White Sox believe in teamwork with MLB Draft

CHICAGO -- When the White Sox make their selection on Monday night at No. 3 overall in the 2019 MLB Draft, the entire process with said player really is just beginning for the organization.

That process is greatly helped by the amateur scouting and player development departments having such a strong working relationship.

“We work together,” White Sox director of amateur scouting Nick Hostetler said. “It’s really nice to have that open dialogue with Getzy [director of player development Chris Getz], and on top of it, I don’t ever feel I can’t share my opinions with him, and he feels the same way with me. It’s very important in a working relationship.

“That’s something not all player development and scouting staffs have. We have that here and it’s pretty exciting.”

The development goes well beyond the first-round pick, who of course gets much of the notoriety. So, Hostetler can point to outfielder Joel Booker (22nd round in 2016) and infielder Danny Mendick (22nd round in 2015) as a few examples of that working relationship finding success.

“We have scouts who have known these guys since they were 11 years old. We’ve got a log of information and they have the vision of the player, right?” Getz said. “So, it’s important for them to be able to communicate that to us so we can carry out that vision. Not only will we have after we acquire these guys through the Draft, we’ll have those meetings to discuss at length and in depth who these players are, but throughout the process as well.

“Early on if we feel like a guy is maybe not progressing like we thought he was, I’ll call Nick, or I’ll call one of the scouts who knows the players well and say, ‘Hey what do you have on this or that?’ Hopefully they can re-correct something or get us in the right direction.”

Burr frustrated being out of action
Reliever Ryan Burr expressed optimism concerning two weeks of inactivity possibly helping the issue he has currently between his forearm and elbow, placing him on the injured list on Tuesday retroactive to last Saturday. But the right-hander minced no words when talking about his frustration in regard to being out of action.

“It’s devastating to me to not be out there with the guys,” Burr said. “It’s horrible. But hopefully take a couple of weeks to get healthy and see what happens.

“I hate missing time, especially now just starting to feel like I was getting into a groove. Starting to figure things out a little bit. But you know, that’s life. Just keep battling.”

Burr, who turned 25 on Tuesday, said he felt something after throwing two innings as a starter last Monday in Houston, but he just thought it was normal discomfort from overthrowing in that rare starting situation. When that feeling he never had felt before lingered on through his outing on Friday against the Twins at Target Field, he had to have that tough talk with the training staff.

An MRI was done, but the results were not available as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We are kind of in a holding pattern right now,” Burr said. “Hoping for the best, but there are just a few questions we haven’t been able to answer yet.

“I’m optimistic, maybe a couple of weeks of rest and I’ll be out there. But I’m not a medical professional by any means.”

Giolito’s late start
Lucas Giolito's first-inning struggles in an otherwise dominant start against the Royals on Tuesday night were traced by the right-hander to a late start to his pregame warmup for the 6:40 p.m. CT first pitch. But a smiling Rick Renteria made it clear on Wednesday those starting plans had been laid out for his ace.

“Well, the knucklehead came into the office when we were there around 11:30 or 12 and we actually went into detail when the start time was,” the White Sox manager said with a laugh. “I have to admit he was geeked up because he was asking for the opponent’s lineup.

“I said we haven’t finished the first game, so we don’t have that yet. But we’ll get it to you as soon as we’re done with the first one. We shared the whole scenario, the 6:40 start time. He probably as he is, just lost track of time and forgot that we had spoken about it.”