In the second ever MLB draft lottery, the White Sox had the 4th best odds to get the number one overall pick. This comes after an abysmal season where the White Sox lost 100+ games. Unfortunately, those odds were not in the favor of the White Sox tonight, as they were awarded the 5th pick.
While this still allows the White Sox to grab a very talented player, there are some other unfortunate things that come out of picking in the lottery this year. A new CBA rule has been added to this process, as if a team participates in the revenue sharing for MLB, which the White Sox do, they are not allowed to pick in the lottery two years in a row.
So, considering the White Sox will not be very good next year, this pick will now disqualify them from a lottery pick in 2025. This happened with the Nationals this year, as they were given the 10th overall pick because they picked in the lottery last year, so they are not allowed to do such this year. The 10th slot is the best that the White Sox will be able to pick in the draft next year, with the chance of the pick being even lower.
This is not ideal for the White Sox, as this draft is not considered to be loaded with talent. That can obviously change, but a lot of sights were set on the 2025 draft due to the amount of talent that is projected to be available in that draft.
But, the White Sox can definitely still pick an impact player, as they will potentially get one of the best prospects in the draft. With the MLB draft being different than most of the other drafts, as they have a draft bonus pool, it could work in their favor and a player could fall to them because of that.
Some of the big names that will be available in the 2024 draft are: JJ Weatherholt, an infielder from WVU, Travis Bazzana, a second basemen from Oregon State, Chase Burns, a right handed pitcher from Wake Forest, Nick Kurtz, the first basemen from Wake Forest, and Jac Caglianone, a two-way player from Florida. These are some of the best college players available should the Sox go that route. There is also the high-school route, but that is a bit harder to predict at this point in time.
Some notable 5th overall picks in past drafts have been: Detroit’s Riley Greene, Cincinnati’s Jonathan India, and Houston’s Kyle Tucker. So despite not getting a top-3 pick, the White Sox still have a good chance to select a impact player that can help them get back to the playoffs.
