White Sox Minor Keys: May 14, 2018
Tyler Johnson. (Jim Margalus / Sox Machine)
With Charlotte and Winston-Salem idle — and the same can be said for Birmingham’s offense as well — let’s start with items of note.
*Kade McClure went on the disabled list after a line drive to the leg knocked him out of the first inning of his start on Sunday.
*Thyago Vieira made MLB Pipeline’s Prospect Team of the Week after pitching four near-perfect innings over three appearances. He struck out seven and allowed just one baserunner via HBP.
*Seby Zavala and Zack Collins are theoretically competing, but there’s a way they can both get to Chicago (it involves a lot of defensive improvement).
Mobile 9, Birmingham 0
- Four BayBears pitchers combined for a no-hitter, striking out 13 while working around seven walks.
- Zack Collins wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Eloy Jimenez went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Seby Zavala and Matt Rose were both 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Jameson Fisher went 0-for-2 with two walks.
- Danny Mendick was 0-for-2 with one walk.
Kannapolis 2, Asheville 1
- Luis Gonzalez went 0-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Michael Hickman was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Justin Yurchak, 0-for-4.
- Carlos Perez was 1-for-4 with a K.
- Lincoln Henzman: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HR
- Tyler Johnson: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Author
Seb? and Zack are about to meet somewhere in the .240’s.
Thanks for the Athletic link. Very good read. Zavala is a really smart player. I love this part:
““If the guy gets a really good jump there’s hardly anything a catcher can do,” Zavala said. “If I can work the pitcher to getting the runner with a bad jump or keeping him away from a good jump, I can throw out a lot of guys. I’m usually around the bag, so I think just my consistency there will help me throw out more runners here and there.”
Barons spent the evening carefully emulating the parent club. Goes to show the importance of role models.
FanGraphs has a new Mock. Sox taking Madrigal. Hostetler, Williams and Hahn all at Mize/Singer game. Singer now a favorite of theirs. Somehow Swaggerty still is as well.
Have they watched Kowar pitch? I know that’d be a reach but given his profile, I wouldn’t be shocked.
Form what I’ve been reading, Kowar’s command/stuff didn’t make the jump some where expecting.(still BB over 3 per p/9. K fewer than 9 per 9) Looked at more as a back-end starter now. Best arm out of the Beck/Bobic/Hjelle group.
Of Jimmy’s second round targets, Thomas, Naylor, Edwards, Groshans, Seigler, Jackson, Schnell, Meadows all gone in that mock. Plus three more picks before the Sox. So De Sedas and McLain would be the only two potentially remaining if the mock was accurate (of course it won’t be 100% accurate). I’d be good with either of those (I like the idea of a prep middle infielder).
Great list from Jimmy. I agree they should look at High School in rd2. Depends how many teams pick HS arms in front of #46. HS RHP is where the depth is this year. Along with the risk, of course. That, IMO, will dictate who’s there for the Sox.
Thanks guys I saw that as well. Either player works for me. In the real world, at least half of those 10 players will be off the board. If I were to guess, I would say more college players will be drafted ahead of #46 than in this mock. Also, there are always one or two picks in the top 45 that you say “Who the hell is that?”
Future Sox has a nice write up this morning about Sheets, his lack of power, and why we shouldn’t be too worried about it. I’d link to it, but I’m on my phone, which is old and wonky.
Premise is built on him having “65 or 70 grade marks for raw power”.
Those are grades I’ve never seen. The knock is his lack of bat speed limits that power. (Same with Burger and to a lesser degree with Collins)
Here’s the link.
MLB Pipeline put a 55 on his power, which seems more reasonable. He’s strange to watch. A big guy with the sweeping power lefty follow through, but the at-bats and foul balls look more like those of a guy who has to battle to get on base.
Thank you for the link.
I also had to battle to get to first base. Thank God I got married.
In what appears to be an up-to-date grade, Fangraphs also has him roughly along those lines.
Game Power: 40/55
Raw Power: 70/70
https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=sa829797&position=1B
Seems like an issue with his batted ball mix. 48% GB, 30% FB. 34% pull, 41.5% oppo. I suppose that second number could be a bat speed thing?