Chicago White Sox Draft History

_{All tables below are based on the amount of WAR each player produced during their first seven seasons in Major League Baseball. The WAR totals for each draft class include both Pitching and Hitting WAR, but excludes any player that did not sign with their drafting team. The total WAR also reflects the total value the drafted player provided, not just the value to his drafting team.}

_{^{*Data accurate through 2019 season.}}

Top Five Draft Classes

Year	Team	WAR
1998	Chicago White Sox	61.4
1990	Chicago White Sox	55.6
1989	Chicago White Sox	42.1
2010	Chicago White Sox	33.9
2011	Chicago White Sox	25.8

Bottom Five Draft Classes

Year	Team	WAR
1995	Chicago White Sox	-2.5
1972	Chicago White Sox	-1.8
1984	Chicago White Sox	-1.2
2009	Chicago White Sox	-0.9
1965	Chicago White Sox	-0.8

This list excludes any season past 2010, since those draft classes have a multitude of active players.

Top Five Draft Picks

Year Drafted	Round	Overall Pick	Name	WAR
1989	1	7	Frank Thomas	41.5
2010	1	13	Chris Sale	27.0
1988	1	10	Robin Ventura	26.6
1998	38	1139	Mark Buehrle	25.1
1983	11	279	Doug Drabek	22.9

List made from top five WAR values alone.

Five Biggest Busts

Year Drafted	Round	Overall Pick	Name	WAR
1969	1	3	Ted Nicholson	No MLB Experience
1985	1	5	Kurt Brown	No MLB Experience
1970	1	6	Lee Richard	-1.6
1981	1	7	Daryl Boston	4.1
1974	1	8	Larry Monroe	0.1

List made from first round picks that produced less than 5.0 WAR in their first seven seasons and ordered by lowest overall pick.

Top Five Value Picks

Year Drafted	Round	Overall Pick	Name	WAR
1998	38	1139	Mark Buehrle	25.1
1983	11	279	Doug Drabek	22.9
1991	18	488	Mike Cameron	19.5
2001	16	493	Chris Young	14.4
1993	15	425	Mike Sirotka	11.4

List made from top five WAR values where a player was drafted outside of the first ten rounds.

Top Five Unsigned Draft Picks

Year Drafted	Round	Overall Pick	Name	WAR
1997	2	62	Jeff Weaver	22.6
1979	10	243	Jimmy Key	20.0
1976	7	152	Willie McGee	18.0
2008	34	1020	Marcus Semien	17.4
1992	48	1352	Mike Lowell	17.3

List made from top five WAR values where a player did not sign with the team.

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