The White Sox have their third undrafted free agent deal of the week, landing Texas Longhorns senior outfielder Duke Ellis. The signing was announced through agent Alex Cotto’s social media accounts last night.
Ellis, 22, hit .266/.330/.411 with a home run, seven doubles, triple, and 15 RBI over the course of 54 games as a junior in 2019. The Nacogdoches, Texas native showed flashes of his strong sophomore season this spring with a .302 batting average in 17 games – hitting two doubles, a triple, RBI, and going a perfect 7-for-7 on the basepaths. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Ellis transferred to the University of Texas after spending his freshman year at Panola College in 2017.
Though not ranked by publications, Ellis was previously drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 20th round of the 2017 draft. He was also rated as a top 1000 prospect by Perfect Game out of high school and the No. 44 outfielder in Texas. His speed has allowed him to steal at least 16 bases in the two prior full seasons and and his left-handed contact bat will be a nice option to have in the minor league system. The move to sign with the White Sox rather than return for a fifth-year seemed to shock some people on Twitter, given he had the potential to string together a stronger showing ahead of next year’s draft.
With the deal, Ellis joins left-handed pitcher Ty Madrigal and infielder Brandon Bossard as the other undrafted free agents to be locked up by the organization. Of the three, the Longhorns’ outfielder seems to be the most intriguing based on his 281/.409/.346 slash and 40 stolen bases over 134 career games at Texas. However, there’s really not much footage or detailed scouting reports available for any of the players, leaving us to wait until they report to camp to get a clearer first look.
Keep an eye out for future signings and updates over on our social media @SoxOn35th.
Featured Photo: University of Texas Baseball/Twitter
Good sign ing