Prep Focused White Sox Could Target High School Arm in June Draft

Cautionary Tale

The Chicago White Sox selected right handed pitcher Kris Honel out of Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, IL way back in 2001. The 6’5″ 190 pounder from Kankakee, Illinois was given a $1.5 million bonus as the 16th overall pick.

Honel was a bit of a failed experiment for the entire organization and his struggles have served as a cautionary tale for too long. Honel was seen as extraordinarily safe for a prep righty. He was big and strong and possessed excellent mechanics. His fastball sat in the 91-93 mph range and often touched 95.

Honel burst onto the scene in rookie ball and looked every bit the prospect that scouts had become enamored with. The lean righty possessed a dastardly knuckle-curve that was used as his swing and miss offering. The local product’s slider was a plus-pitch as well. The stuff was never the issue with Kristopher Honel.

He was ranked as the #73 prospect in baseball and the #55 prospect in the entire sport according to Baseball America in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Injuries derailed the chance at establishing whatever promise was destined for him however. After dealing with elbow injuries, Honel’s knuckle-curveball deteriorated.

The right-hander never advanced higher than Double-A and finished with a 4.03 lifetime ERA in the minor leagues. In his final season with the White Sox in 2007, Honel posted a 5.79 ERA in 60.2 innings. He averaged over six walks per nine innings with the Birmingham Barons during that season.

Organizational Shift

New Amateur Scouting Director Mike Shirley spoke fervently about prep talent during his seminars at SoxFest in January. An organizational shift toward adding more high school talent appears to be in motion and it’s a decent trek for the franchise to take. The scouting department has spent years recommending college talent to the front office for selection and insulating a farm system with a talent base that could theoretically help things flourish much sooner in Chicago.

The Chicago White Sox added eight prep talents to the organization in last year’s draft. The 2019 version was the fourth and final class added with Nick Hostetler in the driver’s seat but the path undertaken should be easily followed under his former assistant director. Rumors swirled before last year’s draft that the White Sox were enamored with Georgia prep infielder C.J. Abrams before they ultimately settled on California first baseman Andrew Vaughn. The amateur scouts were acting differently though and the reports were ultimately true.

The club added Matthew Thompson out of Cypress Ranch High School in Texas and Andrew Dalquist from Redondo Union High School in California in last year’s draft and paid them a combined $4.1 million to sign professional contracts. It’s rankings season throughout the industry and these arms earned high praise from Keith Law at The Athletic, Josh Norris at Baseball America and Jim Callis at MLB Pipeline. In our preseason top 30 rankings, we put Thompson at #8 with Dalquist right behind him at #9. Pitchers with this type of youth and promise on their side have been missing from the White Sox’s system of late.

Cautious Swings

While the scars of Kris Honel’s failure have haunted the organization for more than a decade, they have taken some cautious swings more recently. After selecting Tim Anderson in the 1st round of the 2013 draft, the White Sox used their 2nd pick on righty Tyler Danish out of Durant High School in Plant City, Florida.

Danish never appeared to have the stuff to match his gaudy statistics and he wasn’t considered a top-100 draft prospect at the time of selection. In high school, Danish posted a 0.00 ERA as a senior with 156 strikeouts over 94 innings. He had decent success in the minors and even pitched in Chicago for parts of 2016 and 2017. In 2019, Tyler Danish was a member of the New Britain Bees of the Atlantic League.

The following year, Spencer Adams was selected out of White County High School in Georgia. He was a bit different than Danish. The 6’4″ 180 pound multi-sport star was the #27 prospect in the 2014 draft class according to MLB Pipeline. The White Sox used the 44th overall pick on Adams and gave him a bonus of $1.3 million. Spencer was known for his “elite athleticism and loose, easily repeatable delivery”. His fastball sat in the low 90’s with excellent life and he also possesses a sharp slider. Scouts thought that Adams would develop more velocity over time.

Adams got off to a solid start in 2014 after posting a 2.73 FIP and averaging over 12 K/9. He pitched well in 2015 after throwing in Kannapolis and Winston-Salem as well. Adams wasn’t missing enough bats but was still performing adequately and things were looking up for his career and prospect status. Adams has struggled some since.

His stuff has backed up and he hasn’t produced the velocity increase that was expected by scouts. Adams has battled injuries throughout his career and missed the 2019 season after pitching 18 innings with a back injury. Adams will spend his third straight season in Charlotte in 2020 and will look to restart his once promising career.

High school arms are the most tenuous for evaluators when making decision in the Rule 4 First Year Player Draft. Right handed prep arms are often even more divisive. Prep pitchers have a high bust rate but some of the top arms in the major leagues came from this particular profile.

Kris Honel’s demise affected the White Sox to the point that they generally ignored this prevalent demographic for years. Tyler Danish and Spencer Adams symbolized their toes being dipped in the water. Matthew Thompson and Andrew Dalquist have them knees deep. None of these players were secured in the first round though and 2020 might be the year the organization dives back in head first.

Bucking The Trend

In the most recent mock draft from Baseball America, the publication has the White Sox using the 11th overall pick on high school righty Jared Kelley. The Texas prep sensation could go higher in fact once June arrives but the pick makes sense. Sources have indicated to FutureSox that the White Sox have significant interest in Kelley and 2020 could be the year they re-establish themselves in the prep pitching landscape in the first round.

This type of move would qualify as a significant deviation for the organization and could start off Mike Shirley’s tenure with an equivocal bang. The bonus pool amounts for the 2020 draft haven’t been determined as of yet but the White Sox should have roughly $8.5 million to spend. That would be plenty to lock up Kelley without altering a prep heavy approach if desired.

Baseball America notes Jared Kelley’s plethora of attributes while realizing that prep righties often slide a bit once the draft actually arrives. Kelley is ranked as the #6 overall prospect according to the publication and they call him “a man amongst boys”. It was also said that the Texas prep regularly gets into the upper 90’s with remarkable control and command. According to the crew at MLB Pipeline, Kelley is ranked as the #7 prospect in the upcoming draft class.

The 18-year-old right hander stands at 6’3″ and weighs 215 pounds. The Refugio High School product would be the first drafted player from the high school even though Texas is notoriously a hotbed for pitching talent. Kelley is seen as the top prep arm in the nation currently and he dominated on the showcase circuit last summer. His stellar performance at the Area Code Games really sealed his status with scouts.

Kelley’s fastball sits in the 93-96 mph range and touches 98. The pitch also shows running action with big time life. He has a low effort delivery with now stuff and a feel to pitch as well. Kelley also displays an advanced changeup with fade and sink. His hard slurve ball sits in the mid 80’s but could develop into another solid offering. Kelley pounds the strike zone and looks like a future frontline starter. He possesses a strong, physically frame as well. The grades at MLB Pipeline are as follows: Fastball 65, Changeup 60, Slider 55, Curveball 55.

via Prospect Pipeline

From 2019 Perfect Game National

Under Armour All American Game courtesy of 2080 Baseball

Some High School Footage

This is only one direction that the White Sox might choose to take in the June draft if presented with the opportunity. This would be a big change for an organization that has been very college heavy in recent years. The evolution began last year however and the wounds from Kris Honel should be licked clean at this point. The organization is loaded with young players and many of their top prospects are expected to be in the big leagues.

The scouting department could look to add some younger talent to the farm system and June’s draft would be a great place to start. Mike Shirley could definitely recommend a high school bat instead and we’ll go over those options at a later date. With the depth of the college pitching class, an older arm could be targeted as well. What we know now though is that Jared Kelley appears to be an option. And that would be an intriguing organizational shift for the White Sox.

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