Chicago White Sox 2023 MLB Draft Review
See Also: 2023 MLB Draft Database
Draft Theme: College, College, College.
In 2022 the White Sox took Noah Schultz in the first round and then went college with every other pick. The organization did something similar this year, as 19 of their 20 picks came from the college ranks. The only exception is seventh round outfielder George Wolkow, and to be fair, anyone could mistake the massive prep outfielder as a college player. He fit right in with college hitters during the 2023 MLB Draft combine batting practice session, with raw power that was just as good as anyone at the event. The White Sox have made 40 draft selections in the last two years and just two are prepsters.
Most Interesting Day 2 Pick: OF George Wolkow, 7th round
Wolkow ranked as the No. 6 player in the 2024 high school class before announcing in March 2022 that he was reclassifying for 2023. At a towering 6-foot-7, Wolkow jumps out immediately for his size and big lefthanded power. It’s an easy projection to plus raw power and not hard to envision future 70-grade power on the 20-80 scale. There are strikeouts that come with that power, and Wolkow looked overmatched at times after reclassifying, with a 33% miss rate in 24 games logged by Synergy in 2022. His swing works well for someone his size, with a chance for 35-plus home runs down the road and he did show solid on-base ability during the fall at Perfect Game’s WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla. He has a strong arm that projects to be plus, with a chance to play third base, but right field is another possibility. Wolkow runs well for his size and his big, loping strides could allow him to cover solid ground in the outfield. While there’s plenty of risk in his profile given the swing-and-miss, Wolkow is exceptionally young for the class (he doesn’t turn 18 until January 2024) with massive tools to dream on. He is committed to South Carolina.
Most Interesting Day 3 Pick: 2B Rikuu Nishida, 11th round
Nishida is an outlier in many ways in the 2023 draft class. It starts with his physique, which is one of the smallest in the class—high school or college—at just 5-foot-6, 150 pounds. Next is his setup at the plate, where he starts with an extremely open stance before taking a large leg kick to get back toward an even setup. He’s very active in the box and will constantly shuffle his feet and move back toward the catcher or further up in the box toward the pitcher in the middle of a delivery. Despite all the moving parts, Nishida has excellent pure bat-to-ball skills and struck out at just an 8.7% rate through 63 games, while slashing .312/.394/.443. His overall miss rate was just 16%. Nishida has 20-grade raw power and will be more likely to bunt for a hit than hit a ball over the fence in pro ball. He is an expert at bunting, and has plus speed that could allow a slap-and-dash approach to be viable when paired with his contact ability. He’s an aggressive base runner who went 25-for-33 (75.8%) in stolen base attempts this spring and scouts praise both his defensive ability at second base and his overall instincts on the diamond. The list of successful big leaguers at Nishida’s size is exceedingly small, and because of that he faces an uphill battle and is unlikely to command anything greater than day three draft stock.
