MLB Mock Draft 2012: Keith Law Projects White Sox To Select 3B Richie Shaffer

ESPN's Keith Law projects the Chicago White Sox to select Clemson third baseman Richie Shaffer with the No. 13 overall pick in his first mock of the upcoming MLB Draft. Shaffer is a potential slugger that could move somewhat quickly through Chicago's farm system.

Here's what Law had to say about the White Sox and Shaffer:

Shaffer has the most raw power of any college hitter in this class and has a very good chance of being a solid big league regular, but probably not a star. It'll be interesting to see if ownership allows the scouting department to spend up to the new, higher slot numbers, since they almost never exceeded the old figures. I've also heard them tied to Ohio prep lefty Matt Smoral.

Considering how weak the White Sox's farm system is, you can't really sit down and say that there's any obvious need within the organization. They can use help pretty much everywhere, making the "take-the-best-player-available" mantra especially important for them this year.

White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has generally been the cheapest owner in all of baseball when it comes to the draft, and he was a major influence in getting the major draft spending restrictions written into the new CBA. It'll be interesting to see how Chicago approaches the draft now, but one thing that shouldn't be expected is big spending.

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