Scout and Draft

Where are you, Matt Davidson and Daniel Palka and Nicky Delmonico and Yolmer Sanchez and Adam Engel, when White Sox fans turn our lonely eyes to you? Gone, replaced by the likes of Jacob Amaya, Joshua Palacios and Nick Maton. This is a rebuild devoid of personality. Instead, we have a manager, Will Venable, who insists on starting Jacob Amaya at shortstop. Yes, Amaya managed his fourth RBI of the season last night in Minnesota. That goes with a.089 BA, three singles and a double in 45 at-bats. Venable also appears fond of Maton (.167) and Palacios (.182). Last night with the Sox down by three in the top of the ninth, bases loaded and nobody out, Palacios faced Twins’ closer Jhoan Duran and did pretty much what you’d expect. He struck out, which he’s done seven times in 22 at-bats. This and that happened afterward, Byron Buxton robbed Andrew Benintendi, and the Sox lost—again—by a score of 4-2. A big part of the reason this team is in this situation is a longstanding inability to scout and draft the right players. Imagine Steven Kwan batting instead of Palacios. Kwan didn’t go until the fifth round of the 2018 draft; we took pitcher Jonathan Stiever instead. Stiever has since retired. We could’ve had Alek Thomas batting instead of Palacios. The Sox front office had some idea who Thomas was because his dad Allen was the strength and conditioning coach for the Sox at the time, and the younger Thomas spent a lot of time around the team shagging flies. He also played at Mt. Carmel, just a few miles down the Dan Ryan from 35th and Shields. Instead, Thomas went to Arizona while Rick Hahan opted for Steele Walker in the second round of the 2018 draft. Walker later netted Nomar Mazara in a trade, and both are out of major league baseball. That’s sort of how a team ends up with Joshua Palacios batting in a crucial situation. Last but not least, the Sox could’ve had Corbin Carroll batting. Carroll was a first-round pick by the Diamondbacks 2019, when the Sox selected Andrew Vaughn. Carroll has a career WAR of 11.3, and this season he’s batting .323 with seven homeruns and nineteen RBIs (plus 21 runs scored because he’s fast). And Vaughn? A career WAR of 0.4 isn’t much, and neither are his stats for the year, a .145 BA with three homers and ten RBIs (plus five runs scored because he’s slow, and there’s no one to bat him in those few times he’s on base). Last night, Vaughn went 0-for-4 and grounded into a double play. Kwan went 2-for-4 with a run scored in a Guardians’ win against the Yankees while Carroll went 1-for-3 with two runs scored in a Arizona win over the Rays. But, hey, Thomas didn’t do anything, just like the Sox.