Speaker 1: Socks on thirty fifth is next doors open on the left?
Speaker 1: What is going on? White Sox fans, and welcome to
Speaker 1: a bonus episode of the Socks on thirty fifth podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Michael Suerrow, and I'm hijacking the show
Speaker 1: today because we are officially within twenty four hours of
Speaker 1: the start of the twenty twenty six MLB Draft, which
Speaker 1: means we are within twenty four hours of the Chicago
Speaker 1: White Sox being on the clock with the first overall
Speaker 1: pick in that draft. So we're gonna dive into some
Speaker 1: draft talk today, talk a little bit about how the
Speaker 1: draft works, about how bonus pools work, and all the
Speaker 1: chaos that's been going on with were the White Sox
Speaker 1: is gonna be taken in the first round. We all
Speaker 1: thought that we had that figured out months ago. Now
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, as we get closer to the draft,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of talk about some other guys taking
Speaker 1: over being the top pick over Rockchalowski. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: We're gonna dive into all that, plus maybe get into
Speaker 1: some players that could be available to them outside the
Speaker 1: first round. But before we get into everything, to make
Speaker 1: sure you're following us listening to our podcast on Apple, Spotify,
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your podcast, make sure you're subscribed
Speaker 1: to socks on thirty fifth, and also make sure you
Speaker 1: are subscribed to our YouTube channel at socks on thirty
Speaker 1: fifth get the video version of these podcasts. With that
Speaker 1: being said, let's dive right into it. So, yeah, draft
Speaker 1: starts tomorrow. Starts at twelve thirty Central time. Tomorrow will
Speaker 1: be Day one of the Draft. You'll get rounds one
Speaker 1: through four. Last year they moved it to a two
Speaker 1: day format instead of a three day format. Last year,
Speaker 1: I believe it only went to the first rerounds. This
Speaker 1: year they extended Day one to four rounds and then
Speaker 1: Day two of the draft will kickoff on Sunday at
Speaker 1: I believe ten thirty am Central, and you'll get rounds
Speaker 1: five through twenty. Then, how the bonus pool works, Every
Speaker 1: team gets a certain amount of money allocated to each
Speaker 1: of the first ten picks that they have, So every
Speaker 1: team has twenty picks, but a specific bonus slot value
Speaker 1: is assigned to every single one of the top ten picks,
Speaker 1: and then in rounds a lotting through twenty, every team
Speaker 1: gets one hundred and fifty thousand for each of those picks,
Speaker 1: So your total bonus pool is how much each of
Speaker 1: your top ten picks value totals two. So for the
Speaker 1: White Sox this year, we have just over seventeen and
Speaker 1: a half million dollars in our bonus but almost seventeen
Speaker 1: point six million in our bonus pool. The first pick
Speaker 1: alone is roughly eleven million, three hundred and fifty thousand,
Speaker 1: so a lot of money to spend on our draft
Speaker 1: picks this year. For context, the record for the highest
Speaker 1: signing draft picks ever signed is only about nine point
Speaker 1: three million. So even if Rock or Emerson or von Lackey,
Speaker 1: whoever we take with that pick does break the record,
Speaker 1: which is very likely this year, they're not going to
Speaker 1: go overslot We are going to be saving some money
Speaker 1: with that first overall pick, which was a big deal
Speaker 1: when we won the draft lottery, not only because we
Speaker 1: get to take the top player in the draft, but
Speaker 1: it gives us a lot of bonus pool flexibility for
Speaker 1: the rest of the draft. So that money that we're
Speaker 1: saving in our first round pick, now we can use
Speaker 1: that on our second or third or fourth round picks
Speaker 1: to get someone better than we have. Pick forty one
Speaker 1: could get someone than the forty first best player in
Speaker 1: this draft because of that extra flexibility that we've got.
Speaker 1: And another caveat to everything is technically every team can
Speaker 1: spend up to five percent over their bonus pool. They
Speaker 1: would just get taxed that believe, about seventy five percent
Speaker 1: on that overage, But you can spend up to five
Speaker 1: percent over that bonus pool before any penalties regarding future
Speaker 1: draft picks kick in. So that's something the White Sox
Speaker 1: have been really good at over the last few years,
Speaker 1: is utilizing that extra money that they can spend and
Speaker 1: using it to go overslot in some areas. You know,
Speaker 1: using that extra five percent helped us land Caleb Bonhamer
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. It helped us land the
Speaker 1: duel of Billy Carlson and Jane Fowski last year. So
Speaker 1: that is something that the White Sox are good at utilizing,
Speaker 1: good at maximizing their resources, and should help US land
Speaker 1: some good talent in this year's draft as long as
Speaker 1: they continue with that trend. Now let's dive right into it.
Speaker 1: So a few months ago we all thought we had
Speaker 1: to figure it out. We just started already ordering some
Speaker 1: custom Rockchaalowski White Sox jerseys, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: now it seems like it's a three man race between
Speaker 1: Rock Chaalowski, Grady Emerson, and Von Lackey. The Von Lackey
Speaker 1: smoke seems to be cooling a bit more. Really seems
Speaker 1: like the most people agree that it's between Rock and
Speaker 1: Grady Emerson. Some outlets have Emerson as the favorite. Now
Speaker 1: others still have Rock, but you know, we're seeing a
Speaker 1: lot of Grady Emerson smoke now. In fact, we just
Speaker 1: had Joe Doyle from Overslat Baseball on the podcast. Their
Speaker 1: most recent mock did have Grady Emerson, so you know,
Speaker 1: we asked him about it, and here's what he had
Speaker 1: to say about that.
Speaker 2: I've continued to hear more and more and more people
Speaker 2: from within the front office in Chicago say, you know,
Speaker 2: most people in these parts, like most people in these
Speaker 2: back offices, they really like Grady Emerson. They think he's
Speaker 2: the better player, they think he's got the higher ceiling.
Speaker 2: They think he could end up being, you know, the
Speaker 2: bigger star. But as has been mentioned in you know
Speaker 2: mock drafts, in more places than just Overslot, the question
Speaker 2: really is how much better can Grady Emerson be than
Speaker 2: Rock Schilowski. If it's a full grade better on the
Speaker 2: role scale, then you have to take Grady Emerson. But
Speaker 2: if it's you know, splitting hairs, it's it's hard for
Speaker 2: me to walk away from a gold glove shortstop that
Speaker 2: has done it in college, that you know, has shown
Speaker 2: he can hit, that is the captain of Team USA. Like,
Speaker 2: that's a that's a really tough intangibles package to walk
Speaker 2: away from.
Speaker 1: We'll see what actually happens. I tend to lean that
Speaker 1: we're still going to take Rock Chilowski. It's really a
Speaker 1: tough us up at this point. All three have their
Speaker 1: own strengths and weaknesses. Starting with Rock. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: probably the safest player in this draft class while still
Speaker 1: having perennial All star upside. He's got the plus hit tool,
Speaker 1: he's got the plus power. He's a fantastic defensive shortstop.
Speaker 1: He's not the most athletic shortstop in the world, but
Speaker 1: he covers ground with his actions. He's going to be
Speaker 1: a phenomenal defensive player. He has still fantastic upside. The
Speaker 1: issue with Rock and part of the reason why he
Speaker 1: fell this leading up to the draft, or why people
Speaker 1: believe that he may fall leading up to the draft
Speaker 1: is he didn't quite have the same star studded season
Speaker 1: his junior year they did his sophomore year. He still
Speaker 1: had a very good junior year, just didn't quite live
Speaker 1: up to what he did in his sophomore year, which
Speaker 1: was one of the best collegiate seasons we've seen in
Speaker 1: a lot, so kind of hard to live up to that.
Speaker 1: The strikeout rates did spike a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: his sophomore year he walked more than he struck out.
Speaker 1: Junior he struck out a tiny bit more than he walked.
Speaker 1: Still has fantastic plate discipline, still has really good power,
Speaker 1: mostly to the poll side, but I personally don't have
Speaker 1: an issue with that. There's some concerns about his lack
Speaker 1: of production with a wood bat, and it's a very
Speaker 1: small sample size, and the sample size we do have
Speaker 1: isn't the best. But I mean, very few amateurs come
Speaker 1: in ready to hit with a wood bet. It's an
Speaker 1: adjustment that all amateurs have to make, so we'll see.
Speaker 1: I'm not as sold about some of these concerns as others,
Speaker 1: but people that are smarter than me do have these concerns.
Speaker 1: So it is something that we have to take into consideration.
Speaker 1: Grady Emerson is probably the higher ceiling of those two
Speaker 1: between him in Rockchaalowski. The biggest argument that you could
Speaker 1: make for Grady Emerson is coming out of high school,
Speaker 1: he is a better shortstop or a better overall player
Speaker 1: than Rock Schilowski was coming out of high school. Rockchilowski
Speaker 1: was widely regarded as a top fifty draft prospect coming
Speaker 1: out of high school, but had a strong commitment to UCLA.
Speaker 1: Grady Emerson is a better draft prospect than Rokschilowski was
Speaker 1: as a high scorer. So I mean just looking at
Speaker 1: you know, age projections, age modeling, and Grady Emerson has
Speaker 1: a leg up on him. Sure, he also has arguably
Speaker 1: the best hit tool in this draft. It is he
Speaker 1: is a fantastic hitter, fantastic back to ball skills, fantastic
Speaker 1: I he is going to be a good hitter. Lacks
Speaker 1: a little bit behind Chilawski in terms of power. He
Speaker 1: could still be at twenty to twenty five home running
Speaker 1: your type of guy. That's probably where his ceiling's at,
Speaker 1: and there's no guarantee he gets to that, but there
Speaker 1: probably is some untapped power in that bat. And I
Speaker 1: think he started to get to it a little more
Speaker 1: as senior year of high school. Good athlete, not not
Speaker 1: an amazing athlete, but a good athlete projects to develop
Speaker 1: into a very good defensive shortstop. I've seen some, you know,
Speaker 1: comparisons to Bobby Wit. I don't like those comps personally.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's really the same type of player.
Speaker 1: I think he's got a little bit less raw power,
Speaker 1: he's not quite as twitched up as an athlete, but
Speaker 1: a much better hit tool than Bobby Witt. Coming out
Speaker 1: of high school. I think of McGonagall is a better camp.
Speaker 1: Looking at McGonigal, you know, rows up quickly from high
Speaker 1: school ranks to this year being a very good pro
Speaker 1: player because of that hit tool. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what's going to carry Grady Emerson is that hit tool.
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't compa to Bobby Wood. I think that's
Speaker 1: a better comp which if you get another Kevin mcgonawell
Speaker 1: out of Green irishon massive win and then Von Lackey again,
Speaker 1: he's probably behind the other two, but he is still
Speaker 1: being considered reportedly, and he's a guy out of Georgia
Speaker 1: Tech who had a huge breakout year this year. Over
Speaker 1: twelve hundred ops. Coming into the year, he was viewed
Speaker 1: as probably the best catcher in the draft and a
Speaker 1: likely first round pick, but it was more because he
Speaker 1: was an elite defensive catcher with offensive upside and a
Speaker 1: lot of projection left in that bat. This year, he
Speaker 1: really exploded at the plate, showed off a ton of power,
Speaker 1: showed off his athleticism. He had a phenomenon or he
Speaker 1: is a bit of a late bloomer. And the case
Speaker 1: for him though, is he would cost significantly less in
Speaker 1: terms of bonus pool money than Rock or Emerson, which again,
Speaker 1: like I said before, you're going to save money that regardless,
Speaker 1: But any extra bit of flexibility now you're likely or
Speaker 1: now you're looking, maybe can I go big game hunting
Speaker 1: and get one of these top fifteen ish type prospects
Speaker 1: to float down to round two. That's kind of the
Speaker 1: thinking you'd go with if you were to draft Bond
Speaker 1: Lackey over Chilowsky and Emerson. We'll see how strongly he
Speaker 1: is being considered for this pick. It's probably still gonna
Speaker 1: be Rock or Emerson, but there is a very strong
Speaker 1: case for Lackey as well, and all three of these
Speaker 1: guys in their own draft classes. Could be a strong
Speaker 1: consideration to be the first overall pick in a lot
Speaker 1: of draft classes, but they're all obviously competing against one
Speaker 1: another this season. So I cannot wait to see what
Speaker 1: the White Sax do, frankly, because I'm tired of seeing
Speaker 1: a different report every day saying, oh, now now the
Speaker 1: favorite Rock, Now the favorites Grady, now the favorites Lackey.
Speaker 1: It's been a lot back and forth these last couple
Speaker 1: of months. I'm ready to just find out who the
Speaker 1: White Socks are taking. But luckily the draft doesn't end
Speaker 1: after pick one. There's still twenty rounds to go in
Speaker 1: the draft, and not all of you guys listening are
Speaker 1: as big of a draft sicko SMP, so you might
Speaker 1: not even care. But there are some really good names
Speaker 1: in this draft, and some players outside of round one
Speaker 1: that do have some ties to the White Sox or
Speaker 1: have some possible connections that could lead the White Sox
Speaker 1: to drafting them rounds two, three, or four. So I
Speaker 1: want to get into a few of those names really quick.
Speaker 1: The first one, I'm sure most of you have already
Speaker 1: heard about is Landon Tome som Jin Tome in the
Speaker 1: fielder out of Nazareth Academy. He's a homegrown guy or
Speaker 1: hometown kid. His dad obviously works in the front office
Speaker 1: for the White Sox that the connections are just too obvious.
Speaker 1: He is why considered a top fifty to sixty ish
Speaker 1: prospect in this draft, so you know, pick forty one
Speaker 1: will be right in line with him. I think he
Speaker 1: probably signs for closer to their slot value, which is
Speaker 1: a little under two and a half million. He might
Speaker 1: go a little bit over that. I think they could
Speaker 1: shoot higher if they really want to, But I think
Speaker 1: this is a really strong possibility to pick forty one
Speaker 1: with the kid like tome really good at the plate. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you know his dad's Jim Tolmy. He's better to be
Speaker 1: pretty good at the plate. Not quite sure where his
Speaker 1: defensive home is. He played a last short stop at
Speaker 1: Nazareth Academy, but most people project him to move off
Speaker 1: that position, possibly to second or third base, maybe a
Speaker 1: corner outfield spot. The defense is lagging a little bit
Speaker 1: behind the bat, but if you're drafting him, you're drafting
Speaker 1: him for the bats, so that's not going to really
Speaker 1: be a big deal. I'm curious to see where's defensive
Speaker 1: home is, but the bat's what gets you into. Another
Speaker 1: name to know is Logan Redmond. So the White Sox
Speaker 1: did a lot of scouting with the UCLA, so they
Speaker 1: probably saw Redmond plenty. He was the ace of that
Speaker 1: pitching staff. He transferred in this year and his stuff
Speaker 1: ticked up a couple of notches and really established himself
Speaker 1: as one of the premier pitchers in college baseball. Was
Speaker 1: well on his way to solidifying himself as a first
Speaker 1: round pick before he started dealing with some arm fatigue
Speaker 1: and eventually just had his season shut down. So stock
Speaker 1: has slipped a little bit, but could very well be
Speaker 1: in play for the White Sox. They picked forty one.
Speaker 1: That's the type of pick probably not gonna go too
Speaker 1: much over slots, so leaves you a little bit of
Speaker 1: flexibility in rons three and four if you wanted to
Speaker 1: go that route. But a very good pitcher should would
Speaker 1: probably be able to move up the system relatively quickly,
Speaker 1: and with a with a farm system that is starting
Speaker 1: to lack a little bit behind in the pitching department,
Speaker 1: could be a strong possibility. Another picture, who just recently
Speaker 1: had an update about some injury concerns is Brody Bamilla,
Speaker 1: who he is an imposing presence on the mountains, sixty
Speaker 1: nine and fifty pounds, left handed, left handed prep pitcher,
Speaker 1: just screams White Sox type. Really, he apparently is dealing
Speaker 1: with the UCL injury, so that is going to throw
Speaker 1: a big cloud over his draft stock. Before that came out,
Speaker 1: he was widely viewed as a first round type of
Speaker 1: prospect who is going to command a pretty significant signing
Speaker 1: bonus to get out of his college commitment. Now we'll
Speaker 1: see does his asking price go down a little bit,
Speaker 1: does his commitment to college become stronger? Because of this
Speaker 1: puts a bit of a cloud over his draft stock,
Speaker 1: but very very tantalizing draft prospect, big time stuff. So
Speaker 1: he's definitely someone that you would think the White Sox
Speaker 1: would be interested in with that psycond round pick. Another
Speaker 1: another college name to keep in mind is Florida State
Speaker 1: first baseman Miles Bailey. If you recognize that name, that's
Speaker 1: because the White Sox actually drafted him two years ago
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty four draft. He was their twentieth
Speaker 1: round pick. No one really expected him to actually sign.
Speaker 1: He did not sign. Obviously, was viewed probably as a
Speaker 1: bit more the insurance type of pick. You know, they
Speaker 1: drafted George Wolco that year. Maybe if something happened with
Speaker 1: Walco not signing, then you could use that money that
Speaker 1: you saved in other draft picks that you were going
Speaker 1: to give to Walco, maybe you could try to throw
Speaker 1: it at Bailey. Ultimately, we signed Walco. Bailey went off
Speaker 1: to college and had a phenomenal freshman year at Florida
Speaker 1: State and then his sophomore reviews off to a great
Speaker 1: start before a leg injury unfortunately ended his season. But
Speaker 1: he is He's a first base prospect, big time power,
Speaker 1: some of the best power in this draft class. The
Speaker 1: injury clouds his draft stock a little bit. Could be
Speaker 1: an option and maybe the third or fourth round. But
Speaker 1: name with obvious connections to the White Sox and a
Speaker 1: lot of talented dream on so could very well be
Speaker 1: in play for them again this year. And then a
Speaker 1: couple more prep prospects to know that have some direct
Speaker 1: White Sox connections. You got Joseph Contrera's prep pitcher, son
Speaker 1: of Jose Contreras, who was obviously on the two thousand
Speaker 1: and five World Series winning Chicago White Sox team. Very
Speaker 1: talented pitcher has some big time stuff. There's a forkball
Speaker 1: like his dad got some fame in the World Baseball
Speaker 1: Classic getting Aaron Judge out actually pitching to him as
Speaker 1: just a seventeen year old, so a big time moment
Speaker 1: for him. Very talented pitcher. Again, like I said, so
Speaker 1: it could be a second or third onund option for
Speaker 1: the White Sox. And then one more name to know
Speaker 1: is Dominic Santarelli. He is a first base prep prospect
Speaker 1: native from Wisconsin actually, but he is. He's been part
Speaker 1: of the White Sox Area codes team this past year,
Speaker 1: so the White Sox do tend to take a closer
Speaker 1: look at those guys kind of their own way of
Speaker 1: getting in some additional scouting for the draft getting to
Speaker 1: know some of these players. He's a prep first basement
Speaker 1: with some big time power. Could very easily be a
Speaker 1: target for the White Sox and somewhere in the first
Speaker 1: four or five rounds this year as well. And yeah,
Speaker 1: so those are just a few names to know if
Speaker 1: you're actually going to be watching past the first pick.
Speaker 1: I know most of you are probably just going to
Speaker 1: tune out after just seeing who the White Sox are
Speaker 1: taking with that first Overall pick. But if you are
Speaker 1: trying to become a draft sickle like me, those are
Speaker 1: some of the guys to keep an eye on. And yeah,
Speaker 1: that's pretty much all I've got for this draft specific
Speaker 1: Socks on thirty fifth podcast episode. I'm going to be
Speaker 1: at the game on Saturday during the draft. We're looking
Speaker 1: forward to it. They're throwing a big draft party, so
Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing some of you out there and
Speaker 1: celebrating whoever we take with the first overall pick. If
Speaker 1: you have your heart set on Rock, don't worry about
Speaker 1: it if they don't take him, and celebrate if they
Speaker 1: do take him. We're getting a good prospect either way.
Speaker 1: But we'll see what happens. With that being said, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining me on this bonus draft
Speaker 1: preview episode of the Socks on thirty fifth podcast. It's
Speaker 1: been a pleasure talking to you as always. Looking forward
Speaker 1: to the draft and go Socks.