The White Sox continued their trend of drafting college players in the first round with the selection of lefty outfielder Jared Mitchell from LSU at 23 overall. Mitchell is a supreme athlete that hit .325 with 9 HR and 35 stolen bases for the Tigers this year.

Jared equaled his home run total from the previous two seasons with 9 this year. A spike in his walk rate (52 in 203 AB) helped contribute to a team leading .471 OBP. One concern from his performance this year would be his 61 strikeouts, a somewhat alarming number. Mitchell slugged .557 for a 1.028 OPS.

As a freshman on the baseball team he hit just .258 in 209 at-bats, but drew 17 walks and got hit 9 times for a respectable .340 on-base percentage. He was 18/20 in stolen base attempts. During his sophomore season he hit .297 in 175 AB with a .363 OBP and went 16/18 in steals.

Mitchell also played WR for the LSU football team. He had 9 catches for 106 yards this fall. He was never a starter on the football team during his three years, but combined for 24 catches for 274 yards in his career.

Mitchell is obviously a major speed threat and the book on dual sport athletes is that they are generally raw because of the missed development time. The strikeouts are a concern, but he has shown significant improvement each year. He will probably play centerfield, but Jordan Danks might block that in the long run.

The Louisiana native was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 10th round out of high school in 2006. You can watch the 6’0” 190 pounder in the College World Series. LSU is playing in Omaha for the second straight year.

The White Sox haven’t taken a high schooler with their first pick since Kris Honel was taken 16th overall in 2001 out of Providence Catholic in New Lenox, Ill. Honel didn’t make it past AA because of a slew of arm injuries.