White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 13, 2018

Laz Rivera (Jim Margalus / Sox Machine)

After spending the first half of the season pushing around younger pitching, Laz Rivera‘s unique brand of baseball is still highly productive at Winston-Salem. It’s just that his flaws are thrown into starker relief:

  • At KAN: .346/.395/.502, 3.8% BB, 18.1% K over 265 PA
  • At W-S: .300/.335/.500, 1.7% BB, 16.4% K over 177 PA

He’s also been plunked 20 times on the season, but at a lower rate at High-A.

The good news is that his contact has improved, especially in August (10-for-27, two strikeouts). That’s one of two ways a player can avoid being weighed down by such an aggressive approach. The other is defense, and he’s in the right place to improve as a shortstop.

“[Omar Vizquel is] always working with me defensively before and during BP on things that I do that he thinks I should be doing differently,” Rivera said of the first-year Winston-Salem manager. “In this game you have to change things a lot, always take in what other people have to say. Not everything you do, just because it’s comfortable for you, is right. I always listen to him. He had a great career professionally. I love him having him as a manager.”

Buffalo 8, Charlotte 7

More:

*Jimenez’s homer was an opposite-field no-doubter:

Lexington 3, Kannapolis 1

Great Falls 10, Ogden 3

AZL White Sox 3, AZL Brewers 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)

More:

*Burdi finally had an outing he liked:

“It felt really good,” he said. “The first three weren’t very good, plain and simple. I wasn’t commanding the zone, falling behind hitters, letting hitters dictating the at-bat and letting them control it. Today, I upped my tempo and really focused on staying down in the zone and working all three pitches to be as sharp as possible, and got the results I wanted.

“The main thing right now is feeling healthy and the results kind of take second to that, but it’s always good to have a clean inning and go out there and compete, so I was really happy with it.”

AZL White Sox 3, AZL Brewers 2 (Game 2, 7 innings)

DSL White Sox 6, DSL Padres 2

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WaltWilliamsFan

Why is Tito Polo in the Arizona League? Hasn’t he already played at much higher levels?

PauliePaulie

Sox are going to have to make some tough decisions on many of the second tier prospects this offseason. Roster crunches are a comin’

ndsoxfan

No doubt – this is a big reason to get Eloy and Kopech up.  Get some experience and hopefully be better for it next year.  If for some reason it doesn’t work out then hopefully you have someone else who can step up.  Our timeline is not unlimited due to the 40 man crunch we are going to start to feel

sgp2204

The good news is 90+% of the big league roster is trash, so there’s 15 or so spots that can easily open up on the 40-man immediately. 

For real though – anoyone have a list (or know where to find one) of our Rule 5 eligible guys next year?

dansomeone

“Not everything you do, just because it’s comfortable for you, is right.” I really like this quote from Laz.

Soxfan2

If Jose Abreu makes it to the Yankees via waivers and they claim him, whats a fair offer? Assuming you see abreu as a 2.5-3 win player next year, I think a fair deal would be RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (MLB.com #75 prospect) and then 2 high upside guys. Pick 2 of RHP Luis Medina, C Anthony Seigler, OF Antonio Cabello, Everson Periera.  Loaisga slides into the rotation right now and is a mid rotation arm.

35Shields

No chance the Mariners wouldn’t claim him