The White Sox hosted a conference call with Minor League Hitting Coordinator Jeff Manto, and Minor League Pitching Coordinator Kirk Champion. FutureSox.com was among the participants to discuss organizational philosophies, up and comers in the system, and the progress of a number of prospects.
Minor League Hitting Coordinator Jeff Manto
On Tyler Flowers not finding his stride
Tyler hit a little bit of a pothole in May and most hitters do that at this level. The first couple months of AA and AAA players go through this, as players are facing good pitchers on an every day. He is getting the opportunity to see breaking balls on hitting counts, and it’s an adjustment period. With time, he’ll adjust.
On Brent Morel moving through the system
He has answered everything we have thrown at him. He figures things out quickly, and makes adjustments within almost every at bat. It doesn’t take him very long to figure things out, which has been impressive. He is doing everything we hope he would do. Definitely one of our better hitters to make adjustments.
On the alarming strike out rate of Jordan Danks
He is a guy that needs to make adjustments. AAA is a pretty good league, and we think it’s just a matter of time. He’ll make the adjustment, and were confident we’ll see the strikeouts drop.
On a few sleeper players in the system
Jim Gallagher has really made some good adjustments, Nick Ciolli in Kannapolis has turned a page, and lastly Stefan Gartrell has opened some eyes in Charlotte as well.
On the progress of Brandon Short
Brandon has some of the fastest hands in the organization. Has the ability to hit 15-20 HR’s a season. He has been driving the ball all season, which goes along with his speed, and has really put it together this season.
Minor League Pitching Coordinator Kirk Champion
On what he has seen in Chris Sale
Chris has handled the push really well, and gone about his business great. I have seen three of his appearances so far, and he has really shown good poise on the mound, and has been great in the clubhouse.
On the pitching drafted by the Sox this year
There are guys with some exciting stuff in the system. (Jacob) Petricka has some really plus stuff that we’re excited about, same can be said about (Addison) Reed, and of course Sale, so we’re excited and looking forward to watching these guys.
On the upside of Jeff Marquez
Jeff has a good feel for all his pitches, and right now I think he has his best stuff working, it’s just about putting that on the field and getting results. He has two or three different pitches he can use in, and he has a little bit more of a confident approach. His sinker is his plus pitch, and sometimes he can get away from it when a few ground balls get through a hole, but that’s his plus pitch, and it should become his go to pitch.
On the cutter as a league wide pitch
It’s sort of a trendy pitch, but the ability to locate your fastball up and down left and right is what we pride ourselves on, but I like to think we try to add that pitch to some players at the higher levels. The problem is some pitchers can get a little cutter happy and rely on it too much. That is sort of a luxury pitch, so we don’t place as much importance on it until they focus on some more important things.
FutureSox would like to personally thank Marty Maloney for setting up the interview as well as the rest of the White Sox front office and of course Jeff and Kirk for taking time out to talk to us.