White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 12, 2019
Amid the midseason updates, I forgot to share FutureSox’s revised top 30 prospect list, which its crew published last week.
The most fascinating part of any White Sox prospect list is how one goes about sorting the back half of the top 10, and FutureSox settled on Dane Dunning, Steele Walker, Zack Collins, Jonathan Stiever and Blake Rutherford.
Kannapolis 7, Greensboro 6 (10 innings)
- Lenyn Sosa went 2-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Romy Gonzalez was 0-for-2 with two walks, an HBP and a strikeout.
- Amado Nunez went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
Great Falls 3, Rocky Mountain 1
- Cabera Weaver singled and struck out thrice.
- Kelvin Maldonado also went 1-for-4.
- Harvin Mendoza was 2-for-4 with his sixth homer.
- Kleyder Sanchez went 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
AZL Indians Red 2, AZL White Sox 1 (10 innings)
- Samil Polanco went 2-for-5 with a double, and was caught stealing.
- Jose Rodriguez singled, walked and struck out twice. He was also picked off.
- Micker Adolfo walked once and struck out thrice.
- Bryan Ramos went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Josue Guerrero went 1-for-3 with a sac bunt and strikeout.
- Logan Glass was 1-for-3 with a double, walk and strikeout.
- Victor Torres went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and a pickoff.
- Manny Banuelos: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K
DSL Blue Jays 7, DSL White Sox 5
- Yolbert Sanchez went 1-for-4 with two walks.
- Benyamin Bailey went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
- Jefferson Mendoza went 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Alberto Bernal singled twice, walked once, got plunked once and struck out once.
- Elijah Tatis went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Ronald Guzman: 4 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.
Author
I think Collins still can have a lot of value to this team even if he’s not the everyday catcher. If he can catch once a week and cover DH three days, sitting mostly against lefties, and get on base over a .340 clip, I’ll say that’s a win.
I think an interesting discussing that hasn’t been broached much is the change to 13 position players on the active roster starting next year. It leaves room for role players to be more useful to teams.
A .340 OBP from a DH is a loss in my books.
Fair enough, but when they are getting a .260 OBP out of that spot this year, having anything north of .300 from an internal option would be a breath of fresh air.
A breath of fresh air isn’t gonna be much of a saving grace for an organization that needs a damn oxygen tank.
Eh. It depends on a) what the rest of their production looks like and b) what the rest of the roster looks like.
e.g. Abreu being a low-OBP/high-SLG hitter in a lineup that also has trouble getting on base is a better use of his spot than, say, replacing him with Votto. Sequencing effects make his power more valuable to the lineup than just adding more times on base that no one else will make use of.
But sure, ideally the Sox would add more hitters good at both things.
The fairly frustrating thing to me is we just traded away 4 years of Omar Narvaez, which is basically Collins’ ceiling now.
But I do agree that Collins can be valuable as a second catcher and platoon 1B/DH lefty. IF he can figure out how to get an MLB OPS of .800+ against RHP and IF he can stick to being a below average defensive catcher, thats actually fairly valuable.
Some might thing the .800 OPS is a tall ask but i’m only asking for that against RHP. Lefty platoon bats will always have value, and if we can get one that can also fill in as backup catcher, thats pretty good.
Those are still two fairly big ifs, though I dont think they’re pip dreams either.
The frustrating thing is they traded Narvaez for 2 years of Colome, replaced him with 1+ years of McCann, and didn’t bother fielding a complete team this year.