Welcome back to our coverage of all things White Sox farm in one convenient article. This week we cover updates from the fall and winter leagues, minor league free agent declarations and some good outside article links to White Sox minor league content…
Arizona Fall League
Hitters
Zack Collins (.227/.393/.500, 6 BB, 8 K over 28 PA)
Courtney Hawkins (.227/.278/.333, 5 BB, 19 K over 72 PA)
Trey Michalczewski (.146/.281/.208, 7 BB, 15 K over 43 PA)
Danny Hayes (.169/.242/.220, 6 BB, 17 K over 66 PA)
White Sox hitting prospects continue to underwhelm statistically in Arizona, but three of the four did improve in the past week. Collins hit his 2nd home run, a 400+ foot bomb to right-center field according to local reports, and is doing pretty much what you’d expect for a 2016 draftee in this showcase league.
Hawkins has been quietly improving a bit, and his strikeout rate has fallen to around 26% (he was over 30% each of the past two seasons at Birmingham). Michalczewski and Hayes continue to struggle, though the former has marginally improved his numbers at the plate.
Pitchers
Louie Lechich (0.00 ERA, 10.2 IP, 5 K, 4 BB, 6 H)
Brian Clark (1.54 ERA, 11.2 IP, 11 K, 6 BB, 8 H)
Nolan Sanburn (4.81 ERA, 24.1 IP, 18 K, 12 BB, 23 H)
Colton Turner (5.59 ERA, 9.2 IP, 9 K, 4 BB, 12 H)
Lechich is now one of just four pitchers in the league with a zero ERA and over ten innings pitched, as he continues to impress as a guy who’s only been pitching for five months. Clark is still keeping hitters at bay, but also still walking a few too many batters. Sanburn and Turner have had some struggles but are holding their own.
Caribbean Winter Leagues
Venezuela
Alfredo Gonzalez (.200/.286/.240 in 12 games)
Cleuluis Rondon (.103/.133/.172 in 13 games)
Gerson Montilla (.083/.313/.083 in 6 games)
Gonzalez was the only one of these three who played last week, upping his numbers a bit. Neither Rondon nor Montilla played.
Mexico
Jason Bourgeois (.300/.317/.375 in 10 games)
K.C. Hobson (.125/.125/.500 in 2 games)
Bourgeois is having little trouble with the Mexican League pitching, not only hitting .300 but striking out just twice in 42 plate appearances. Of course he’s also only walked once in that stretch. Hobson hasn’t played since very early in the season, around the time he signed with the White Sox.
Puerto Rico
Wilfredo Rodriguez (.071/.235/.071 in 5 games)
Dominican Republic
Rymer Liriano (.295/.392/.409 in 15 games)
Liriano’s numbers regressed back towards the mean a bit, but he’s still showing far better than any other White Sox minor league hitter across the fall and winter leagues. He’s got a shot at a job in Chicago in 2017.
Transactions
- The deadline for minor leaguers to declare as free agents hit last week, and 21 players who were in the White Sox system last year elected free agency. Most are org fillers, ringers and emergency depth, but Peter Tago is a legitimate relief prospect and is on that list. It would be surprising if the team didn’t re-sign him.
- Claimed LHP Giovanni Soto from Oakland, who had claimed him from the Cubs during the World Series. He is still prospect eligible.
Links and Notes
- Baseball America released their offseason Top 10 White Sox Prospects list. It’s that time of year, where we will see lists of various lengths come out from a handful of publications. Our Top 30 comes out in January (we prefer to wait until most of the trade dust settles).
- 2080 Ball published a video of Trey Michalczewski hitting in the AFL, if you want to get a good look at him in BP and in game. And of course if you want to more videos of White Sox prospects, we have video of 60+ of them on our YouTube channel.
- White Sox fandom is chomping at the bit to see if the front office elects to rebuild or reload to compete. Either way we should know soon, and it will assuredly effect the farm one way or another, so fasten your seat belts!
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