This year’s MLB Draft was back up to 20 rounds. Not the usual 40 rounds, but definitely better than the 5 rounds we got last year. The Draft also took place during the MLB All-Star Break for the first time. Let’s check out what the White Sox did.
Here’s a quick look at all of the White Sox 20 Picks before we dive into each prospect more.
White Sox 2021 Picks
| Player | Round | Pick | Height | Weight | Age | B/T |
| Colson Montgomery, SS, Southridge HS (IN) | 1 | 22 | 6’4 | 205 | 19 | L/R |
| Wes Kath, 3B, Desert Mountain HS (AZ) | 2 | 57 | 6’3 | 200 | 18 | L/R |
| Sean Burke, RHP, Maryland | 3 | 94 | 6’6 | 230 | 21 | R/R |
| Brooks Gosswein, LHP, Bradley | 4 | 124 | 6’2 | 205 | 22 | L/L |
| Tanner McDougal, RHP, Silverado HS (NV) | 5 | 155 | 6’5 | 185 | 18 | R/R |
| Taylor Broadway, RHP, Mississippi | 6 | 185 | 5’11 | 205 | 24 | R/R |
| Theo Denlinger, RHP, Bradley | 7 | 215 | 6’3 | 240 | 25 | R/R |
| Fraser Ellard, LHP, Liberty | 8 | 245 | 6’4 | 205 | 23 | L/L |
| Gil Luna Jr, LHP, Arizona | 9 | 275 | 5’10 | 173 | 21 | L/L |
| Tommy Sommer, LHP, Indiana | 10 | 305 | 6’4 | 220 | 22 | L/L |
| Christian Edwards, RHP, Jacksonville State | 11 | 335 | 6’3 | 205 | 22 | R/R |
| Johnny Ray, RHP, TCU | 12 | 365 | 6’2 | 220 | 22 | R/R |
| Colby Smelley, C, Shelton State CC | 13 | 395 | 6’2 | 195 | 21 | R/R |
| Noah Owen, RHP, Golden West College | 14 | 425 | 6’4 | 200 | 20 | L/R |
| Cameron Butler, OF, Big Valley Christian HS (CA) | 15 | 455 | 6’0 | 175 | 18 | R/R |
| Terrell Tatum, OF, NC State | 16 | 485 | 6’0 | 167 | 21 | L/L |
| Jayson Gonzalez, 3B, Vanderbilt | 17 | 515 | 6’2 | 220 | 22 | R/R |
| Adam Hackenberg, C, Clemson | 18 | 545 | 6’1 | 225 | 21 | R/R |
| Shawn Goosenberg, SS, Northwestern | 19 | 575 | 6’1 | 195 | 21 | R/R |
| Haylen Green, LHP, TCU | 20 | 605 | 5’11 | 185 | 23 | L/L |
Let’s look closer at the Top 10 picks the Sox made this year.
Round 1: Colson Montgomery, SS, Southridge HS (IN)
The Sox took Montgomery with their first round pick. He’s a big and athletic at 6’4. He moves well for his size, but is still likely a future third baseman rather than shortstop. Montgomery is a lefty with plus raw power. He has a tall stance and fluid swing that should allow him to hit for power and average. There’s been comparisons to Corey Seager at the same age. I saw mock drafts that had him going as high as 10th overall, so to get him at 22nd could be a steal.
Round 2: Wes Kath, 3B, Desert Mountain HS (AZ)
Kath had a great senior year and earned himself the Arizona Gatorade High School Player of the year award. Similar to Montgomery, Kath bats lefty and played shortstop in high school, but is probably better suited for third as a pro. He doesn’t have as much power as Montgomery, but there’s room for more to be added. Was ranked the 34st best prospect on MLB.com and the White Sox get him at 57th overall.
Round 3: Sean Burke, RHP, Maryland
Burke has shot up draft boards in 2021. The 6’6 righty has one of the best fastballs in the draft. It sits 92-95 mph, but it has a lot of ride to it as well. The fastball is his swing-and-miss pitch; he uses it up in the zone and hitters rarely square it up. He has two breaking balls: a knuckle-curve with more vertical drop and a slider that he got a lot of use out of last season. Both pitches have been inconsistent: looking both above-average and below-average at times. He has a changeup too, but didn’t use it very much. Control has been an issue too; walks hurt him on occasion at Maryland. The secondary pitch development and control will determine if he will be a starter or a reliever at the next level.
Round 4: Brooks Gosswein, LHP, Bradley
The White Sox are taking a risk with Gosswein. Early on in 2021, Gosswein hit 96 mph combined with a solid slider as he shutout Ball State through 7 innings in his first start. He then gave up 15 runs in the next 5 2/3 innings. He then barely pitched for a month. Then he looked good in April, but struggled again in May. Scouts struggled to figure him out, he’s a high upside project who has been very inconsistent.
Round 5: Tanner McDougal, RHP, Silverado HS (NV)
McDougal has good size at 6’5 and has a fastball typically around 93-95 mph. He has some really high spin rates on both his slider and curveball, but he definitely needs to work on differentiating the two. They can look similar to each other at times. His changeup is below-average. His delivery needs to be cleaned up, his arm slots very from fastball to secondary pitches, which make it difficult to repeat and hurt his control.
Round 6: Taylor Broadway, RHP, Mississippi
Broadway’s best pitch is a fastball with some serious ride to it. He pairs that with a breaking ball that can look nasty at times. Broadway was the go-to-guy for the Rebels out of the bullpen, pitching with a lot of emotion and earning 16 saves this year. He had a rough final outing against Arizona in the NCAA Super Regionals, but overall looks like a reliever who could move up the Sox system quickly.
Round 7: Theo Denlinger, RHP, Bradley
Denlinger was an All-MVC 2nd team member in 2019 and an honorable mention in 2021. His draft stock was boosted by a really solid summer with the Madison Mallards in the Northwoods league. He’s a power arm with a fastball reaching from the mid to high 90s. Control has been an issue and he needs to develop his secondary pitches to rise up the White Sox system.
Round 8: Fraser Ellard, LHP, Liberty
Ellard has a funky slot that creates deception to opposing hitters, especially from the left side. He recorded seven saves for the Flames in 2021 and will be strictly a bullpen piece going forward. His fastball sits 92-95 mph and he pairs that with a slider in the low to mid 80s.
Round 9: Gil Luna Jr, LHP, Arizona
Luna worked out of the bullpen for the Wildcats, often times going multiple innings. He works with a two-pitch mix: a 90-94 mph fastball and big 12-6 curveball. At just 5’10 and 173 pounds, Luna Jr doesn’t have a frame that projects much more velocity. Opponents hit just .178 against Luna Jr this year and he struck out 13.08 batters per nine innings.
Round 10: Tommy Sommer, LHP, Indiana
The White Sox drafted Sommer for one reason: his changeup. It’s clearly his best pitch and sits in the mid to upper 70’s. Sommer doesn’t throw hard, his fastball doesn’t reach the 90’s and his slider and curveball are too similar. The slider needs to be thrown harder to create an effective pitch mix. Control has been an issue at times, but the changeup was enough for the White Sox to pull the trigger on Sommer here.
Wrap-Up
I’m not going to go into any of the Sox 11-20th round picks here. The White Sox got a couple really talented infield prospects early on and filled out the following eight picks with some promising arms and some projects. A few that could make the jump as a starter, but a lot of bullpen potential in this year’s picks.