Can Rick Hahn Be Trusted With Another Draft?

Rick Hahn has not had the best of tenures. Since he has taken over, the White Sox have not accomplished much, and they are currently in the middle of a failed rebuild. Not to mention they also have one of the worst farm systems in all of baseball.

If this were any other franchise, Rick Hahn would be fired by the end of the year. Since it is the White Sox, he still has a job and will be tasked with another draft, but that is not the best idea…

The Roster Is Not Homegrown

When you take a look at the White Sox roster, not many players were drafted and developed by the team. They were either acquired via trade while they were in the minors, or they were a free agent signing. Looking at the White Sox starting roster, this is apparent.

Grandal- Free Agent

Vaughn-Draft

Andrus- Free Agent

TA- Draft

Moncada- Trade

Benintendi- Free Agent

Robert- International Free Agent

Eloy- Trade

Burger- Draft

It is even worse when you look at the pitching rotation. Not a single member was drafted and developed by the White Sox. Cease, Lynn, Kopech, and Giolito were all acquired by trade. Clevinger was picked up in free agency.

The same could be said about the bullpen, as the only players that are homegrown are Banks and Bummer. Tanner Banks is not usually on the roster either.

Out of the 26 men on the roster, 4-5(depending on if Banks or Crochet is up or not) were drafted and went through the White Sox minor league system and made their way to the pros. While there are a few that have made their way to other teams, some are finding significant success but were traded before they were able to find it here, meaning the White Sox are bad at evaluating talent, as most of those trades are lopsided.

Now trades and free agency are a part of the game and you should always look to build upon talent, but in this case, less than 16% is homegrown, which can cause many issues down the line, as those players are on team-friendly deals for a while.

A Long History Of Missed Picks

Rick Hahn has officially been the White Sox GM as of October 2012, let’s take a look at his last first-round picks to see how he has fared.

2013- Tim Anderson

2014- Carlos Rodon

2015- Carson Fulmer

2016- Zack Collins, Zack Burdi

2017- Jake Burger

2018- Nick Madrigal

2019- Andrew Vaughn

2020- Garrett Crochet

2021- Colson Montgomery

2022- Noah Schultz.

He started out hot with his first two picks, but after that, it was not great. Jake Burger has turned out to be a very good player but he is sandwiched in between some very bad picks. None of Fulmer, Burdi, or Collins have made any impact at the major league level.

Madrigal has been very underwhelming for a top 5 pick, and overall just a bad pick considering who was available after him.

The jury is still out on Crochet/Montgomery/Schultz as two have not made it to the pros and Crochet has yet to establish a true role on his team. For a first-round pick, you’d like to see him get a chance in the rotation.

Beyond the first-round picks, Hahn has not had much luck, especially considering how weak our farm system is. Our international scouting has been phenomenal, but that is more so Marco Paddy than Hahn. The White Sox need to make changes and the first move should be Rick Hahn. He cannot build a winning team and that is the only job of a GM.