The most essential 2020 White Sox: Nos. 59-31

With Opening Day on the doorstep, it’s time to once again summarize where players stand entering the season, then rank them in a way that only stands to embarrass me if players decide to pleasantly surprise.

Aaron Bummer ranked 36th on this list last year. Players who ranked in the top 20 included Daniel Palka, Jose Rondón, Yonder Alonso and Welington Castillo. That looks bad, but so did the Sox. So many players above Bummer needed to hold their own in order to have a chance at a winning season. So many did not, and that’s how you end up at 72 wins.

Basically, these players are ranked by how important good seasons from them would be. Entering the 2019 season, the White Sox didn’t need Bummer to excel when it looked like they had a bevy of big-armed lefties. Then Jace Fry wobbled, Caleb Frare collapsed and Kodi Medeiros failed to materialize into anything, so Bummer became essential. That’s reflected this time around in this album of snapshots.

Usually I limit the list to 40 players or thereabouts, but since there’s a hard cap of 60 for the player pool — the White Sox have 59 after Michael Kopech dropped out — I may as well account for the entire cast of eligible players and give me more chances to humiliate myself.

(NOTE: This list has been updated to reflect changes made by the White Sox in advance of their Opening Day roster.)

• No. 59: Brady Lail
• No. 58: Alex McRae
• No. 57: Bryan Mitchell

The White Sox invited these three journeyman righties to spring training as pitching depth in Charlotte. That pitching depth is now in Schaumburg. In either scenario, if any of these guys are called upon, disaster has struck. They’re ranked in order of MLB experience, from least to most.

• No. 56: Ryan Burr

Burr is coming off Tommy John surgery, and there are a mountain of right-handed relief candidates on the 40-man roster. He just needs to get back to full strength in order to be assessed next season.

• No. 55: Drew Anderson

He’s basically in the same boat as Lail, McRae and Mitchell, except the White Sox put him on their 44-man training cast in Chicago.

• No. 54: Micker Adolfo
• No. 53: Blake Rutherford
• No. 52: Luis Gonzalez

Until these three members of the aluminum-selling quartet Birmingham Logjam distinguish their futures from one another, I don’t feel like I have to. I put Gonzalez in front because the White Sox called him up to train in Chicago when Luis Basabe suffered a bruised foot.

• No. 51: Seby Zavala

It’s hard to see a path for the fifth catcher on the 40-man roster, but if the Sox needed someone to catch — as in handle pitchers, receive, etc. — he’s their third-best option.

• No. 50: Carson Fulmer

Here’s how far Fulmer’s stock fell: Despite an 11-man bullpen, the White Sox designated Fulmer for assignment to make room for Ross Detwiler. He might be off this list completely if another team claims him off waivers. (Previously ranked No. 39.)

• No. 49: Bernardo Flores

I don’t quite see a path for Flores as a kitchen-sink lefty starter who hasn’t reached Triple-A. He’d be a better use of starts than the aforementioned AAAA pitchers, but I don’t see it bearing success, either.

• No. 48: Bennett Sousa
• No. 47: Jacob Lindgren

The White Sox have a shortage of left-handed options behind Bummer, so you can’t rule out small-sample success stories from Schaumburg playing a part. Lindgren’s pitched in the majors before, although that was two Tommy John surgeries ago.

• No. 46: Luis Basabe

Basabe is spiritually with his Birmingham brethren in the 50s, especially yet another injury took him out of the literal running in Chicago. That said, he’s using the second of three option years, and he can cover all three outfield positions, so he’s the guy I see the Sox randomly grabbing under dire circumstances.

• No. 45: Matt Foster
• No. 44: Jose Ruiz

They’re both on the 40-man roster, but because they weren’t invited to the Chicago portion of training camp, I’m inclined to think they’ll be among the first jettisoned from the 40-man roster to open additional spots.

• No. 43: Ryan Goins

He has a history of playing wherever he’s told. The White Sox’s depth issues on the left side of the infield and outfield corners suggest such a player could become necessary. (I originally wrote this blurb about Andrew Romine, but it still works.)

• No. 42: Jonathan Stiever

There’s a scenario where Stiever rebounds from his spring forearm issue to become a feasible multi-inning guy for a contending team in September, but that seems like it’s asking too much from a pitcher with one good professional season under his belt.

• No. 41: Andrew Vaughn

There’s a scenario where Vaughn’s bat is dangerous enough that he could stand at third for a few games in September for a team that needs him, but that seems like it’s asking too much from a first baseman with a half-season of pro ball under his belt.

• No. 40: Zack Burdi

Burdi has to overcome a lot of other right-handed relief candidates for sunlight, but the Sox have invested enough in his arduous recovery from Tommy John surgery that I imagine they’ll want to give him a look should he earn one.

• No. 39: Adalberto Mejia

Mejia looked like left-handed pitching depth in spring training, and under my Year of the AAAA Player theory, he’ll benefit from being a guy who enjoyed four MLB stints for three MLB organizations last year, given that he has plenty of experience showing up for an unfamiliar team on short notice. I had him above Detwiler initially, but Detwiler now holds the edge because he actually made the MLB roster.

• No. 38: Ross Detwiler

If 1990s kitsch is indeed back, then the White Sox can make a quick social splash with the Detwiler Frogs, who will serve a purpose as a long man out of the bullpen early. Det-WI-ler. Is that anything?

• No. 37: Tayron Guerrero
• No. 36: Ian Hamilton
• No. 35: Tyler Johnson

Three big right-handed arms, all of whom face a closing door as the roster shrinks from 30 to 28 to 26. Guerrero would probably be the guy you want now, Johnson would be the guy you want later. Hamilton just needs a couple months without a horror befalling him to better understand where he’s at.

• No. 34: Cheslor Cuthbert
• No. 33: Danny Mendick

After seeing Yolmer Sánchez and Jose Rondón ranked in the top 20 last year, the White Sox have hopefully accrued enough potential impact players to make spare utility infielders more or less interchangeable. I think Mendick has a better shot at becoming somebody, but I don’t think he’ll get the chance to show it under these circumstances.

• No. 32: Jimmy Lambert
• No. 31: Dane Dunning

If the White Sox need a seventh starter way earlier than anticipated, Detwiler’s probably the guy. If the White Sox need a seventh starter during the second half of the season, one of these two guys stands a better chance of showing the organization something more substantial, as they both figure to be part of the depth picture in 2021. Lambert’s getting a head start by breaking camp with the team in the bullpen, perhaps because his high fastball-curve combination is a better bet for one scoreless inning at a time.

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