White Sox rebuilding fail: A look back at the 2018 draft

Tanking has become a popular strategy across professional sports over the past decade. It probably doesn't work as well in baseball as it does in football, basketball or hockey, but that hasn't stopped teams from trying it.

In 2017 and 2018, the White Sox were rebuilding, but it's fair to say they were tanking -- setting their roster up to lose, in order to get a high pick in the next year's draft.

The Sox went 67-95 in 2017, the fourth-worst record in Major League Baseball. That meant they had the No. 4 overall pick in the 2018 draft, and drafted near the top of all the subsequent rounds.

For tanking to work, a team must make good draft picks and develop that talent. Here's a list of the 40 players the Sox took in that 2018 draft. Players currently on the 40-man roster are in all caps and bolded:

• Round 1: Nick Madrigal, 2B
• Round 2: Steele Walker, OF
• Round 3: Konnor Pilkington, LHP
• Round 4: Lency Delgado, SS
• Round 5: Jonathan Stiever, RHP
• Round 6: Codi Heuer, RHP
  
• Round 7: Cabrera Weaver, OF
• Round 8: Andrew Perez, LHP
• Round 9: Gunnar Troutwine, C
• Round 10: Bennett Sousa, LHP
• Round 11: Kelvin Maldonado, SS
• Round 12: Isaiah Carranza, RHP
• Round 13: Jason Bilous, RHP
• Round 14: DAVIS MARTIN, RHP
• Round 15: Luke Shilling, RHP
• Round 16: Ty Greene, C
• Round 17: Travis Moniot, SS
• Round 18: ROMY GONZALEZ, 3B
• Round 19: Gabriel Ortiz, C
• Round 20: Jimmy Galusky, SS
• Round 21: Nick Johnson, RHP
• Round 22: Ryan Fitzpatrick, 1B
• Round 23: LANE RAMSEY, RHP
• Round 24: Rigo Fernandez, LHP
• Round 25: Jack Maynard, RHP
• Round 26: Devon Perez, RHP
• Round 27: Ian Dawkins, OF
• Round 28: Logan Sowers, OF
• Round 29: Taylor Varnell, LHP
• Round 30: Micah Coffey, SS
• Round 31: Austin Conway, RHP
• Round 32: Aaron Soto, LHP
• Round 33: Bryce Bush, 3B
• Round 34: Alec Valenzuela, C
• Round 35: Jason Morgan, RHP
• Round 36: Adrian Del Castillo, C,
• Round 37: Cannon King, 2B
• Round 38: Matthew Klug, OF
• Round 39: Mason Montgomery, LHP
• Round 40: Kyle Salley, LHP

We always say you can't judge a draft until you get a few years down the road. Well, we're five years down the road from this draft, and I would say it was poor. The Sox didn't get a single impact talent for their tanking efforts during the 2017 season.

Fourteenth-rounder Martin made 14 appearances and started nine games for the 2022 Sox, but he missed the entire 2023 season with Tommy John surgery. That's the closest thing we've had to a success story here.

Gonzalez, the 18th-rounder, has appeared in 86 games across parts of the past three seasons and slashed .222/.239/.361. He missed most of the 2023 season with a shoulder injury. He profiles as a career utility player, if he's lucky.

Ramsey, the 23rd-rounder, made it to the majors last year after the Sox sold off half their pitching staff at the trade deadline. His ERA was 5.85 over 21 games, but honestly, anything you get out of a guy drafted that late is a bonus.

The real issue here is the top of this draft. Madrigal made it to the big leagues in 2020 and started for the Sox in 2021 before tearing his hamstring in June. He and sixth-round pick Heuer, who also made it to the bigs in 2020, were shipped to the Cubs at the trade deadline for reliever Craig Kimbrel. 

Kimbrel was a disaster for the Sox and departed in free agency after the 2021 season. Madrigal is an injury-prone utility guy for the Cubs, and Heuer has not pitched in the majors in either of the past two seasons because of injury.

Second-round pick Walker was traded to the Texas Rangers in December 2019 for outfielder Nomar Mazara. The deal did not work out for either side. Mazara slumped throughout the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with the Sox, and Walker appeared in just five games with the Rangers in 2022 -- going 1 for 16. He is no longer with the Texas organization. In fact, he spent most of 2023 at High-A West Michigan, an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.

Third-rounder Pilkington was traded to Cleveland at the deadline in 2021 for second baseman Cesar Hernandez. Pilkington appeared in 16 games (11 starts) with the Guardians, but eventually was designated for assignment. Hernandez did not play well down the stretch for the 2021 Sox and left in free agency after that season.

Fifth-rounder Stiever made two starts for the 2020 Sox, and one relief appearance in 2021. His career ERA is 14.21. Injuries ruined any shot he might have had, and he was outrighted off the roster.

The sad truth for the Sox is this draft was part of their rebuilding failure. None of these players helped the team, either on the field or in trades to acquire talent. It's pretty much a disaster, as a matter of fact.

White Sox acquire RF Nomar Mazara from Texas Rangers

Nomar Mazara

Unless there are more moves to come, your starting right fielder for the 2020 Chicago White Sox is Nomar Mazara.

Underwhelming, isn't it?

The Sox acquired the 24-year-old outfielder from the Texas Rangers on Tuesday in exchange for outfield prospect Steele Walker.

Before we talk about Mazara, let's be clear about one thing: While Walker had a good season at Class-A Winston-Salem in 2019, he was expendable. He's a 23-year-old who has never taken a single at-bat above A-ball. So, from that perspective, wouldn't you rather have a 24-year old with four years of MLB experience? That's Mazara.

Mazara batted .268/.318/.469 with 19 home runs and 66 RBIs in 116 games for the Rangers last season. I'm not impressed, but before we get to why, let's check off some of the good points for Mazara:

• He bats left. That's an area of need, and he did bat .288/.344/.500 with 13 home runs against right-handed pitching last season. You can do worse than an .844 OPS against righties.
• He's clearly better than Daniel Palka, Jon Jay or Ryan Cordell. Duh. As I indicated, you can do worse than an .844 OPS against righties, and the Sox did do worse last season when their right fielders posted a collective .565 OPS. Blech.
• Mazara has hit 20 home runs in three of his first four seasons, and he has a 101-RBI season under his belt (2017).
• He's only 24, so there's still a chance that he could improve, and he's under control for two more years.

Now, here's some of the reasons NOT to be excited about this trade:

• In his four seasons, Mazara has posted a career OPS+ of 93. In each individual season, his OPS+ has been 93, 90, 96 and 96. A league-average right fielder has an OPS+ of 100, so Mazara has been 7% below league average for his career. His career OPS is a pedestrian .754.
• Mazara has never posted a WAR of more than 1.1 in any season, according to baseballreference.com. In part, this is because he is a subpar defender with limited range, who takes poor routes in right field.
• He can't hit lefties and needs a platoon partner. He batted .220/.252/.394 against left-handed pitching in 2019.
• He strikes out a lot, just like everyone else who plays for the Sox. Mazara struck out 108 times last season, and that represents a career low.
• He doesn't walk. Mazara also walked a career-low 28 times in 2019, and his career on-base percentage is .318. That fits right in with an endemic problem the Sox have: They don't get on base nearly enough.
   

It seems to me this move is only good if Mazara is placed in a platoon role. There are better outfielders out there in free agency -- Nicholas Castellanos, Marcell Ozuna, Yasiel Puig -- and most of them swing from the right side of plate. Maybe the Sox need to bring one of these guys in to play right field against left-handed pitching and serve as the designated hitter against right-handed pitching. (For the record, Puig is my choice.)

Mazara just doesn't strike me as a good "Plan A" in right field for a team that claims to be taking steps forward toward contention over the next couple of years.

Of course, Mazara is 24, so he could get better, but given the Sox's track record, do you trust that they can unlock whatever untapped potential may be lurking inside this player?