First it was Chris Sale in 2010. Then it was Carlos Rodon in 2014.
The White Sox have suddenly mastered the art of drafting college pitchers early and moving them quickly and successfully through the minor-league system.
Sale only appeared in 11 minor league games before arriving on the South Side in August the same summer he was drafted in to work out of the bullpen. Rodon also only lasted 11 games in the minors before he made his debut in 2015.
[RELATED: Fulmer hopes to follow in Sale's path]
For the second straight year, arguably the best college arm in the draft fell into Rick Hahn's lap in the draft as the Sox snatched up Vanderbilt ace Carson Fulmer with the eighth overall pick. Fulmer went 23-3 with a 1.99 ERA with the Commodores over his three years in Nashville.
Could the right-hander be the next Sox prospect to be put on the fast track to U.S. Cellular Field?
[SHOP: Gear up, White Sox fans!]
MLB
White Sox GM Rick Hahn called in to the Kap & Haugh show on Friday and believes his new prospect has the right makeup to deal with a rapid ascension through the minors.
"Because of Chris Sale, because of Carlos Rodon and even to an extent, because of Gordon Beckham a few years prior to that, we've sort of gotten on this path where you take a guy in the draft and immediately people start talking about how he can help us in Chicago," Hahn said. "And as much as we say 'You know well those are unique situations and that's not the normal development path,' we keep having guys such as Carlos and Chris and Gordon sort of defying the odds and making it to Chicago quickly.
"Carson is a guy we don't want to put any specific expectations in terms of his arrival. However, he does have the arsenal and the makeup that he could very conceivably handle an expedited development path...He's a guy with considerable upside and the ability to capitalize on that fairly quickly."