The Chicago White Sox landed two of the top 20 prospects in the 2020 MLB amateur draft in pitchers Garrett Crochet and Jared Kelley.

The Sox selected Crochet, a left-hander from Tennessee, with the No. 11 pick on Wednesday. He entered the draft as the No. 18 overall, No. 11 college and No. 3 left-handed pitching prospect, according to MLB.com, and Baseball America rated him as having the best fastball among college pitchers.

The Sox drafted Kelley, a right-hander from Refugio High School (Texas), in the second round (No. 47 overall) on Thursday. MLB.com ranked him as the No. 12 overall, No. 3 high school and No. 4 right-handed pitching prospect.

“The fact we ended up with two top of the rotation arms in one draft, the White Sox could not be happier,” Mike Shirley, the team’s director of amateur scouting, said during a Zoom call with reporters Thursday.

Here are five draft takeaways for the Sox.

1. For the White Sox, it was pitching, pitching and more pitching: There was plenty of pitching depth in the draft. And that’s the direction the Sox took with their five picks.

Five rounds. Five pitchers.

In addition to Crochet and Kelley, the Sox selected Wabash Valley College’s Adisyn Coffey in the third round, Grand Canyon University’s Kade Mechals in the fourth and Auburn’s Bailey Horn in the fifth.

Was the plan entering the draft to focus squarely on pitching? Or did it just happen to shake out that way?

“The strength of this draft was pitching,” Shirley said. “And 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.”

Crochet’s fastball has been clocked at 100 mph. Shirley said Kelley has “an elite fastball at 95-99.”

Coffey’s fastball was between 94-97 mph in the fall, according to Shirley. Mechals is in the 90-93 mph range and had been “ticking up” before recently undergoing Tommy John surgery, Shirley said.

Horn, who previously underwent Tommy John surgery, has been clocked between 90-94. Shirley said the left-hander “gives you some upside in this 2020 draft.”

2. Garrett Crochet’s progress is shown in his jump in velocity: When Crochet first arrived at Tennessee in 2017, he as throwing 84-85 mph, according to Shirley.

Now, he’s throwing between 95-100.

“That’s a testament to his work,” Shirley said Wednesday. “It speaks volumes to where he started his college career to where he’s ending his college career.”

Crochet credited the plan put together by Tennessee strength and conditioning coach Quentin Eberhardt as playing a factor.

“After breaking my jaw (he got hit with a line drive in a May 2019 game, but returned two weeks later to pitch in the NCAA Tournament), I made the decision to stay home for the summer,” Crochet said, “and that led to a series of workouts and a weight-training program that I felt like ultimately benefited me.

“I felt like I was eating better and working out better and that led to me getting stronger and having a better body fat percentage that I feel like ultimately led to my velocity jump.”

3. The White Sox were ‘absolutely’ surprised to have the chance to draft Jared Kelley: The Sox were prepared for any draft scenario. Still, they were surprised to see Kelley on the board as they prepared to make their second-round pick.

Kelley was named the 2019-20 National Gatorade Player of the Year after not allowing a hit and striking out 34 batters in 12 scoreless innings in 2020. The previous season, he had a 0.22 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 65 innings.

“Jared was someone we were considering to pick (at No.) 11 actually,” Shirley said. “He was in that process we were going through to separate that class of pitchers. There were multiple guys on our staff who wanted to take Jared Kelley at 11.

“Once day one was over and Jared Kelley was on the board we prepared for, (we) actually went full speed and we thought this was a very realistic possibility.”

4. Adisyn Coffey might contribute in multiple ways: Coffey is listed as a pitcher. But the Sox look at him as a possible two-way option.

He made four appearances on the mound in 2020, and had an 8.10 ERA with five strikeouts and one save in 31/3 relief innings. Coffey also had a .286 batting average (4-for-14) with a double and two RBIs in eight games.

Shirley said the Sox have some interest in Coffey doing both.

“He’s been a guy who could play shortstop, third base, center field,” Shirley said. “We’ve seen him do multiple things on the field. You think about a right-handed pitcher who plays shortstop, third base and center field, it tells you what kind of athlete we are talking about.”

5. Mike Shirley treasured the ‘special opportunity’: Shirley has been with the Sox in some capacity since 2000.

This marked his first draft in a new role. He was promoted to director of amateur scouting in September and oversees all aspects of the department, including the draft.

“You always remember your first time and this was a special opportunity for myself,” Shirley said. “And once again, I couldn’t be more excited for the White Sox.

“I love the team part of it.”