With The 3rd Pick In The 2019 MLB Draft, The White Sox Select...

Cal 1B Andrew Vaughn.  As expected, Rutchman and Witt went 1-1 and 1-2 leaving the Sox to draft the best “pure” hitter in the class.  Now these 20-80 grades are far from the end all, be all of scouting grades, but here is his MLB Pipeline snapshot:

a 60 hit, 60 power tool combo is All Star level hitting.  And as a 1B, he has to MASH baseballs to tap into the ceiling of his value as a draftee.  That’s his one rub; his position.  1B/DH grow on trees to an extent so when you take one with the 3rd overall pick, he has to obliterate baseballs.

But he just might be that good of a hitter.  On MLB Net they said scouts have said he’s the “best hitter in the draft since Kris Bryant” and Eric Byrnes just said he’s the best college hitter he’s ever seen.  I’ve heard similar from my connex in the PAC12.  The dude just rakes, rakes, and rakes some more.

BUT HE’S A GODDAMN 1B/DH!

…Or is he?

If he can develop into a passable 3B defensively that’d be MASSIVE for the White Sox.  They already have a lot of players with the same 1B/DH profile, players like Zack Collins, Jake Burger, Gavin Sheets, Abreu, etc.  They’re going to start dealing from that depth sooner than later.  But by all accounts he has good hands, but look at the kid.  Doesn’t exactly scream “athlete”:

But that’s fine.  Passable 3B is what we want, if they do in fact start him there in Kanny or whevever.  Passable.  Passable.  If not just go hit .300/.400/.500 for the next 10 years.  That’s not too much to ask I don’t think.

So the question is this:  are we happy.

Yes, we are VERY happy.  High ceiling (not SUPERSTAR ceiling, but good to very good player) and really, really high floor.  On a scale of 1-10, we’ll scare it a solid 7.5.  That’s a really good slice of goddamn pizza.

This was the last time the Sox are going to draft in the top 5 or even 10 for a LONG time, and Andrew Vaughan represents the official death of the rebuild.  The Sox play a dog shit Nationals team the next two days, so come Wednesday they might very well be over .500.  Let me remind you that it’s June.  The last 3 years were incredibly difficult on the fans, but we’re talking about a Wild Card 2 full months into the season and prospects are STILL on the way.  The fun is here for good.  Vaughn will be a part of it.

Let’s fucking go!!  I’ll do a full on breakdown of him tomorrow morning.  Until then go mothafuckin White Sox