{"id":69193,"date":"2025-07-17T08:37:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T08:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=69193"},"modified":"2025-07-17T08:37:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T08:37:34","slug":"white-sox-draft-pick-jaden-fauske-makes-dreams-come-true-with-jim-thomes-guidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=69193","title":{"rendered":"White Sox Draft Pick Jaden Fauske Makes Dreams Come True With Jim Thome’s Guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CHICAGO \u2013\u2013 The White Sox second-round draft pick worked out ideally for both parties.<\/p>\n

The player, Jaden Fauske, grew up a White Sox fan in Willowbrook, Ill., and called it a dream come true to be drafted by his favorite team. The White Sox have known of the Nazareth Academy graduate for a long time, and hoped he\u2019d fall into their laps with the 44th overall pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur [research and development] department, along with [director of hitting] Ryan Fuller, they were super excited about Jaden as this thing began,\u201d director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley said. \u201cThe meetings started last week, and everyone thought Jaden was one of the best prep left-handed hitters in the class. So the ability to capture him was super exciting as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost like it was meant to be for Fauske. His father and brother, Jake, who\u2019s eight years older, are both diehard White Sox fans. They passed that on to Jaden, who listed childhood favorites like Adam Eaton, Alexei Ramirez, Jos\u00e9 Abreu, Tim Anderson and Avisail Garc\u00eda.<\/p>\n

Jaden, who has frequently attended games, had an opportunity to be the bat boy during White Sox batting practice when he was around 10 or 11 years old. He recalled getting autographs, catching a ball from Bobby Jenks and aspiring to be in their shoes one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see that materialize,\u201d Fauske said. \u201cIt means everything.”<\/p>\n

Along with Fauske\u2019s skill set, Shirley is proud to draft a local kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said all along, local kids, we feel they have the ability, the White Sox are going to be in there. This is our city, man,\u201d Shirley said. \u201cWe believe in the people that live here. He\u2019s a fan, he\u2019s a White Sox fan. We\u2019re not taking anything for granted, we think these players are worthy of this opportunity to be with us, so why not put them in their hometown. And I\u2019m excited to have another hometown kid on the resume.”<\/p>\n

On the field, Jaden drew inspiration from his brother, who played baseball at the University of Chicago. Going to tournaments and noting Jake\u2019s hard work, Jaden wanted to follow in his footsteps from a young age. By the summer after his sophomore year of high school, Jaden was playing on the national circuit and realized he could turn baseball into a full-time job.<\/p>\n

The White Sox got an up-close look at Fauske during the Area Code Games, a six-day showcase in California with eight regional teams that produced 18 first-round picks in 2024. Fauske played for the White Sox Area Codes team the last two years, competing against teams represented by six other MLB franchises.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s foundational for us,\u201d Shirley said. \u201cYou see them in the dugout, in real live action. We get to coach them for a week in California. It gives us a lot of insight into what the player\u2019s makeup is, how they handle the adversity, jumping into that big time environment. You get personal with them. This kid can really do it. To land him tonight, it\u2019s a great opportunity for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going into the Area Code Games last summer, Shirley recalled White Sox personnel telling him that Fauske was going to be the best hitter of the group. Shirley bought into the bat, but they weren\u2019t sure where Fauske would land positionally. A shoulder injury limited his ability to catch that summer, and Shirley left California thinking Fauske\u2019s run tool wasn\u2019t where it needed to be.<\/p>\n

Fauske took that to heart and changed his body, wanting to prove he could excel in center field and not just be a hitter who could play the outfield. Over the last year and a half, Fauske said he took small things more seriously, such as diet, hydration, getting better sleep and weightlifting.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s currently the leanest he\u2019s ever been, without sacrificing exit velocity or bat speed despite dropping some weight. In turn, he increased his speed, mobility and explosiveness, which he believes translated to the field and changed his game. Fauske called baseball his passion, so it wasn\u2019t difficult to find motivation to make these improvements. It\u2019s something he wakes up and loves to do.<\/p>\n

Shirley said he couldn\u2019t believe how well Fauske ran when he saw him about six weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe body development, the strength development,\u201d Shirley said. \u201cIf you go watch him, how the approach in BP, stays on balls the other way. He\u2019s not trying to turn and burn too much. He really likes to stay in the lane with his hands, control the barrel. And then what you see in the game is he\u2019s able to take his approach in BP and really apply it to his game action. You just don\u2019t see that enough in high school hitters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think the maturity level, his approach and how he actually applies it to the game is one thing. When you think about these high school guys, it\u2019s one thing if you identify the tool. It\u2019s another thing how the tool actually applies to the maturity of the game today. He\u2019s able to take the tools he\u2019s worked his ass off to accomplish, and he actually applies them to the game really well. That\u2019s the exciting part for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watching that transformation up close was former White Sox slugger and Hall of Famer Jim Thome, who was in the White Sox draft room and whose son, Landon, was teammates with Fauske at Nazareth.<\/p>\n

Thome candidly didn\u2019t know how a move from catcher to center field would work out, but Fauske took it in stride.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid very well,\u201d Thome said. \u201cHe got his body in really good shape, was moving really good in the spring and it carried on. For me \u2013\u2013 and this is a compliment to the kid \u2013\u2013 I don\u2019t know where he eventually ends up defensively, but athletic wise, he’s so talented athletically that it could be a variety of different spots quite honestly. That\u2019s going to be the fun part for us, for our organization, to break that down and figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shirley said the White Sox will most likely start Fauske in center field to begin his minor league career. He left the door open to a move back to catcher, though Shirley wants to be mindful of protecting Fauske\u2019s bat and making it as productive as possible, knowing that the catching position can negatively affect a player\u2019s hit tool. He also liked Fauske\u2019s response to discussions of his defensive ability.<\/p>\n

“You know what the best part is? You know what Jaden Fauske said? ‘I’ll do whatever you need me to do.’ That’s the best part, right,\u201d Shirley said. \u201cThat you have players that are willing to do whatever it takes to be pros and believe in themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hit tool has stood out the most to Thome, who thinks Fauske has a chance to have \u201creally, really good power\u201d at the next level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the kid,\u201d Thome said. \u201cHard worker. Extremely talented left-handed bat. Athlete. Football player at Naz. Really really good family. Just a wonderful kid. Loves baseball. Loves to work. And is really talented. I think this kid is going to keep getting better and better and it\u2019s exciting to be around him and to be able to be around him for the last three years, it\u2019s just been a joy and a pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player that\u2019s played a long time, the enjoyment for me is you do what you do to help kids to maybe give them little tidbits here and there and then they take them. Whether they run with them or not, it\u2019s so rewarding to be able to just say \u2018Hey, man. We worked together, we spent a lot of time in the cages,\u2019 and the kid is really really talented with the bat in his hand. It\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fauske is thankful for Thome\u2019s guidance.<\/p>\n

“Having Jim in my corner was a blessing,\u201d Fauske said. \u201cObviously he’s still going to be in my corner. So very grateful for that. Learned a lot from him, how to handle yourself, be a good person on and off the field.”<\/p>\n

“He’s the most humble person you’ll ever meet. He’s never, unless you’re picking his brain, he’s never bringing up anything like [his career]. He still hits BP sometimes. He had a fungo bat and he was just launching balls into the forest. I feel like he can still probably hit 20 homers if he wanted to play right now.”<\/p>\n

Shirely called Thome a \u201ctremendous asset\u201d and part of the White Sox family, as he gave them valuable insight that the team needed to know before making the selection. Shirley has a lot of respect for Thome, who\u2019s able to balance his coaching and personal relationship with Fauske alongside the advice he gives to the White Sox.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you do the job that we do,\u201d Thome said. \u201cAs far as the White Sox and you are a part of this, you give the information, you speak, but also in this is your heart. You\u2019re working with a kid you think is really good, and there is that aspect of it too. So, that\u2019s the fun part of me being retired is I get to be around such a great group of scouts, around Mike Shirley. [Chris] Getzy and I, we communicate a lot about players I\u2019ve seen when I go out and see them. It’s very rewarding to me to look at this situation and kind of say, \u2018Man, it\u2019s pretty special.\u2019 He\u2019s a local kid. But also he\u2019s deserving of this opportunity and being in this spot. That\u2019s what\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fauske has experienced plenty of success at the high school level. As a senior, he posted a .461 batting average and a .597 on-base percentage with six home runs, 36 RBI, 31 runs and 29 stolen bases in 34 games. He also earned a spot on the 2024 Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods All-American Classic and Prep Baseball All-American Game rosters, and was committed to LSU.<\/p>\n

After being part of a Nazareth Academy program that won state titles in 2022 and 2023, he hopes to replicate that on a higher level with the team he grew up rooting for.<\/p>\n

“Winning’s the best feeling. There’s nothing better than that,\u201d Fauske said. \u201cI was born in 2006, one year [after] the White Sox won it, so we want to bring that back to Chicago.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jaden Fauske grew up rooting for the Chicago White Sox, and had successful high school career at Nazareth Academy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":69208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nWhite Sox Draft Pick Jaden Fauske Makes Dreams Come True With Jim Thome's Guidance - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=69193\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"White Sox Draft Pick Jaden Fauske Makes Dreams Come True With Jim Thome's Guidance - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jaden Fauske grew up rooting for the Chicago White Sox, and had successful high school career at Nazareth Academy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=69193\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-17T08:37:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/avtvip-2025-07-17T153710.777.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=69193\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=69193\",\"name\":\"White Sox Draft Pick Jaden Fauske Makes Dreams Come True With Jim Thome's Guidance - 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