CHICAGO (WGN) — Every athlete growing up dreams of playing for their hometown team, and every once in a while, those dreams become reality.
Jaden Fauske is now so close, he can almost taste it.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound outfield prospect heard his name called in the second round of Sunday’s MLB draft by the team he grew up rooting for—the Chicago White Sox.
Fauske said his fandom for the South Siders goes back “as young as I can remember.”
“[My] dad and brother are die-hard Sox fans,” Fauske said Monday afternoon over Zoom. “Growing up, I liked Adam Eaton, Alexei Ramirez, Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, Avisail Garcia, all those guys.”
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Jaden Fauske and his mom, AnnMarie, pose for a photo at then-U.S. Cellular Field after Jaden won a competition at the Bulls Sox Academy. (Courtesy: Jake Fauske) -
A photo of Jaden Fauske (right) and his older brother, Jake (left), when they were kids heading to a White Sox game at then-U.S. Cellular Field. (Courtesy: Jake Fauske)
The connections he has to the team (and the Chicagoland area) are as numerous as they are notable.
When Fauske was no older than 11, he received the opportunity to be a bat boy for the White Sox during BP before a game. It led to him sharing a special moment with a recently departed member of their 2005 World Series Championship team.
“I got to be the ball boy, or the bat boy for BP when I was maybe ten or 11. I got a bunch of pictures of it somewhere,” Fauske said of the experience. “I was on the field before the game. I think I got a few autographed balls.
“Another moment is Bobby Jenks threw [me] a baseball after he threw out the first pitch, so that was a cool moment.”
Without knowing it at the time, his connection with the White Sox organization was cemented.
Fauske went on to star at regional power Nazareth Academy in western suburban La Grange Park, where he helped the Roadrunners win back-to-back IHSA state titles in both baseball and football in 2022-23. He also played alongside Landon Thome, the son of one of baseball’s all-time great sluggers and a former member of the White Sox, Jim Thome.
The elder Thome, who is an assistant coach on Nazareth’s baseball team, said his son and Fauske benefited “extremely” from playing together for the Roadrunners.
“I think watching them compete, it’s not competing to try to outdo you. It’s competing in a sense that, like when Jaden is the hitter he is, it’s not only Landon, it’s our whole team,” Thome said. “Your work ethic goes up, your focus—in having a good player like this around—I think definitely, it’s driven these kids to try to accomplish wonderful things.
“It’s fun to watch and the work ethic of these kids is really special.”
Work ethic was one of the first boxes Fauske checked for the White Sox, according to Scouting Director Mike Shirley.
“His on the field makeup, how he goes about it is pretty special,” Shirley said Monday. “I was talking to Jaden today. [He’s a] super serious kid. The goals are real.”
When talking to Fauske, he’d tell you baseball is “everything” to him, and his love for the game started developing even before his brief time as a White Sox bat boy.
“I’ve played since I was probably five, as long as I can remember,” Fauske said. “Baseball for me, is everything. It’s my passion. It’s what I love to do. I love competing and I love working for it. I don’t have to motivate myself to go hit in the cages or go lift. It’s something that I wake up and I love to do.”
He said part of the reason his work ethic is the way it is comes from watching his older brother, Jake, who played collegiate baseball locally at the University of Chicago.
“[I] grew up going to his tournaments, watching him play,” Fauske said. “He’s eight years older than me, so there’s a pretty significant age gap there, but [I was] trying to be like him. He always had a great work ethic, so [I was] kind of following in his footsteps, just being a hard worker.”
According to MLB.com, Fauske has a smooth, left-handed swing and a disciplined plate approach. He can hit gap-to-gap, but he can be a bit too patient at times.
Overall, Fauske should be able to develop 20-home run power as he adds muscle to his frame. It’ll be interesting to see where he plays defensively. MLB.com’s scouting report said he’s got great speed for a catcher but is just solid for a center fielder, so he will likely wind up patrolling a corner outfield spot. They note Fauske has average arm strength, but it comes with a quick transfer, so he could be adequate behind the plate if he wants to play there.
Above it all though, the bat is what makes him an intriguing prospect.
Shirley said he pressed his scouts on Fauske last summer in California heading into the Area Code Games because “Fauske is going to be the best hitter” at the tournament, but there were some concerns about his ability to play catcher after he suffered a shoulder injury playing football.
“So last summer, he couldn’t catch as much, and I remember leaving California … the run tool wasn’t where it needed to be,” Shirley said. “So, I think the diligence to what he went home and accomplished in terms of the run tool, I couldn’t believe how well he was running from the first time we went to see him, to maybe six weeks ago in the spring.”
Shirley used the word “explosive” to describe Fauske’s body and strength development, especially when it comes to how he attacks pitchers in the batter’s box.
“If you watch him—the approach in BP—he stays on balls the other way. He’s not trying to turn and burn too much,” Shirley said. “He really likes to stay in the lane with his hands and control the barrel. Then what you see in game is he’s able to take his approach in BP and really apply it to his game action.
“You just don’t see that enough in high school hitters … he’s able to take the tools he’s worked his a*s off to accomplish, and he actually applies them to the game really well.”
Thome also believes Fauske is athletic enough to play multiple positions at the professional level, and it’ll be a fun equation to solve as Fauske continues to develop.
“This is a compliment to the kid. I don’t really know where he ends up defensively, but athletic wise, he’s so talented athletically, that it could be a variety of different spots,” said Thome, who also is a special assistant to White Sox General Manager Chris Getz. “That’s gonna be the fun part for us—for our organization—to break that down and figure it out.”