Everyone is familiar with the headlining prospects that Rick Hahn acquired in the trades that sent Chris Sale to Boston, Adam Eaton to Washington and Jose Quintana a few miles up the road, but what about the filler prospects that accompanied them?
Chicago sends Jose Quintana
Chicago receives Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Matt Rose and Bryant Flete
Jimenez and Cease both look fantastic, so lets breakdown Birmingham 1B/3B Matt Rose and Birmingham 2B/3B Bryant Flete.
Rose closed out 2017 in Winston-Salem, putting up a slash line of .270/.336/.475 through 122 at bats. Besides a short stint with the South Bend Cubs in 2015, it was his best line. 2018 has not been good to him. Through 361 at bats at Birmingham, Rose is hitting .194/.261/.368.
The good: He has 16 dingers. The bad: He has 125 strikeouts to only 33 walks (although he is on pace for a career year). Rose made a couple trips to the DL in June, but has been relatively healthy. Besides a 2016 player of the month honor for the South Bend Cubs, the notables are few and far between. Rose is wilting, and at 24 his major league chances are slipping away.
Flete also leaves much to be desired. He has a slash of .239/.347/.320, with non-existent power. If you were looking for a saving grace, it could be in his 32 walks to 67 strikeouts, but at 25, Flete is floundering.
Boston receives Chris Sale
Chicago receives Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz
Moncada, Kopech and Basabe aren’t any fun, because they all have a good chance to make some noise in Chicago. So it left me with Diaz. Unfortunately, Diaz spent all of 2018 on the disabled list, and his 2017 stats leave much to be desired.
Washington receives Adam Eaton
Chicago receives Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning
Close your eyes and picture a warm summer day. The White Sox have Kopech as their ace, then some combination of Lopez, Cease, Dunning and (possibly) Spencer Adans to fill-out the rotation. Unarguably Hahn’s greatest masterpiece was the king’s ransom he secured for Eaton. Although Giolito and Lopez are hit or miss (with more miss). No one piece in this trade is organization filler. How did Hahn do it? No one knows!
With that, here’s what you need to know this week.
Prospect performance highlights
AZL White Sox P Taylor Varnell went 5 strong innings on August 8th. He gave up four hits, two unearned runs and struck out nine. The same game 1B Harvin Mendoza went 3-3 with a walk.
Birmingham P Tanner Banks threw seven innings of one run ball on August 8th. He struck out five, walked two and gave up three hits.
Kannapolis P Parker Rigler was solid on August 8th. He went 5.2 innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk. He struck out five.
AZL White Sox Carter Love was phenomenal August 9th. He threw six innings of shutout baseball. He struck out 10 and walked one.
Over 18.1 innings at Charlotte, righty reliever Ian Hamilton has a 1.89 ERA with 19 Ks, four walks and 16 hits allowed.
Birmingham OF Alex Call went 3-4 with two home runs August 9th.
Charlotte LHP Jordan Guerrero threw six innings August 11th. He gave up two runs (one unearned), six hits and one walk. He struck out seven.
Birmingham RHP Dylan Cease couldn’t find the strike zone August 11th. He gave up two hits, a run and walked five. Despite that he struck out six and was bailed out by a strong effort from the Baron’s bats.
Charlotte P Michael Kopech continues to not walk anyone. He threw seven shutout innings August 11th, giving up five hits. He struck out nine. (If that’s not checking boxes, I’m not sure what is).
Injuries
- Winston-Salem placed OF Nolan Brown on the 7-day disabled list Aug. 7.
- AZL White Sox placed P Ted Andrews on the 60-day disabled-list, retroactive to June 15.
Transactions
Activated
- Winston-Salem activated OF Luis Robert from the 7-day disabled list Aug. 7
Recalled
- The White Sox recalled Charlotte OF Ryan LaMarre
Assigned
- Birmingham sent OF Tito Polo to the AZL White Sox for a rehab assignment
- AZL White Sox SS Sidney Pimentel was activated for the DSL White Sox
Optioned
- The White Sox optioned C Dustin Garneau to Charlotte
Team Performances
- Charlotte posted a 4-3 week (54-62 overall, 13 games back). With the Knights guaranteed to miss the playoffs, I’m going to continute to use this column to remind you of Eloy Jimenez’s slash line until he gets promoted or the season ends. Jimenez is batting .354/.397/.662.
- Birmingham went 2-4 for the week (24-26 overall 2nd half, 5 games back). To the tune of MGMT’s The Youth: The lead is slipping away. The lead is slipping away. The Barons are falling. The Barons are falling. The Baron are falling. The Barons are falling.
- Winston-Salem had a 5-0 week (30-16 overall 2nd half, 1st place). ┏(・o・)┛♪┗ (・o・) ┓. The Dash will look to hold their lead with three against Buies Creek and three against Wilmington.
- Kannapolis compiled a 0-7 week (23-25 overall 2nd half, 9.5 games back). Nothing about the Intimidators was particularly intimidating this week, but do take a moment to thank your friendly, neighborhood minor league baseball player when you get a chance this week. The weather is putting an incredibly workload on these young ballplays. They’ll finish a series at Lexington Monday, before coming home for three against Augusta and four against Greensboro.
- Great Falls had a 2-5 week (3-12 overall 2nd half, 9 games back). Your Pioneer League First Half Champions continue riding their slump into the dog days of August now. The Voyagers will try and right the ship with three against Ogden and three against Idaho Falls.
- AZL White Sox enjoyed a 3-1 week. (8-6 overall, 0.5 games back).
- DSL White Sox posted a 3-3 week (15–45, 26 games back).
News and Links
We released our Midseason Top 30 (and a few more in the players who just missed). Read the fruits of our labor. Then let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Our own James Fox wrote a phenomenal piece on 2018 33rd round draft pick Bryce Bush.
Julie Brady recounts the multiple storms she’s weathered to see 2018 1st round pick and Winston-Salem SS NIck Madrigal play.
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I am as high on Reynaldo Lopez as anyone, but even I don’t think that he can comprise 40% of the future White Sox rotation.
Finally, a word on Victor Diaz. Then there’s still hope right?