Chicago White Sox 2024 MLB Draft Review
Following the 2024 MLB Draft, we’re taking a deeper look at each individual draft class. Below, find one overarching takeaway from the draft, plus a full scouting report on the most interesting pick on days two and three. You can see all 30 draft reviews here.
Draft Theme: Low Slot/Release Point Arms
Given how Noah Schultz has panned out, why not find more pitchers who share some of his traits? A number of the pitchers the White Sox selected this year throw from lower arm slots, starting with lefthander Hagen Smith (who many scouts viewed as the best overall pitcher in the class) at No. 5, but also including supplemental second rounder LHP Blake Larson, seventh round RHP Phil Phox and ninth round RHP Jack Young. In fact, seven of the college pitchers the White Sox drafted who we have pitching data for have release heights on their four-seam fastballs lower than six feet.
Most Interesting Day 2 Pick: RHP Phil Fox, 7th round
Fox is a smaller 5-foot-9, 183-pound righthander who had Tommy John surgery in 2022, then returned to pitch for Gardner-Webb in 2023 before transferring to Pittsburgh in 2024, where he pitched well out of the bullpen with a 1.47 ERA and a 45-3 K-BB mark in 36.2 innings. It’s an extremely fastball-heavy approach—he often threw 90% fastballs in his outings—with a heater that sits in the low-90s and touches 95 mph. Fox sinks into his legs in his delivery, producing a low release height with a fastball that he uses to attack hitters up in the zone and throws strikes at a high clip with that pitch. Fox does show some feel to spin a low-80s slider and at times will get good fade on his 82-85 mph changeup, with the slider the more promising pitch, but he will have to bring along his secondary stuff and use them more often to have success in pro ball.
Most Interesting Day 3 Pick: TWP Lyle Miller-Green, 17th round
Miller-Green is a 6-foot-5, 237-pound outfielder who was the best hitter on perhaps the best hitting college baseball team in the country in 2024. Miller-Green led Austin Peay in OPS and with 28 homers in 52 games. He has a stiff setup in the box with a closed off lower half but produces huge exit velocities when he connects and also has a decent amount of history with wood bat leagues including three stints with Chatham in the Cape Cod League. Miller-Green will turn 24 a few months after the draft and is extremely old for the class, but the Russian-born corner outfielder should be a senior sign target given his immense home run production this spring.
