Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune’s baseball blog “Hardball” reports that three White Sox pitching prospects have “gotten mixed results” in their last appearances. Aaron Poreda, the hard-throwing left-hander, struck out 5 and allowed only 1 run in 5 innings of work for Class-A Winston-Salem. Kyle McCulloch pitched 6 shutout innings for Double-A Birmingham. Lance Broadway went 8 innings, giving up only 1 earned run for Triple-A Charlotte.

Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com gave a nice status report on the 30 players drafted in the first round of the 2007 first-year player draft. He notes that because of a recent change in draft rules, players must sign with the teams that drafted them by August 15th or they have to re-enter the draft pool for the following year. Each first rounder did so, although some not early enough to play last summer.

Some highlights from Mayo’s article (draft position in parentheses):

• David Price (No. 1, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays): His elbow injury did not require surgery; he will make his pro debut in Class A, probably this May.
• Ross Detwiler (No. 6, LHP, Washington Nationals): Brought up late last September, Detwiler will start the year in the minors but looks to be moving up quickly.
• Tim Alderson (No. 22, RHP, San Francisco Giants): His unorthodox delivery made some clubs shy away from drafting him, but an impressive performance out of high school has the Giants starting him in Class A Advanced ball.
• Aaron Poreda (No. 25, LHP,Chicago White Sox): He can get his fastball into the high-90s, but the White Sox are having him spend time in the minors this year to develop his secondary pitches.

• Southside prospect Kyle McCulloch was once a very promising young pitcher but is now struggling as a non-roster invitee to White Sox spring training this year, writes Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Admittedly not a “pure stuff guy,” The former Texas Longhorn and Big 12 player of the year has a reputation as a hard worker and is not letting himself get bothered by what looks to be another year for him in the Chicago minor league system. Since being drafted in 2006, McCulloch is 11-15 in 40 minor league starts.
• Merkin quickly notes that Aaron Poreda, drafted in 2007 by the White Sox, is turning heads in spring training with his near 100 mph fastball.
• Lance Broadway, who made 4 appearances with Chicago’s big league club last year, is working with what he’s got to get back to the show. However, his 10.50 ERA and 13 hits in 6 innings this spring is not helping his cause.

The #25 pick in last year’s draft, Aaron Poreda has never had a problem with his fastball.  After all, it was his 100 mph fastball that got him drafted out of San Francisco in the first round.  Now, as MLB.com’s Scott Merkin writes, Poreda has picked up a few other pitches to offset his fastball.  His hope is that adding a few strong secondary pitches will help expedite his promotion to the bigs.  Merkin notes that with the current lack of depth at the bottom of the White Sox rotation, Poreda’s call-up might not be that far away.