Draft Years: 1972

 With the twelfth pick in the 1972 amateur draft, the White Sox chose outfielder Mike Ondina out of Rancho Cordova, California.

Mike spent six seasons in the White Sox minor league system, not once getting a call-up. He hit a combined .254 average over eight seasons in the minors, six with the White Sox and two with the Royals, before calling it quits.

Ondina kept getting a little bit worse, the further he climbed the minor league ladder. It's not surprising that even on some of the questionable teams of the seventies, the Sox decided against giving him a shot at the MLB level.

The 1972 draft was not loaded with a lot of exceptional talent, but there were a few standouts. Dennis Eckersley Dick Ruthven, Dave Chalk, Jamie Quirk, Chet Lemon, John Candelaria, Willie Randolph and Rick Honeycutt were all taken after Mike Ondina. Along with a handful of other notable names.

The White Sox should have taken...

Gary Carter.

The man who scouted him for the Expos was known for his shenanigans and secrecy, so it could be understandable why a talent like Carter dropped to the third round and 53rd overall. It would also be a good bet that an injury that Gary suffered also cooled teams off from drafting the three-sport star.

Gary could have really solidified the backstop position for the Pale Hose in the seventies. Can you imagine an early eighties catching tandem of Fisk and Gary Carter? The Sox would have been set for many years.

I'm also going to be greedy and say that instead of outfielder Cleo Kilpatrick, the White Sox should have picked Dennis Eckersley with their second pick.

Both Gary Carter and Dennis Eckersley were available until the third round. Eck was picked second in the third round (50th overall) and Carter was picked a few selections later (53rd overall). An Eckersley/Carter battery has a nice sound to it.

Out of the twenty-four players selected by the White Sox in the 1972 draft, only five made it to the majors. Bruce Robinson, George Enright, Mike Overy, Nyls Nyman and Jim Lentine. Only George Enright (two games, one at-bat) and Nyls Nyman (parts of four seasons) ever made it to the majors with the Chicago White Sox.