There’s only so much planning that can go into the 20-round MLB Draft. Every team must be able to adapt on the fly and have backup plans to their backup plans.

One pick from the White Sox 2025 draft haul showed just that.

Going into the draft, director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley explained that the White Sox thought the board was light on college pitching, and they wanted to improve the farm system from an offensive standpoint. That led to a position-player dominated draft, with their first four picks allocated to hitters, as well as six of their first seven.

In the fifth round, they looked at Matthew Boughton, a shortstop from Covenant High School in Texas, but wound up going with their first pitcher, Oklahoma State right-hander Gabe Davis. Perhaps drafting Boughton wouldn’t work out, Shirley thought. But much to the White Sox surprise, they were able to draft with the 316th overall pick in the 11th round.

“The signability was too big,” Shirley said. “And then all of a sudden [Boughton] decides ‘You know what, I want to sign.’ And the relationship our area scout Alex Glenn had with the kid, Ryan Dorsey mid-south crosschecker had with the kid, we were able to accomplish with Boughton what we had no forethought that we’d have. We thought about taking him in the fifth round. We got him done in the 11th round for half the price, which is unbelievable. Exciting.”

The White Sox were not only thrilled because they acquired Boughton much later than anticipated. They see real upside with the 19-year-old, who was previously committed to Texas A&M. A right-handed hitter, Boughton stands at 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds and has five tools, according to Shirley.

“You just don’t get that enough,” Shirley said. “And remember, he was getting dinged in the industry just because his chronological age is a little older, right? … But the tools were real, like, all five of them are real. It’s shortstop. It’s athletic. It’s a sweet stroke. It’s actions that got everything, too. So that came out of nowhere, we did not expect that. So super excited to get that guy done.”