Levine: White Sox Tap New Scouting Director From Within Organization

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago White Sox have a new scouting director.

Assistant scouting director Nick Hostetler was promoted to the position Monday. Former director Doug Laumann was promoted to a senior scouting position in the organization.

Hostetler was courted by other teams for their scouting director positions. That forced the issue for White Sox to move quickly on the promotions of both men.

Hostetler started with the team as an area scout in 2003. He left for a position with Atlanta from 2005-'07. He returned to Chicago in 2008 as a national cross-checker and became assistant scouting director in 2012. He brings a strong resume to the post at 37.

For a number of years, the White Sox chose to put more of their resources toward the major league payroll. They spent less on signing amateur players from the draft. That has turned around dramatically, as the rules for spending on the amateur draft were modified and equalized across the board in 2012. The White Sox have been more aggressive in the draft and scouting in Latin America the past four years.

Under international director Marco Paddy, Chicago has been proactively pursuing Latin American players again, after bowing out of that market for two years.

The White Sox will concentrate more on scouting and signing quality position players in the near future. Under Laumann, the team signed a lot of pitching talent over the eight seasons he was director, but the organization has had  trouble finding position players who became big league contributors for past 20 years.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.