The White Sox might not have electrified the international market fresh out of the Luis Robert penalty box, as Cuban shortstop Yolbert Sanchez was their only seven-figure signing of note. However, the Dominican Summer League White Sox affiliate played like it benefited from a massive influx of talent.
After going 18-54 last year with nothing positive to report -- they were bottom-five in offense, pitching and average age -- the DSL White Sox jumped in the stands to 36-34, the first winning season for the affiliate since 2011.
While minor-league records can be misleading, the DSL White Sox were propelled by a bunch of developments by their younger players.
Most players are theoretically "young" in the DSL, but the bar for age-appropriate is lower than most think. The average hitter was 17.7 years old, and the average pitcher 18.3. As a team, the White Sox were older than the league on both sides of the ball, including the oldest lineup in the league (18.4), although as you'll see toward the end, they played a couple of 22-year-olds on purpose.
It's a slim margin to be classically "interesting" as an international prospect at this level. Take for instance Johnabiell Laureano, who led all DSL White Sox hitters with a .980 OPS, slashing .357/.437/.543. That's great, but he turns 19 in October, and this was his second crack at the league. He posted just a .591 OPS the year before. Is this a hitter who has taken a step with his own development, or does he just know how to hit DSL pitching after a second full year of plate appearances?
Nobody from our distance can say, because there isn't a whole lot of public intel for DSL players. It's worth having him on your radar when the short-season stateside affiliates start play next year, but I'd put him behind Benyamin Bailey, a 17-year-old who hit .324/.477/.454 with 52 walks to 40 strikeouts over 55 games in his first attempt at the DSL.
Even then, we're only scouting the stat line on Bailey, a 6-foot-4-inch Panamanian who spent most of the year in left field. He didn't sign for a meaningful amount during the international period -- this tweet shows him inking his contract in April -- but he seems to have made up for lost time when it comes to landing on radars.
Age, performance and previous hype are about the only reliable indicators for the Dominican Summer League. Unlike last year, these DSL White Sox had plenty of performance to go around, at least offensively.
- White Sox offense: 6.01 R/G, 13.5% BB, 18.3% K
- White Sox pitchers: 5.73 R/G, 12.0% BB, 23.9% K
- League average: 5.28 R/G, 11.5% BB, 22.2% K
We'll of course find out what the White Sox really thought of these performances when we discover which prospects get playing time stateside in 2020, but you can start assessing the field below.
Interesting 16-year-olds
Ronaldo Guzman: Guzman also represents the entire list of genuinely interesting pitchers. Ben Badler of Baseball America singled out Guzman as an intriguing $75,000 signing before the season, and the lefty backed up the assessment, recording 76 strikeouts to 29 walks over 51⅔ innings, and a 4.53 ERA that was inflated by one whole run by one disastrous outing. Badler said he already reached 89 mph and threw an advanced changeup.
(Jose Jimenez, the roster's other 16-year-old, appeared in five games for the DSL White Sox and got roughed up.)
Other 17-year-olds besides Bailey
Ruben Benavides: The DSL White Sox rotated through five catchers, and Benavides received the least time of any of them, so I didn't notice what he'd been doing at his age until the very end of the season. He hit .348/.425.606 over 80 plate appearances, with eight doubles and three homers, and drawing nine walks against 14 strikeouts.
Luis Pineda: Pineda received more preseason hype, and while Badler's report of a strong arm turned out to be true (44 percent kill rate), he hit only .185/.275/.333 with 33 strikeouts over 91 plate appearances.
Wilber Sanchez: Sanchez started the season playing shorstop, then moved over to second to accommodate the other Sanchez. He hit .288/.391/.395 with 28 walks to 33 strikeouts over 207 plate appearances.
Anthony Espinoza: A $250,000 signing out of Venezuela in 2018, Espinoza handled the bat well while playing second, third and short. He hit .263/.347/.332 with 20 walks and 25 strikeouts over 223 plate appearances, and six errors over 55 games is fairly respectable for the DSL.
Roberth Gutierrez: Another Venezuelan, but one with no preseason notes, Gutierrez hit .274/.365/.378 with more triples (five) than doubles (four) over 161 plate appearances. He split his time between center and right.
Alberto Bernal: A $300,000 max signing in 2018, Bernal struggled to hit, especially as a first baseman. He hit just .167/.361/.270, and while he drew 33 walks over 170 plate appearances, some of those might have been related to striking out 55 times. He won't turn 18 until June, so he's the youngest of the bunch.
Elijah Tatis: The White Sox' second attempt at striking Tatis Gold isn't off to a rousing start, as the $500,000 signing hit just .187/.300/.213. He only received 90 plate appearances, and an 0-for-22 skid in the second half of his year was tough to overcome. He did steal five bases in six attempts.
Intriguing 18-year-olds besides Laureano:
Jefferson Mendoza: Like Laureano, Mendoza's second attempt at solving DSL pitching went far better than his first. He hit .305/.391/.484, and his line ran even higher before ending the season on an 0-for-13 skid. He struck out 28 times over 103 plate appearances, and throwing out just seven of 36 baserunners is equal cause for skepticism.
Manuel Veloz: The best pitcher on the DSL White Sox struck out 42 batters against 33 baserunners over 39⅔ innings in his first pro season. He also posted a 0.91 ERA, although because only four of the 11 runs he allowed were earned. He only started one game, so he wasn't high on the pecking order according to the usual indicators, but no other pitcher besides Guzman stood out as much.
Cubans
Yolbert Sanchez: The $2.5 million signing spent the year punching below his weight class for tax and rust purposes. The 22-year-old finished the season hitting .297/.386/.331 with more walks (15) than strikeouts (12) over 127 plate appearances, and the production was backloaded with an 11-for-19 finish to his season.
Lazaro Leal: He split time between first base and both corner outfield spots in his first pro season after signing in mid-December 2018. He also walked more (38) more than he struck out (29) over 226 plate appearances, but the rest of the production didn't impress for a 22-year-old. He hit .225/.372/.357 with 13 doubles, a triple and three homers.
