White Sox pick power-arm high schooler Jared Kelley, three more pitchers on second day of draft

A day after taking perhaps the best left-handed arm in the first round of the draft, the White Sox took one of the best right-handers in Texas high schooler Jared Kelley in the second round, reeling in a pricey pair of high-velocity pitchers that left general manager Rick Hahn and scouting director Mike Shirley beaming.

The Sox selected Adisyn Coffey of Wabash Valley junior college, senior Kade Mechals of Grand Canyon University and redshirt junior lefty Bailey Horn of Auburn in the third, fourth and fifth rounds Thursday, but their five-round, pitchers-only draft was all about lefty Garrett Crochet with the 11th pick and Kelley with the 47th and creating room to sign them.

Kelley, who slid after expecting to go in the first round, could command twice the $1.58 million slotted for that pick — the Refugio (Texas) High School graduate with a commitment to Texas was MLB Pipeline’s and Baseball America’s 12th-ranked prospect in the draft. Crochet’s slot value is $4.54 million, which would eat up almost all of the Sox’ $7,764,800 draft pool. Thus the under-slot type of picks after Kelley.

“Any time you’re presented with an opportunity for high-end arms that have a chance to sit at the top of your rotation, you know, pitching wins,” Shirley said. “Even though you’re prepared for it, we just didn’t anticipate for it to happen. It’s just unique. We’re a little shocked it happened.

“When you speak of Garrett Crochet and Jared Kelley in the same breath, these guys are hard to find. We walk out of the 2020 draft thinking we got two elite arms? That’s a good draft.”

Featuring a fastball that touched 99 mph, the 6-3, 215-pound Kelley opened the season as the top-ranked high school pitcher in the nation but was limited to 12 innings because of the coronavirus outbreak. Of the 36 outs he got, 34 were strikeouts.

Kelley finished high school with a 32-3 record and an ERA of 0.43.

Shirley said the Sox considered him at No. 11.

“This kid throws in the high 90s like he’s playing catch, and that changeup comes out of the same slot and is a devastating pitch,” MLB Network’s Dan O’Dowd said. “He will have to come up with a functional, quality slider to hit his ceiling, but [Kelley] throws strikes, and he’s physically already put together.”

Baseball America called Kelley “a man among boys in the high school class” and identified him as “the most MLB-ready prep pitcher thanks to his current stuff and physicality.”

The Athletic’s Keith Law pinned a No. 31 ranking on Kelley, who was disappointed to last till the second day. But Kelley was all smiles wearing a Sox hat in a video posted by the Sox in which Hahn and Shirley congratulated him with a “welcome to the White Sox family.”

“We could not be any happier we were able to get you today and add you to something special we’ve been building here,” Hahn said.

Kelley had the look of someone with a sweet deal in hand.

“Thank y’all for giving me the opportunity,” Kelley said. “I can’t even say anything right now. I’m just ready to get out there and just make the best of it and get to the big leagues as fast as possible.”

Coffey is a redshirt sophomore with 93-96 mph velocity. He and Mechals, who had Tommy John surgery in May, are not ranked in Baseball America’s top 500. Some view Horn, who features a low-90s fastball, as a sleeper in the fifth round.

“You’re taking the discount here, using the savings to help pay for Jared Kelley, who everybody thought would be a first-round pick,” MLB Pipeline draft expert Jim Callis said.

The Royals selected De La Salle right-hander Ben Hernandez, whose changeup was rated as the best in the draft, in the second round.