Sox Populi Podcast 153/Live Podcast 2 — White Sox select ... Jacob González

Tommy Barbee and Malachi Hayes join Brett Ballantini for a live discussion through the first half of 2023’s first round, in session that eventually devolved into support group

For the first round of the 2023 MLB draft, we opted for another “livestream” (to @SouthSideSox on Twitter, Sox Populi on YouTube and South Side Sox on Facebook and, natch, here on the “home page”). Malachi Hayes and Tommy Barbee joined Brett Ballantini to talk about the early draft overall, and speculate on the White Sox pick. Watch, in real time, as our hopes our crushed and the bounty of a rich draft is left on the table, again:

• Early thoughts on the speculation that Pittsburgh would veer away from one of the two (more expensive) LSU options, which turned out not to be true
• Watch as the trio’s hope builds, with off-the-board picks coming from several teams you’d think would know better in a rich, rich draft ...
• ... and then falls, as the safe, pedestrian, duplicate pick of Jacob González is announced. Even the spin heard on MLB Network — which spins every pick into sunshine, pretty deep into the draft — rings a bit hollow
• Discussions of launch angle and organizational draft philosophy
• Speculation over how Rick Hahn picked the lock on the door to break out of wherever Ken Williams stashed him — and how he managed to sully this pick, halfway out the door to a new job

Listen below, on our built-in Megaphone player:

or follow along with every episode at Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or wherever you consume your podcasts. You can also watch the podcast on the Sox Populi YouTube channel.