox Player Developoment era...and I'll say our chances improved with the signing of Beckham yesterday.

 

Or, is this just the foolish conjecture of a lifetime Sox fan?

 

History & probability suggest I'm wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[quickman]

Exactly. Thats where orgs like the twins kill us. Those guys are fundamentally sound from the bottom up and all know how to play once they reach the majors.

 

 

Of course we are considered failures on here because we havent drafted all stars every year.

 

 

so the real question if you believe its development, is why have we not changed that piece? Buddy Bell steps in, but he should be cleaning house, and the sox should be buying some better talented people. The Yankees are constantly drafting low, same with the red sox but they seem to be bringing up players who contribute. It starts with KW and it goes from there. They all need to be on the same page.

[southsider2k5]

so the real question if you believe its development, is why have we not changed that piece? Buddy Bell steps in, but he should be cleaning house, and the sox should be buying some better talented people. The Yankees are constantly drafting low, same with the red sox but they seem to be bringing up players who contribute. It starts with KW and it goes from there. They all need to be on the same page.

 

They both are spending millions outside of the country to sign people that aren't in the MLB draft, so that sort of skews the numbers.

[RockRaines]

They both are spending millions outside of the country to sign people that aren't in the MLB draft, so that sort of skews the numbers.

Whereas we are just stealing millions of dollars outside of the country for our scouts to have new Escalades.

[caulfield12]

from 1987-90 we were amazing

 

McDowell

 

followed by Thomas

 

followed by Ventura

 

followed by Alex Fernandez.

 

we have many problems.

 

Usually we have not had a top 10 pick.

 

but we've wasted money on guys like Borchard and Fields, who lost good developmental time to football

 

Need to stop that.

 

We've been burned by injuries -- Honel and Stumm.

 

And we don't do a good job of developing talent.

 

 

Not to mention Corwin Malone, Rauch, Jim Parque, Danny Wright and Lorenzo Barcelo, to name five more pitchers that were projected to be contributors.

 

Didn't Tyler Lumsden have a lot of health issues not long after signing with the Sox, also?

 

The whole football/athlete thing didn't work very well with Brian West, either. Was he at LSU or he gave up a scholarship for football to LSU to sign with the Sox? Can't remember.

[scenario]

Look at where we were drafting...

 

1987 - McDowell - #5 overall pick

1988 - Ventura - # 10

1989 - Thomas - #7

1990 - Fernandez - #4

 

You don't have to be a scouting/drafting genius when you're picking that low every year.

[maggsmaggs]

Not to mention Corwin Malone, Rauch, Jim Parque, Danny Wright and Lorenzo Barcelo, to name five more pitchers that were projected to be contributors.

 

Didn't Tyler Lumsden have a lot of health issues not long after signing with the Sox, also?

 

The whole football/athlete thing didn't work very well with Brian West, either. Was he at LSU or he gave up a scholarship for football to LSU to sign with the Sox? Can't remember.

He passed on a scholarship from Texas A&M to be a linebacker.