Before Major League Baseball moved its short-season complex leagues up a month in response to the reduction of the player roster limit, this team would've been a lot more fun to watch over the last month of the season, what with the White Sox using picks in the first, second and fourth rounds on high school players, not to mention an 11th-rounder who received the highest bonus in the rounds without a slot value attached.
Alas, the Arizona Complex League season pretty much ends as draft picks are being onboarded, so they had to settle for experience in the informal bridge league. While it lacked the standard form and record-keeping of ACL games, it still gave James an opportunity to see them and write them up in August:
- Billy Carlson is toiling on the backfields, but eager to take center stage
- Jaden Fauske applies himself to bridge league in Arizona
- Landon Hodge embracing professional grind: 'This has always been my dream'
- The future of the White Sox is baking in the Arizona sun
It also didn't help that 2024 third-round pick Blake Larson underwent Tommy John surgery in the offseason. Since Caleb Bonemer opened the season in Kannapolis, that took the lone remaining prep pick from the previous year's draft class out of play. At the same time, most of the collegiate picks who opened the year in Arizona matriculated upward by the end of the season, so their seasons will be reviewed elsewhere.
The cupboard should be well-stocked when the 2026 ACL White Sox open the season next May, but in the meantime, here's a quick summary of the ones who were caught in between.
| Hitters | Age | R/G | BB% | K% | AVG/OBP/SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACL White Sox | 20.8 | 5.02 | 10.2 | 29.0 | .261/.350/.398 |
| League | 19.6 | 5.47 | 11.5 | 23.7 | .261/.360/.389 |
When this lineup put bat to ball, it was roughly a league-average unit, hovering around the middle of the pack in most categories, and finishing third in stolen bases. The problems controlling the strike zone undermined chances at greater effectiveness, as they led the league in strikeouts while finishing with the second-fewest walks, and that prevented them from taking advantage of the extra outs ACL defenses provide. You'd hope that the second-oldest lineup in the league would show more polish at the plate.
| Pitchers | Age | RA/9 | BB% | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACL White Sox | 21.9 | 5.24 | 11.5 | 23.2 |
| League | 21.1 | 6.01 | 11.5 | 23.7 |
The pitching staff held up its end of the bargain, but it was also the second-oldest pitching staff in the league. At least it received better production for the reduced amount of projectability, which is supposed to be the trade-off for fielding a more advanced roster.
Hitters
Christian Gonzalez: Midseason stateside debuts are pretty rare, but after Gonzalez opened the season hitting .424/.553/.606 over 22 games in a repeat engagement in the Dominican Summer League, the White Sox brought him over to the ACL to finish out his year. The game translated well, as he hit .381/.435/.500 over 12 games in the desert. He was initially billed as a threat on the basepaths, but after starting his career with just 15 stolen bases in his first 34 attempts, building up his power seems like the way to go. Gonzalez is more stocky than lanky, be he just turned 19 in August, so there's still some growing to do.
Marcelo Alcala: As a point of comparison to Gonzalez, Alcala spent his first two years in the DSL, even though he hit fairly well across both his age-17 and age-18 seasons (.261/.390/.427). Perhaps that adequately prepared him for a successful ACL debut, as he hit .233/.325/.479. Alcala also tied for the team lead in homers despite an injury toward the end of June that cost him a few weeks. He ended up sneaking into MLB Pipeline's top 30 White Sox prospects by the end of the year, ranking 27th on the strength of a physical build that belies his listed height (six feet) and weight (183 pounds).
Alexander Albertus: He still hasn't played a full game since coming to the White Sox from the Dodgers in the Erick Fedde/Michael Kopech trade. He appeared in eight ACL games, hitting .333/.520/.444, and was subbed out before the completion of each game, even though most of them were only scheduled for seven innings. He made his last appearance on June 23, after which he was shut down due to setbacks in his recovery from the fractured tibia.
Jurdrick Profar: Here's a case where a slightly elevated strikeout rate in the DSL portended struggles in the ACL. Profar struck out 22 percent of the time in 2024 in what was otherwise a successful DSL season, as he posted a .397 OBP and popped a few homers at the age of 17. In the ACL, that strikeout rate inflated to 29 percent, and he hit .189/.280/.301 around it. He did show gradual improvement over the course of the season, but not enough to offset the additional stress on his bat. Profar played most of the season at second base, and succeeded on just five of 11 stolen base attempts.
Pitchers
Angel Bello: Once Mathias LaCombe was promoted to Kannapolis, that left the ACL White Sox without pitching prospects of note the remainder of the year. Bello didn't make it out of May, as he threw just four innings over three games before being shut down. He was one of the most compelling pitchers from the 2024 DSL White Sox, but this year was a lost one.
