Leader of the New School

Players like Jared Mitchell don't come across too often. The 20-year-old's speed, athleticism, power and contact hitting ability make him a rare package at such a young age and combining that with the fact that he's left-handed makes him all the more valuable at the plate.

Adding to the table his constant ability to improve his game and Mitchell could be a household name sooner than later. From the 2008 season to 2009 his on-base percentage jumped from .363 to .470, his batting average from .297 to .327 and his RBIs from 29 to 50.

Mitchell was originally selected in the 10th round by the Minnesota Twins but made the wise decision to attend college and re-enter the draft three years later only to be selected 23rd overall by the Chicago White Sox.

The six-footer could end up being the team's ignition of offense for the foreseeable future, which will certainly frighten the rest of the American League Central and bring a significant spark to a team that sorely needs a run manufacturer.

In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, White Sox director of amateur scouting Doug Laumann could barely contain his excitement after nabbing one of the most exciting players in college baseball.

"One of the things we were trying to accomplish in this draft was to find the high-ceiling, athletic type of player," he said. "We certainly weren't going to sacrifice the ability of some guys just to get that, but as it turned out he was the one guy that we felt was the best player on the board and at the same time fit exactly what we were looking for. A potential lead-off type of guy and a high-ceiling type of guy.''

By making the decision to play baseball over football, Mitchell has the opportunity to join the handful of African-American baseball players currently playing in the majors. With less than 10% of Major League Baseball consisting of African-Americas, the sport has been aching for an infusion of youthful, athletic black talent.

The institution of the RBI program has been a step in the right direction but the sport's African-American numbers have been in constant decline over the past ten years and hopefully Mitchell can serve as a leader to a younger generation of ballplayers who can carry on a once proud tradition dating all the way back to Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige.

It isn't as if black athletes are being discriminated from playing the game or anything of that nature, but for whatever reason they have chosen to go down the road of basketball or football more often than America's pastime.

It's a phenomenon that's been studied over and over again with reasons ranging from racism to the game's mundane pace as possible explanations, but no one defining motive has yet to be discovered.

On the cusp of stardom, Mitchell's success will mean a little more to baseball as it could spawn a new coming interest in a game that's sorely lacking a young African-American superstar.