In 2019, the college pitching class was one of the worst of all time. The White Sox decided to employ an unfamiliar strategy by nabbing prep righties in the second and third round in addition to five more prep talents overall.
The 2020 crop of college pitchers is exceptional, however, and the White Sox went that direction in the first round despite being tied to multiple high school pitchers throughout the draft process. Mick Abel out of Oregon gained some traction late within the organization, but ultimately wasn’t the selection. The franchise has repeated their plan from 2019 by taking a high upside prep right-hander in the second round.
The White Sox have landed 6-foot-3, 215-pound righty Jared Kelley out of Refugio High School in Texas. Kelley is the 12th ranked player in the draft class according to MLB Pipeline and Baseball America. Sources have indicated to FutureSox that Kelley will indeed sign with the White Sox and forego his commitment to the University of Texas.
We wrote a draft profile about the fireballer ahead of the draft.
While the bonus amount hasn’t been confirmed, the asking price was rumored to be in the neighborhood of $3 million. The 47th pick carries a slot value of $1,580,200.
Kelley was recently named the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year for 2019-2020. In high school, Kelley went 32-3 with a 0.43 ERA. Prior to his spring season’s abrupt end, Jared was 3-0 with an ERA of 0.00 and 34 strikeouts in 12 innings.
He possesses a 65-grade fastball with a 60-grade changeup to go with it. Kelley’s fastball sits in the 93-96 mph range and touches 98 regularly. He creates a lot of velocity while displaying a low-effort delivery. His changeup is already an advanced offering as well. The pitch shows fade and sink and the right-hander is willing to throw it in any count. Kelley’s third pitch is a hard slurve that sits in the low 80s. The pitch lacks consistency, but he hasn’t had to throw it often and could be above average in the future.
Kelley was seen as the best prep right-hander in the class coming into the year. He was excellent on the showcase circuit last summer and it included a stellar performance during the Area Code Games. The righty will turn 19 in October and his demographic is a traditionally risky proposition. Kelley pounds the strike zone, but he has a “now body and now stuff” and lacks a breaking ball that currently registers as a plus offering. It’s much less of a risk overall in the second round though, regardless of the rumored bonus amount.
Kelley at Wrigley Field during the UA All-American Game:
High school footage courtesy of Prospect Pipeline:
Area Code Games courtesy of Prospect Pipeline:
Kelley will enter the top 10 of the White Sox’s top prospects list for every major publication. He joins a stable of young right-handers in the organization and he may be the very best of the bunch. Jared Kelley, Matthew Thompson, Andrew Dalquist and Norge Vera is a solid collection of projection and upside. Without a minor league season in 2020, it’ll be interesting to see how the hard throwing Texan is deployed. He has a promising future in the organization regardless.
Photo credit: Perfect Game USA
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