CHICAGO -- Every Major League team leaves the annual Draft excited about the young prospects it just potentially added to the organization. But the White Sox excitement over their 2020 selections seemed more heightened.

That high level of enthusiasm stemmed from adding left-hander Garrett Crochet and right-hander Jared Kelley, two projected top-of-the-rotation talents, despite having only one first-round selection in this year’s five-round process.

“You know, pitching wins,” said White Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley during a late-Thursday Zoom call. “Going into this Draft, with the depth of it, to think about what Garrett Crochet was going to bring to the table, and then the mixture of that with Jared Kelley. The anticipation of that, even though you're prepared for it, we just didn't anticipate for it to happen. It's just unique.”

• White Sox Draft Tracker: Every 2020 pick

The White Sox also drafted right-handers Adisyn Coffey (Round 3) and Kade Mechals (Round 4) and left-hander Bailey Horn (Round 5). Here’s a look at their 2020 Draft.

Now what? Slot value at No. 11 in the first round, where Crochet was selected, is $4,547,500, while the value for Kelley’s pick at No. 47 is $1,580,200. Figuring that Kelley will come in at over slot, much of the White Sox bonus pool of $7,764,800 will go to these two players. According to Shirley, the White Sox worked creatively to make this come to fruition with under-slot possibilities in Rounds 3, 4 and 5. They certainly didn’t draft these two high-end prospects without knowing there was a strong chance to sign them.

The signing deadline this year is Aug. 1.

If a club exceeds its assigned pool, it faces a penalty. Teams that outspend their allotment by 0-5 percent pay a 75 percent tax on the overage. At higher thresholds, clubs lose future picks: a first-rounder and a 75 percent tax for surpassing their pool by more than 5 and up to 10 percent; a first- and a second-rounder and a 100 percent tax for more than 10 and up to 15 percent; and two first-rounders and a 100 percent tax for more than 15 percent.

In eight years with these rules, teams have exceeded their allotments a total of 149 times but never by more than 5 percent. Twenty-one of the 30 teams outspent their pools last year.

Trend wrap: Pitching was the White Sox focus going into the Draft, especially college pitching, according to Shirley. So, it comes as no surprise that Chicago selected five pitchers and four collegiate pitchers, although Coffey, out of Wabash Valley College (Ill.), will be viewed as a two-way player at the outset.

“Obviously, the strength of this Draft was pitching,” Shirley said. “It was something we wanted to attack, and that's the way it worked out. But it was also a priority, so just too good to pass up on a lot of these kids.”

First-round fact: Everyone has talked about Crochet’s fastball nearing 100 mph, his wipeout slider and the chance for him to help the White Sox at the big league level maybe sooner than later -- especially out of the bullpen in his first incarnation. But let’s not overlook the fact the 6-foot-6 left-hander was majoring in nuclear engineering at Tennessee.

Day 2 name to watch: Kelley, the hard-throwing, polished 18-year-old out of Refugio High School in Texas, was projected as the No. 12 Draft prospect overall by MLB Pipeline prior to Wednesday’s first round. It was somewhat of a surprise for the White Sox to see him available at No. 47 in Round 2, but the White Sox were prepared.

“[It was a] shock to a lot of people in the Draft room,” Shirley said. “We tried to keep it under wraps as long as possible. It's one of those things that's very delicate. Once all the guys knew, it was like, ‘Oh my goodness, we're actually going to do this.’ Quite a neat experience for everybody.

“There were multiple guys on our staff who wanted to take Jared Kelley at 11. Once Day 1 was over and Jared Kelley was on the board, we prepared for, actually went full speed, and we thought this was a very realistic possibility.”

NDFA strategy: Shirley cast a broader view of the NDFA process instead of getting into any sort of specific team strategy. He did mention Thursday night that the preparation among his staff began in full force after the Draft ended, with non-drafted free agents receiving no more than $20,000 as a signing bonus.

“Our area scouts will submit the lists, guys they want to attack, and we feel pretty good about that,” Shirley said. “We're excited. I think we'll get a couple good guys out of there and hopefully some White Sox fans who want to play for us, that's the most important part. We'll get these guys up here for their physicals ASAP and figure it out from there.”

The last word: “You always remember your first time, and this was a special opportunity for myself. And once again, I couldn't be more excited for the White Sox. I love the team part of it.” -- Shirley, on his first Draft as the man in charge, after he was promoted from assistant scouting director in September 2019