White Sox Draft Target: Chase Burns

The White Sox have not given fans much excitement this season, so fans are looking forward to the future, as the White Sox have plenty of talented prospects in the pipeline that should be making an impact in Chicago shortly.

However, the White Sox have a golden opportunity to add to that talented pipeline, as they hold the 5th pick in the upcoming MLB draft. This gives them the opportunity to add another high-impact prospect to their system. Most of the time, the players picked in the top five picks are added to the top-100 list, which can help bolster the White Sox system.

The White Sox will need to capitalize on this top pick, as no matter how bad they do this year, the best they can pick in the 2025 draft will be 10th overall. But luckily for the White Sox, there is a good shot at a game changing prospect, as there are some elite players at the top of the draft.

One of the most exciting players in the draft is Chase Burns, and he should be on the White Sox draft board at fifth overall. Here’s why:

Chase Burns is one of the best pitchers in the country and he has shown that to this point this year. So far, he is 8-1 with a 3.26 ERA in 69 innings. In those 16 innings he has struck out an insane 127 batters, which is good for a staggering 16.6 K/9 ratio.

He is one of, if not the best pitchers in the country and the stats back it up. His dominance on the mound has gotten plenty of scouts attention, as MLB Pipeline ranks him as the #7 draft prospect in the upcoming draft. Personally, I would think he should be ranked a bit higher, but his #7 ranking puts him in the range for the White Sox to select him.

Here is what MLB Pipeline has to say about Burns as a prospect:

“Though Burns reached 100 mph with his fastball and drew some first-round interest as a Tennessee high schooler, he fell to the Padres in the 20th round of the 2021 Draft because he was set on pitching at Tennessee. He starred in the Volunteers’ rotation as a freshman but logged a 6.10 ERA in eight starts in 2023, prompting a move to a long-relief role in which he thrived. He ranked third in NCAA Division I in strikeout rate (14.3 per nine innings) and helped Tennessee reach the College World Series, then opted to transfer to Wake Forest. A spectacular junior season could make him the first pitcher selected in July.

Burns is somewhat of an enigma for scouts, as is his fastball. He operates at 97-99 mph and reaches 102 with his heater, but it’s fairly straight and batters get a good look at it coming out of his high arm slot, so it gets hit harder than it should at times. His tight slider is a true beast that sits in the upper 80s and has generated a 60 percent swing-and-miss rate during the last two seasons, and he also owns a plus low-80s curveball.”

MLB Pipeline

As you can see, there is a lot to love with Burns. He has a high velocity fastball and a fantastic slider to go along with a very good curveball. They think there is some risk with his fastball at this point, but I believe that is overstated. A lot of people had written off Paul Skenes fastball due to the movement, but he is dominating at levels we have not seen in a while at AAA.

While the White Sox have a lot of pitching talent in their farm system, you should rarely draft for need, as the MLB Draft can be a crapshoot. Take the best player available and figure it out later. If Burns is there at 5, he will be the best player on the board, so the White Sox should sprint to the podium.