Although two White Sox players still qualify as top prospects by Baseball America’s playing-time threshold, the Sox farm system doesn’t pack the punch that it offered during the rebuild.
It’s still worth checking in on the box scores every other day, if only to get a better idea of what a prospect of note is actually doing. If you’re selective about it, you run the chance of getting a really warped impression.
Take Chase Krogman for instance, who’s hitting .344/.500/.594 over his first 10 games with Kannapolis. For a while, the box scores were of no use, because he hit the injured list for several weeks. He returned at the start of the month, and it’s been a wild ride since:
- June 1: 0-for-4, BB, 3 K, 1 HBP
- June 4: 0-for-3, K, HBP
- June 4: 1-for-3, 2 K
- June 5: 2-for-4, HR, K
- June 6: 0-for-3, BB, 3 K
- June 8: 0-for-3, 2 BB, 3 K
- June 9: 4-for-4, 2B, BB
That all rounds out to a .292/.452/.458 split for June, but here’s one of those arrays where the mean looks a lot different from the mode. That’s no knock on him, especially after a four-knock night. The Cannon Ballers are a much more respectable 3-4 in June after a 2-22 May, and he’s a reason why.
Durham 10, Charlotte 5
- Luis González went 2-for-5 with a strikeout, but was picked off/caught stealing.
- Jake Burger doubled and struck out thrice.
- Gavin Sheets was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Brian Goodwin went 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Reynaldo López: 4 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Montgomery 4, Birmingham 2
- Romy Gonzalez wore the golden sombrero.
- Carlos Pérez went 1-for-4.
- Ti’Quan Forbes was 0-for-3 with a K.
- Konnor Pilkington: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 2 WP, 1 HBP, 52 of 84 pitches for strikes.
Winston-Salem 6, Greenville 4
- Duke Ellis went 1-for-4 with a walk and three stolen bases.
- Luis Curbelo was 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
- Yolbert Sanchez went 1-for-2 with a walk.
- Lenyn Sosa went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Caleb Freeman pitched a ninth: 1 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 12 of 30 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 5, Carolina 1
- Jose Rodriguez went 1-for-5 with a couple strikeouts.
- Chase Krogman had a perfect night at the plate: 4-for-4 with a double and a walk.
- Bryan Ramos went 1-for-4 with a double, walk and strikeout.
- Luis Mieses was 0-for-3 with a sac fly and two strikeouts.
- Lency Deglado walked twice and struck out twice.
- Harvin Mendoza, 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Caberea Weaver went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- DJ Gladney went 1-for-3 with a double, walk and strikeout.
- Yoelvin Silven: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP
mlb.com doesnt even have a whitesox minor leaguer in their top 100….
What is the latest on when Cespedes will start playing?
Sox are back in a familiar position where they have little in the minors and basically their 1st round pick automatically becomes their top prospect… its a bit worrisome to say the least.
This is a team with 2 huge free agents in the starting rotation, an OF hole to fill, who has little in the minors and an owner who won’t spend big with a core that is about to become more and more expensive.
If eloy, robert, and madrigal were healthy it would be hard not to call this year their best chance at a world series title.
This is a little too dour. No team, not even the Padres, can match the Sox on young, controllable, MLB talent on team-friendly deals. And there are enough interesting prospects to trade for an impact player (or two)—especially if you count Vaughn, Madrigal, Bummer, and Kopech.
Although the pandemic has made an evaluation of any team’s system difficult, the makeup of the Sox system makes it especially difficult to evaluate. The top of the list is almost exclusively high school pitchers or international signings without affiliated experience—and throw a 1st round pick in there who hasn’t played in years.
It’s not the best system the Sox have had by any means, but it doesn’t have to be. And you don’t have to squint that hard to see it be league average in 2022.
I didnt mean it to sound dour just realistic.
Lynn, Rodon, Eaton are free agents, you cant trade any of Vaughn, Madrigal, Bummer or Kopech without creating another hole.
They have a great young core reasonably cost controlled. But just with whats on the books and arb raises they are looking at beginning next off season at like 130 mil or so not far off this years payroll
You have ownership that wont spend….
So where does that leave the sox in plugging holes and ability to sign added free agent talent?
The sox have never proven capable of spending what it takes, and they have never proven capable of creating a minor league pipeline that can fill holes within the organization.
Your assessment is a little dark but I think is close to spot on. With Rodon and Lynn this may well be their best shot at a title, even with injuries. We can only hope Madrigal is out for no more than 2-3 weeks. If one out of Cespedes or Colas turns out to be very good, it might change their minor league outlook a bit. Sheets or Burger could hit well enough to get them into top 100, who knows. It appears unlikely they are going to get significant help from the minors this year, possibly next, unless it is one of the Cubans.
As to their spending, we can only hope for better. I know Jerry used 2020 and Covid as an excuse, but I am sure the uncertainty did have a real impact on his thinking. Hopefully if they do well enough in October they might be more willing to spend moderately enough to fill a hole or two with real players. There are trades they could explore as you have suggested as well. I read an article a couple days ago on nbcsports linking them to the D-Backs and Peralta/Marte by the way. I wish Peralta were not going to be 34 in a couple months and looking like he might be on the start of age related decline. Marte on the other hand is doing very well and would be a great get. In addition to OF he has played a lot of 2b, much like Garcia. If Madrigal is out, it might make him especially valuable for multiple reasons.
I agree that it’s a problem that ownership won’t spend, but that’s a different problem.
Given what the farm system has produced over the last three years and the fact that there are still enough interesting prospects to trade for an impact player, the farm system is not a problem. It’s simply unreasonable to think the Sox could graduate as many prospects as they have in recent years *and* still have an average to above average farm system. As I say, even the Padres haven’t graduated prospects like the Sox have (though, of course, they are still loaded with prospects).
Lol, that’s because Garret Crotchet and Andrew Vaughn were fast track graduated from the list with nearly no time in the minors.
This is combined with an abbreviated draft that had one dude already in the majors and the rest are all prep pitchers. An abbreviated draft that happened just as the White Sox graduated all their prospects to the majors (Kopech, Crotchet, Madrigal, Vaughn)
I think a lot of the concern for the pipeline being able to periodically provide competent replacements is based on the past. For many years – mainly the Kenny Williams era – the Sox primarily drafted high floor/low ceiling collegiate athletes, along with a few low floor/high ceiling preps, and it didn’t work out very well. Now there seems to be a healthier mix of college and prep, and my hope is that it skews further prep as time goes on.
LOL yea I forgot no other team ever graduates players.
Everyone had the same draft and lack of minors seasons.
The sox are going to have holes next year with little in their minors to patch, do you think they will magically develop the talent for these holes or do you think Jerry is going to become a different person after 80 years on this planet and set the team up with a 175 million payroll?
The concerns are legit, and if rick and kenny are looking at the contention window they may be wise to go for it this year because if you get back robert and eloy its probably gonna be their best shot they have 5 stud starters and a very dangerous lineup and bullpen, that probably wont be the case in the following years at least for the rotation.
How many players from the 2020 draft are playing in the Majors right now?
#1 Garret Crotchet
That’s it.
How many players from the 2019 draft are in the majors today?
#1 Andrew Vaughn
#2 Alek Menoah
That’s it.
The White Sox graduated their players faster than the rest. Not to mention that they were shut out of the international FA pool for a couple of years because of the overpay for Luis Robert.
This may be true, it stands to reason that a teams farm system is going to be depleted once guys are called up. But to Knox’s point it is true that they can expect basically nothing from their minors this year and probably next to plug the holes they have, as well as Lynn and/or Rodon leaving. When Kopech goes into the rotation next year, their shaky bullpen becomes weaker.
I agree that this year might be their best chance at a title, with Lynn as part of probably the best rotation they will have during the rebuild. We can only hope they get everybody healthy and they make the most of it. I hold out slight hope that Lynn is one guy Jerry might open his checkbook for, assuming they do well enough this postseason to look like they are on the cusp of a title. Would be a disaster if he leaves and goes to the Yankees to complement Cole, among other things.
Reynaldo looking like he might never see the majors again at this rate. Wish him the best.