White Sox Minor Keys: June 7, 2018
Thanks to the penalties incurred by the White Sox’ signing of Luis Robert, their Dominican Summer League is short on notable names. Cross-check the roster against Ben Badler’s brief review of the club’s most recent international class, and catcher Jefferson Mendoza is the only one who’s on both.
Jefferson Mendoza, a 17-year-old Venezuelan catcher who trained with Alex Gonzalez, signed with the White Sox for $300,000 on July 2. Mendoza has a lot of catching experience for his age and it shows when he’s behind the plate. He blocks and receives well, with a plus arm to help him control the running game, giving him the ingredients to develop into an above-average defender. At 6-foot-1, 170 pounds, Mendoza has a solid righthanded bat for a catcher. He has a chance to develop average power but doesn’t get caught up overswinging too much, staying with a middle-of-the-field approach in games.
Badler also mentions 17-year-old Dominican shortstop Sydney Pimentel and 21-year-old Cuban shortstop Camilo Quintero as the two other players who received the maximum $300,000 bonus the Sox could offer, but neither are yet on the roster.
Without bonus amounts to guide us, the only way to really identify who might rise is by weighting performance with age, but that only goes so far. For every unheralded signing like Carlos Perez, who posted a .333/.424/.438 line as an 18-year-old and has at least matriculated to Kannapolis, there’s a Ulises Martinez, who posted an .840 OPS as a 17-year-old catcher and a .465 OPS as an 18-year-old.
We’ll see whether Pimentel or Quintero — or last year’s DSL rookies like Josue Guerrero, Luis Mieses and others — show up on the Arizona Rookie League rosters when those come out. If the new guys somehow skip a level, then the DSL roster and box scores merit mostly a shrug until we see which players the White Sox like enough to bring stateside.
Charlotte 3, Syracuse 1
- Thyago Vieira: 1 IP 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Birmingham 5, Jacksonville 2
- Danny Mendick went 3-for-5.
- Zack Collins walked once (intentional) and struck out thrice.
- Seby Zavala, 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Jameson Fisher went 0-for-4 with a K.
- Ian Hamilton: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
More:
*Tito Polo went on the 7-day disabled list after leaving Wednesday’s game after one at-bat.
Salem 7, Winston-Salem 3
- Luis Alexander Basabe went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Ti’Quan Forbes, 1-for-4.
- Alex Call walked thrice and struck out once.
- Blake Rutherford went 0-for-4.
- Micker Adolfo, 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Yeyson Yrizarri was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Bernardo Flores: 7 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
Hickory 2, Kannapolis 1
- Luis Gonzaleez went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He was picked off.
- Luis Robert was 0-for-3 with a K and an HBP.
- Justin Yurchak, 1-for-3 with a double.
- Carlos Perez went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Luis Curbelo, 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Blake Battenfield: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
DSL Blue Jays 7, DSL White Sox 6
- Jose Rodriguez had another three-hit game, including a triple.
While searching for the opening dates of the Pioneer and Arizona leagues (a week from today [Fri.] and a week from Sunday) tripped over a piece from The Cub Reporter on the Cubs adding a second AZL team this season. That’s their ninth affiliate (Triple, Double, Hi, and Low A-ball, SS-A, AZLx2, DSLx2), or two more than the White Sox field. Hate to break it to you, Sox fans, but this has all the hallmarks of a Mine Shaft Gap.
Probables: Kopech, Tomshaw, Banks, Parke
Because the Sox do just about everything on the cheap. I’d be willing to bet that just about everyone employed by the organization is paid under industry standard.
Tired complaint.
In somewhat related news:
The Bulls didn’t attend NBA Global Camp because of $10K fee. The remaining 29 teams all sent scouts.
No need to go if you only plan on drafting people from Iowa or New Mexico.
Not exactly news, though I don’t know how much management has been questioned whether it has any plans to alter its approach or why it feels its approach is optimal
Upvoted for Mine Shaft Gap
Was expecting more of the young talent throughout the organization to take bigger leaps forward this year. Thought we could add a few more to the mid-season top 100 lists.
Maybe the second half.
kanny obviously is having some awesome performances, so one of the things i’m most looking towards is seeing how dedelow, rivera, blackman and of course gonzalez handle promotions. lot of things have to shift around in front of the outfielders before they can move, though. maybe one of the IF moves to W-S to make room for madrigal?
Or maybe Madrigal just goes to Winston-Salem.
that works, too!
I hope Madrigal’s team loses this week end. Then he can sign on Monday!
I’m happy with Oregon State winning it all, so Madrigal can instill championship drive into his new teammates when he does come into the system.
Seconded. Maybe I’m just too impatient, but I was also hoping for some big stories from the minors this year. Right now, a 2020 contending White Sox seems improbable.
I’d say Collins, Basabe, Adolfo and Rutherford have all taken fairly large steps forward.
If Collins’ steps are legitimate, he’s achieved them by no longer listening to Sox development staff. If the hitch is still there, he’s Andy Wilkins.
After a nice start, the latter three have cooled considerably, in a very hitter friendly environment.
I’m having difficulty viewing any as success stories.
Or maybe I’m grading too harshly.
If you only look for negative things, you’re only going to find negative things.
Adolfo’s BB rate is up 4% and his K rate is down 4% while moving up a level and playing with a torn elbow ligament. Rutherford’s ISO is up 100 points, also moving up a level. Basabe’s ISO is up 135 points and his OPS is up 227 points. Collins is wildly exceeding expectations is a very tough hitter’s park.
This is what prospect progress looks like.
Also: Dylan Cease is healthy and more frequently pitching into the sixth inning. Basabe, healthy. What disappointments I have seen in the nonlinear development of prospects all involve injuries: Hansen, Robert, Puckett, and Burger.
Agreed. Hansen obviously the biggest disappointment since he hasn’t pitched at all.
Of the healthy top-30ish guys, the only performances I see that are truly disheartening: Clarkin, Adams, Sheets.
Most pleasant surprises: Gonzalez, Henzman, Fry, Palka.
Honestly, I’m not even upset about Gavin’s performance so far. Outside of the power outage, he has been pretty good. He’s hitting the ball well, and he’s walking almost as much as he’s striking out. If he’s still not hitting for power come next year, then I might start to get concerned. Until then, I’ll just chalk it up to being a “weird” early stat for him.
The kid is 6’4 230 lbs and hit 21 bombs his last year of college – I’d like to believe that power didn’t just randomly disappear.
From Baseball America’s Draft Report:
I think there was a piece on this, but it seems like he and the coaches both know that and are working on his hit tool now, trusting that they can work the power and loft back in later.
FutureSox wrote a case that the Home Runs will come around eventually. While it was nicely done, I disagree with FS, and still think the lack of power is concerning.
Winston-Salem messed with Collins swing last year, and he’s ditched the White Sox advice to go with what worked for him in college. Maybe Sheets should do the same. I can’t get excited for a A+ first baseman who is slugging .381.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m excited about what Sheets has done. I’m just not upset with it.
Stepping forward, maybe. But are we really seeing anything that makes you say “wow”? Collins was disappointing last year, and it’s still questionable as to whether he even will catch. Jimenez is the only player consistently killing it. Even Kopech has been inconsistent.
You have unrealistic expectations if you think an organization with only one Eloy Jimenez is disappointing. Most orgs have zero.
White Sox fans, man.
Also, the minor league season isn’t even 2 months old.
If you don’t have at least one Acuña or Vladdy Jr. type meteor-on-afterburners streak through your farm system every half season, your team is a failure and should relocate to Portland.
Anyone remember when our Top 10 prospects included the likes of Courtney Hawkins, Scott Snodgress and Keon Barnum?
Good times. Good times…
I do not remember Scott Snodgrass, and I think I’m the better for it.
Entered the 2014 season ranked No. 13 among White Sox prospects by MLB.com
I think that’s as high as he ever got to.
The year before Baseball Prospectus had him #5, MLB had him 12th.
If Zack Collins hasn’t made you say “wow” this year, you’re either not paying attention or looking at the wrong stuff. His bat has been every bit as good as Eloy’s over the last 41 games, and that’s saying a ton.
Give Luis Robert another month, and let’s return to this discussion point.
Whoops! Wrong thread!