7 Years of Misery: Chicago White Sox's 1st-Round Draft Picks, 2001-07

As Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn gets set to make the 17th selection in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft on Thursday, it is important to reflect on his predecessor’s legacy.

It is not good.

From 2001—his first as the White Sox general manager—through 2007, Kenny Williams failed to select anyone of value in the First-Year Player Draft.

For the better part of a decade, the Sox made one terrible selection after another.

The picks Williams made during those seven years were so bad that this list does not need to weigh mitigating factors like ERA, batting average, WHIP or OPS.

For clarity’s sake, this list stops at 2007. Each pick since 2008 is either in the minor leagues or currently on the 25-man roster, while the picks listed here, with two exceptions, were so bad that they are no longer in baseball.

Here—in what can be described only as a collection of misery—are the players the White Sox took in the First-Year Player Draft from 2001-07.

*All statistics, transaction information and award history courtesy of BaseballReference.com.

2001

Kris Honel, RHP

Pick: 16

School: Providence High School, RI

Kris Honel’s career can be described by two words—arm trouble.

An unattributed 2011 article in the Southtown Star noted that “by 2004 arm injuries began to surface, forcing Honel to miss significant time.”

The article went on to report that he ended up undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2006, and other than an invitation to spring training by the Minnesota Twins in 2009, he has been relegated to stops in the Independent League.

The fault falls on the White Sox, however. Williams decided that his first pick as a general manager should be used on a kid from high school whose best pitch was the knuckle-curveball.

Honel's career was largely over before it started.

The last time he was on a professional diamond was in 2011 with the Somerset Patriots.

2002

Royce Ring, LHP

Pick: 18

School: San Diego State University

Although Royce Ring was the 18^th pick in the 2002 draft, his time with the White Sox was brief.

Ring advanced as high as Double-A Birmingham in less than one year with the White Sox before getting traded to the New York Mets along with two others for Roberto Alomar and cash considerations.

Over the course of five big league seasons, the lefty went 3-3 with a 5.29 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 68.0 innings.

While Ring found some success in the minor leagues over his career—32-19, 3.10 ERA, 424.1 IP, 402 K—he was unable to leave a lasting impression in the majors.

He is still trying, though.

According to MLBTradeRumors.com, Ring recently signed with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, where he has appeared in four games and has an 8.10 ERA.

His last major league game was in 2010 with the Mets. 

2003

Brian Anderson, OF

Pick: 15

School: University of Arizona

Heralded as the White Sox outfielder of the future when he was drafted, Brian Anderson was a disappointment.

Anderson was handed the starting center field job in 2006 when the White Sox traded Aaron Rowand to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jim Thome, and the results were disastrous.   

His career slash line—.227/.290/.370—was a result of what MLB.com’s White Sox beat writer Scott Merkin described as “clear-cut mechanical flaws in his swing.” Those flaws would cut his career as a position player short.

He was traded in 2009 to the Boston Red Sox for Mark Kotsay and cash following a demotion to Triple-A Charlotte, per ESPN.com.

In 2010, Anderson became a pitcher in an attempt to salvage his career. He was last seen on the mound in 2012 with the Atlantic League’s Somerset Patriots. 

2004

Josh Fields, 3B

Pick: 18

School: Oklahoma State

The White Sox had high hopes for Josh Fields.

In 2007, Fields hit .244 with 23 home runs, 67 RBI and 17 doubles in 418 at-bats en route to a seventh-place finish in AL Rookie of the Year voting.

Following that strong showing, many thought that 2008 would be the year that he replaced the oft-injured Joe Crede. It was not to be. Crede won the third base job out of spring training, and Fields was only on the 25-man roster for 14 games.

While he had some legitimate power, Fields had a hard time getting on base and finished with a .302 career on-base percentage while with the White Sox.

He is enjoying a renaissance of sorts this season, though. As play began on Wednesday, he was hitting .331 with an OPS of .882 for the Phillies Triple-A affiliate.

2005

Lance Broadway, RHP

Pick: 15

School: Texas Christian University

Lance Broadway is yet another first-round bust for the White Sox.

Broadway finished with a 2-2 record and a 4.69 ERA over 19 games with the White Sox before being traded to the Mets for Ramon Castro and cash.

The eight appearances he logged for the Mets following the trade would be his last at the major league level.

Towards the end of his career, things took a definite turn for the worse.

According to the Houston Press, Broadway was arrested for an alleged assault that occurred at a Dallas nightclub on New Year’s Eve in 2009. It does not appear that he served any jail time, but he was out of baseball by the end of the 2010 season.

More recently, Broadway has traded in his cleats for an acting career and appeared in the movie Olympus Has Fallen.

2006

Kyle McCulloch, RHP

Pick: 29

School: Texas

Kyle McCulloch is one of those rare players who went from being a first-round draft pick to out of baseball in six short years.

McCulloch was given ample opportunity to grow, but he was eventually traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 2011 because, as the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzales so aptly put it, he “had no future with the organization.”

Even though he was drafted a mere seven seasons ago, many Sox fans would be hard pressed to remember much about the former Longhorn. 

2007

Aaron Poreda, LHP

Pick: 25

School: University of San Francisco

Two years after being drafted in the first round, Aaron Poreda was called up to join the White Sox bullpen and posted a 2.45 ERA over 10 appearances.

That was impressive enough to be included in the blockbuster deal that netted the White Sox former Cy Young Award-winning right-hander Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres.

Control is what ultimately derailed Poreda’s career. He walked an average of 5.2 batters every nine innings, and even though he went 24-21 and compiled a 3.53 ERA over the course of six minor league seasons, he simply could not be counted on to keep runners off the base paths.

BaseballAmerica.com’s Matt Eddy tweeted that Poreda was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates early on in spring training.

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