With the 2025 MLB Draft concluding yesterday, the White Sox full draft haul is now set in stone. In an unpredictable class equipped with the #10 overall pick, they could have gone in several directions. Chicago ultimately chose to go hitter-heavy, and based on what prospect lists show, they came away with a quality haul.
Draft Recap
Billy Carlson and Jaden Fauske, two high school hitters who play shortstop and outfield, respectively, lead this year’s White Sox draft class. Both were considered some of the better high school players in the draft, with each having considerable talent and upside. In total, the team took four high school players and 16 college players, including eight right-handed pitchers, four shortstops, four outfielders, two catchers, a third baseman, and a left-handed pitcher.
Prospect Rankings Praise White Sox Haul
Prospect publications think the White Sox picked a solid haul of talent. Per Baseball America, they landed six of their top 200 prospects, including three in the top 60. MLB Pipeline also shows a promising haul for the South Siders, as they landed seven prospects in their top 200 list. Keith Law of The Athletic has the White Sox landing four of his top 65 prospects. All in all, newly drafted White Sox players appear consistently across all pre-draft top prospect lists.
Addressing Organizational Weaknesses
The White Sox have lacked impact position players in the minor leagues for some time. It was a major area of weakness heading into the draft, which makes it unsurprising that Mike Shirley, the White Sox scouting director, prioritized drafting hitters with his first few picks this year.
“Extremely excited about being disciplined with what we’re trying to accomplish: middle-of-the-field players,” Shirley said. “Things we talked about yesterday like contact, decisions, some damage stuff in there. I really liked just the baseball players that mix in with that crew. More position player-dominated than we’ve gone in the past, which we’re excited for because we are looking for some offense and we’re looking to continue to try to build that out.”
Hitter Heavy Approach
Each of the White Sox first four picks in this draft were hitters, and bats comprised six of the South Siders’ first seven picks. They took 11 hitters in 20 rounds, with Shirley staying true to his word about prioritizing middle-of-the-field players. Of his position player haul, he took four shortstops, two catchers, and several outfielders with experience playing center field. The organization added highly sought-after talent according to the prospect rankings and did so at premium positions where they lacked depth before. Even more intriguing is that three of the team’s first four picks were high school hitters. The White Sox added substantially more young talent and upside to the farm system through this draft.
Development Work Begins
The MLB Draft is essentially throwing darts at a board. Projecting MLB draft prospects is an inexact science, and in any given draft class, a team would be lucky to get a handful of quality MLB contributors. That said, the initial review of the 2025 White Sox draft class appears to be a positive one. They had to infuse more intriguing hitters into the farm system, and they did just that. Now they have to develop them.
