The FanGraphs top White Sox prospect list was published on Wednesday, and while coming out two and a half months after the others makes it impossible to compare to the offseason consensus, it marks the first pivot point for 2025's in-season movement.
On one hand, the FanGraphs list -- which is now a collaboration between Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan -- runs 40 prospects deep, as opposed to 31 last year, signaling a significant improvement in depth. The impact of the system can still be questioned, because there were 10 prospects with a 45 Future Value grade in 2024, and despite a bunch of trades, in between, there are only 12 this time around -- and one of them is Tanner McDougal, who is this year's beneficiary of FV's wonky reliever treatment (FanGraphs ranked Alex Speas the White Sox's No. 13 prospect for 2024, and he was DFA'd a week into the season).
Rising:
- Grant Taylor: 40 → 50
- Shane Smith: 40 → 45
- Chase Meidroth: 40 → 45
- Sean Burke: 40 → 45
- Tanner McDougal: 35+→45
And guys like Mason Adams, Tyler Schweitzer, Aldrin Batista and Christian Oppor made jumps from the unranked into 40s.
Falling:
- Colson Montgomery: 55→45
- Jairo Irirate: 50→40
- Bryan Ramos: 50→45
- Jacob Gonzalez: 45→40
I did like seeing Mario Camilletti sneak into the "mess of depth guys" for the bizarre lines he posts as an undersized utility man, particularly against more advanced pitching. The .246/.375/.361 line he posted over 55 games at Winston-Salem has been seen before, but he entered Thursday a .242/.411/.321 hitter at Double-A, and that doesn't seem possible for longer than a week.
Nashville 5, Charlotte 4
- Colson Montgomery went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Brandon Drury was 1-for-4 with a double, walk and two strikeouts.
- Tim Elko was 0-for-3 with two walks and a strikeout.
- Kyle Teel, 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Jairo Iriarte: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 2 HR, 45 of 84 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 4, Biloxi 1
- Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
- Wilfred Veras was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and a stolen base.
- DJ Gladney, 0-for-4 with two strikeouts at the plate and 0-for-1 on the basepaths.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 0-for-3 with a walk, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
- Hagen Smith: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 46 of 65 pitches for strikes.
Highlights:
*Smith's first win:
Winston-Salem 8, Greenville 6 (10 innings)
- Sam Antonacci went 2-for-5 with a double, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
- Jeral Perez was 2-for-5 with a homer and two strikeouts.
- Samuel Zavala went 2-for-4 with a triple.
- Lucas Gordon: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 48 of 84 pitches for strikes.
Columbia 7, Kannapolis 5 (10 innings)
- Javier Mogollon went 1-for-6 with a triple and a strikeout.
- Caleb Bonemer was 2-for-4 with a walk, strikeout, sac fly and stolen base.
- Braden Montgomery, 0-for-4 with two walks, a strikeout, a stolen base and a CS.
- Lyle Miller-Green went 2-for-3 with a walk and a hit by pitch.
- Ronny Hernandez went 2-for-6 with two strikeouts.
- Nick McLain was 2-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases.
- Ryan Burrowes walked once and struck out four times.
