Now that the White Sox are out of the postseason -- and it's assuring to see the Guardians are capable of tormenting other teams' bullpens, even a fresh one -- it's time to shift our attention to the usual October programming that took a backseat to October baseball.
Let's start with the Arizona Fall League, where the Glendale Desert Dogs have a 1-7 record, which reflects some of the misfortune experienced by White Sox prospects.
Anthony DePino didn't even report to Arizona as planned because he instead underwent shoulder surgery. He's supposed to be ready for spring training.
That leaves Caleb Bonemer, Colby Shelton and Grant Magill as the White Sox's position-player participants on the Glendale roster, and it's going well enough for two of them:
| Player | PA | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG/OBP/SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonemer | 27 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | .333/.407/.542 |
| Shelton | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .158/.261/.158 |
| Magill | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .400/.417/.500 |
Bonemer made Baseball America's Hot Sheet on Monday for his work over the past week:
After a resoundingly successful regular season, Bonemer is in the Fall League to get further exposure to the outfield. In the midst of that process, he’s found time to continue turning around any fastball thrown his way. More than that, he’s also shown a bit of adjustability on offspeed pitches, recording hits and finding the barrel in the process, as well. After walloping the competition all year, becoming a viable outfield defender and a more versatile hitter will raise his ceiling even higher. The next five weeks in Arizona will go a long way toward that goal.
Speaking of players getting defensive reps where they typically haven't played, Shelton had never played first base in either his professional or collegiate careers, but he's getting experience there now due to DePino's absence.
The White Sox are also down a prospect on the pitching side, James reports that Pierce George suffered an olecranon fracture in his elbow. Brendan Gawlowski of FanGraphs said it looked bad...
Pierce George (White Sox) touched triple digits, but he went down in pain while holding his pitching arm in the game where I saw him.
... but George should also be recovered by spring training.
Tommy Vail is now listed on the Glendale roster, but he hasn't yet made it into a game. As for the White Sox's pitchers who have appeared -- Mathias LaCombe, Garrett Wright, Jonathan Clark and Nick Altermatt. In this case, the most familiar prospect is also faring the worst.
| Pitcher | G | IP | H | HR | BB | K | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Altermatt | 3 | 2.1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3.86 |
| LaCombe | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6.00 |
| Wright | 2 | 3.1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0.00 |
| Clark | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3.00 |
| George | 1 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 13.50 |
Wright, whose Kannapolis photo on his Baseball-Reference.com page makes him look like the proprietor of an ice cream parlour, posted strong strikeout numbers with Winston-Salem and Birmingham in 2026, although the K rate was made less impressive by the number of walks. Still, he stood out to Gawlowski:
Garrett Wright (White Sox) is a downhill thrower with a high release. He’s up to 98, and his vertical slider is a nasty, plus secondary. It’s a funky enough look that the tonic for his wildness might just be “throw it down the middle.”
