After some rumblings that Adley Rutschman may actually slip to the White Sox at no. 3, he wound up going to Baltimore at 1.1. After that, Bobby Witt Jr. was taken by Kansas City, allowing the White Sox to take Cal First Baseman Andrew Vaughn at no. 3 overall.
While Vaughn will be limited to a 1B/DH role, his elite bat was too tantalizing to pass up. The 2018 Golden Spikes winner is looked at as one of, if not the best hitters in the entire draft. Last year he slashed .402/.531/.819. This year, his slash line looks like this: .381/.544/.716. He should move quickly through the system and will hit 30 home runs a year, drive in 100+, and bat .300 should he hit his ceiling.
Vaughn isn’t a sexy pick per se, but he absolutely mashes the baseball. The middle of the White Sox order could be Abreu, Eloy, Vaughn as soon as 2021. That’s a murderer’s row surrounded by other guys like Moncada, Madrigal, Robert, Collins, etc. Playing in hitter friendly Guaranteed Rate will play into his success as well. Another thing to note is that he walks a lot more than he strikes out. (44/18 BB/K ratio in 2018, 59/33 so far this year).
In short, Sox fans should be happy with the pick. Golden Spikes Award winners have great track records for the most part (Kris Bryant, Andrew Bennintendi, Trevor Bauer, Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Buster Posey, and David Price are all notable winners of the award). He’s a future 1B/DH only but his bat will allow him to fly through the system.
