With the end of the 2018 season coming this weekend — aside, of course, from the pair of Game 163s to be played by playoff-bound teams in the National League — the draft order is set for next summer, and the White Sox will have an opportunity to add another highly touted young player to their collection of highly ranked prospects.
One silver lining of the White Sox 100-loss campaign is that they will draft third next June, the highest they've picked since taking Carlos Rodon back in 2014.
It'll be their fifth top-10 pick since 2014, including that selection of Rodon. They took Carson Fulmer with the No. 8 pick in 2015, Zack Collins with the No. 10 pick in 2016 and Nick Madrigal with the No. 4 pick this past summer.
White Sox fans bullish on the bright future the team is constructing during the ongoing rebuilding process will see another opportunity to add a player to the top of the organization's prospect rankings. Madrigal, who's only been in the White Sox farm system since the summer, is currently ranked as the organization's No. 4 prospect, behind only Eloy Jimenez, Michael Kopech and Luis Robert.
It's pretty early to tell which prospects will emerge as the best options at No. 3 (here's at least one database of guys), but it wouldn't be surprising to see the White Sox use a similar strategy to the one they did earlier this year, using such a high pick on the best player available. That's what they believed Madrigal was, calling him the best all-around player in college baseball. Picking one slot higher than they did in June, it wouldn't be at all shocking to see the same strategy in action.
But there's a long time to go until June. In the aftermath of a rebuilding season, one bright spot is that the White Sox will be able to add another big-time prospect to the mix next summer.