White Sox picks in the 2024 MLB Draft: Three New Rising Stars in the South Siders’ Talent Pool

The 2024 MLB Draft took place this Sunday with the usual anticipation. Millions of fans around the world gathered to witness the new additions to their teams.

The Chicago White Sox added three prospects to their roster in Sunday’s MLB Draft. The South Siders added two left-handed pitchers and a short stop.

Let’s take a closer look at the White Sox new prospects:

Hagen Smith was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. He is a left-handed starting pitcher coming off a great season with the 2024 Razorbacks, in which he posted a 9-2 record and a 2.04 ERA in 16 starts. He also posted an impressive 161 strikeouts in 84 innings pitched with a 0.89 WHIP for Arkansas.

For his efforts, he received National Pitcher of the Year recognition from the Razorbacks.

His 17.3 strikeouts per nine innings made him one of the most intimidating pitchers in college baseball, and he struck out nearly five batters for every one he walked in his junior year.

The White Sox saw several promising hitters go before them in the draft, but chose not to select Florida first baseman Jac Caglianone. Caglianone, a star for the Florida Gators, hit 35 home runs and had an offensive line of .419/.544/.875 on the year, but the Sox ultimately settled on a pitcher to bolster their minor league system. Caglianone was selected one pick later by the Kansas City Royals.

The selection of Smith adds another strong left-handed option to the White Sox rotation, as Garrett Crochet is dominating hitters in the majors and Noah Schultz is currently one of the top left-handed pitching prospects in all baseball. Picking Smith correctly will be crucial for the White Sox, as they are not eligible to receive a top-10 pick in next year’s draft after winning the MLB Draft Lottery.

Caleb Bonemer was selected by the White Sox in the second round of the Major League Baseball Draft on Sunday night. He was selected with the 43rd overall pick at a cost of $2,172,800. Bonemer, who is ranked as the No. 71 prospect by MLB Pipeline, became the first Greater Lansing player selected in the MLB Draft since 2017, when Portland’s Tanner Allison and Holt’s Jessie Heikkinen were selected.

His selection represents the highest selection in the MLB Draft from Greater Lansing. Only one other Greater Lansing high school player has been selected in the top 100 in the main draft, Owosso’s Mitch Zwolenky, who was selected in the fourth round with the 98th overall pick in 1978. The 6-foot-3 Bonemer is also the second Okemos player to be selected in the MLB draft, joining pitcher Paul Quantrill, who made it to the majors.

Quantrill was selected in the 26th round of the 1986 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, but chose to attend Wisconsin. He was later selected in the sixth round of the 1989 draft.

Blake Larson was selected 68th overall by the Chicago White Sox in the B round of the MLB Draft on Sunday. Larson, a left-handed pitcher from Iowa, expressed his excitement in a phone interview with the Des Moines Register on Sunday night, saying “There’s no better feeling.” He has dreamed of this moment since childhood, and now he is seeing his plan come to fruition.

Although Larson no longer lives in Iowa, he is well known throughout the state. He participated in the 2018 Little League World Series with the Grandview team, and played his first two seasons of high school baseball at Dowling Catholic. During his sophomore season at Dowling Catholic, Larson posted a 1-0 record with a 1.20 ERA and 27 strikeouts in just 11 2/3 innings. However, he missed his junior season due to injury. Hoping to improve his chances of being selected in the draft, Larson decided to move to Florida to attend IMG Academy, a boarding school that attracts some of the top high school athletes.

But in Florida, the left-hander displayed a 90-plus mph fastball that caught the attention of scouts and evaluators. Larson, who planned to play at Texas Christian, was featured on MLB.com.