The Arizona Complex League White Sox opened their season on Saturday with a 6-0 loss to the ACL Royals, but given the size of the roster and the number of players listed as injured or rehabbing, it'll probably take a full week or so for the team's priorities -- and truly active players -- to reveal themselves.
For instance, Eduardo Herrera is listed as an infielder on the team's roster, but he started behind the plate on Opening Day. Among the injured players, Alexander Albertus and Phil Fox are appearing in games from the jump, but as James noted in the comments in Friday's Minor Keys, Nick McLain isn't quite at that stage yet.
Coaching staff
- Manager: Danny Gonzalez
- Bench coach: Mike Gellinger
- Hitting coach: Gerardo Olivares
- Pitching coach: Anders Dzurak
- Development coach: Miguel Gonzalez
Gonzalezes bookend the coaching staff; Daniel is a holdover, while Miguel is new to coaching after being the major league team's bullpen catcher.
Gellinger and Olivares are incumbents, but Dzurak joined the organization over the winter after spending the previous six seasons with the Twins.
Pitchers of note
The next game Larson pitches in will be his first, as the 2024 second-round pick didn't appear in a game in his draft year, then missed all of 2025 with Tommy John surgery. He hopes the time missed will be a blessing in disguise. Shepardson, the 11th-round pick in 2024, did pitch in 2025, but posted some gnarly walk totals in his Kannapolis game logs around time on the development list.
Perez and Familia didn't distinguish themselves with their DSL performances last year, but they're the youngest pitchers on the roster, with Perez not turning 18 until July and already drawing some favorable mentions from Sox player development.
Pitchers not (yet) of note
- Reudis Diaz
- Felix Doroteo
- Kendry Garcia
- Michael Gemma
- Reinder Gomez
- Madison Jeffrey
- Alexander Martinez
- Jesus Mendez
- Fidel Montero
- Cesar Nunez
- Carlton Perkins
- Orlando Suarez
- Marcelo Valladares
- Fabian Ysalla
Diaz returns to the ACL White Sox after a decent stateside debut as a 19-year-old, walking only eight of 115 batters while posting a 2.28 ERA over 27⅔ innings. Gomez and Nunez will hope to follow suit in their first go-arounds in the ACL at 19. Gemma is an undrafted free agent out of Northeastern who trained at Tread Athletics.
Catchers
This position group had plenty going for it even without Herrera. Hodge is the 2025 fourth-round prep pick who couldn't wait to get started, while Mendoza impressed in the DSL by hitting .333/.410/.407 with 13 walks over 122 plate appearances. Rodriguez fared even better there (.289/.404/.458), but was 21 while doing so.
Infielders
- Alexander Albertus
- Alejandro Cruz
- Adrian Gil
- Eduardo Herrera
- Jurdrick Profar
- Jefrank Silva
- Yordani Soto
- Efren Teran
Herrera only made three appearances behind the plate for the DSL White Sox last year, while his 38 other starts came at first base. He hit just .235/.379/.397 while repeating the level, which is probably why the Sox are trying the more difficult position. Cruz made the Opening Day start at first base, and the $2 million signing from two years ago is a better use of playing time there. Gíl may also see time there after going 2-for-12 in three games starting at first with Kannapolis, but he also made a handful of appearances at catcher.
Soto, who will be 17 for the entirety of the ACL season, hit .274/.423/.363 while playing nearly every day at shortstop in the DSL last year. Jefrank "Chevrolet" Silva is also making his stateside debut; I'm mostly listing him to get that reference out of my head.
Albertus is the only rehabbing player I've listed here, just because he hadn't played a full game anywhere for the White Sox before Friday, so his ramp-up time in the ACL is worth tracking just to see if his body is able.
Outfielders
Gonzalez hit his way out of the DSL last year, and then did what he could with his 12 games in the ACL by batting .381/.435/.500 with his first professional homer. He's aiming to add more power since the speed-first element of his game hasn't panned out.
Aside from him and the 21-year-old Alsinois, everybody else is new to the level. Mieses (.285/.410/.415) and Escobar (.306/.409/.343) are coming off impressive DSL debuts, especially since Mieses was 17, and Escobar 16. The Cuban Castillo was 19 when he hit .375/.444/.5423 in his DSL debut last year, but it was just 15 games since the Sox signed him in July.
Rich and Cerda are 17th-round picks who didn't appear in a game during their draft years. Rich was a Toronto prep pick out of the Florida ranks who was traded to the White Sox for Lenyn Sosa. Cerda was drafted out of the University of Kansas, but he's based out of the Domican Republic and had visa issues last season.
