What To Look Forward To: White Sox Storylines Volume 4

Everyone was extremely excited about the baseball season getting under way. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has taken precedence in these times and we’re all scrambling to think about what could have been. The White Sox were about to embark on a season of contention for the first time in many years. The foundation has been laid and the bearing of fruit has begun. Some of the organization’s top prospects were expected to descend upon Chicago, while others are knocking on the doorstep of the major leagues.

Some top prospects were expected to chase Rookie of the Year honors, while others were anticipating their first taste of professional baseball. Certain hitters will enjoy the launching pad in Charlotte, whereas others will endure the challenge of the Southern League once again. The organization is littered with high-upside pitchers returning from injury, and hitters looking to rebound from offensive struggles. Can once-promising prospects rebound and improve some of their prospect shine once and for all? Will the White Sox as an organization be healthier than ever once baseball actually begins?

Ulnar collateral ligaments have been repaired, hamate bones have been fixed and achilles tendons are now fully attached. The franchise is finally in a solid place in regards to injuries and time appears to be on their side for once. Which of the young players will ascend and put themselves on the map? Can some of these pitchers with high leverage upside fly through the system? How will the player development and coaching staff alterations affect change positively throughout the organization? Will more international talent be added to the organization and will the draft philosophy start to look different?

These are just some of the storylines that our writers were looking forward to seeing unfold prior to the world stopping in its tracks.

Andrew Vaughn’s progress in Double-A’s Southern League

It’s no secret that the Southern League is a tough place for hitters and it’s fairly common to see suppressed power while playing in Double-A. Because of this, you could make the argument that Double-A is the biggest test for position players in the White Sox farm system. 2019 first round selection, Andrew Vaughn, would be faced with that task this season if prospects were to report to their assigned affiliates.

In his first season with the White Sox, he showed that his hit tool could translate to professional baseball by slashing .278/.384/.449 with 17 doubles, 6 home runs, 36 RBI, 30 walks, and 38 strikeouts in 55 games across three levels. While that line is partially inflated due to a ton of success in the Arizona Rookie League, it was promising to see Vaughn flash his potential and rise quickly in his first season with the organization.

Even though the Southern League is difficult for many hitters, I think Vaughn will have a lot of success there and he will continue to show why his bat was worthy of being selected third overall. He has a great plate approach that allows him to frequently get into favorable counts. He shows a lot of patience at the plate and will wait for his pitch. He has power to all fields and that should have no issue transitioning to Southern League ballparks.

Even though spring training stats aren’t the be all end all tale of a hitter, Vaughn mashed in his first spring training with the big league club. He continued to be himself in the Cactus League, which is impressive for a player participating in their first spring training. He didn’t try to do too much and stuck with what he does best by having long, productive at-bats throughout the spring season.

I would expect Vaughn to show that same approach in Birmingham and that would be a major influence in his success. While the Southern League often gives hitters a season to forget, that won’t be the case with Andrew Vaughn. MLB Pipeline rated Vaughn as the best first base prospect since Cody Bellinger, putting him in great company. His bat has deserved all the praise up to this point, and it will continue to be worthy of that praise after what should be a successful run in Birmingham.

Nick Madrigal’s Goals in Charlotte

Heading into workouts this spring, there was speculation that Nick Madrigal had an opportunity to break camp with the team. After an offseason that showed the team was ready to start competing in 2020, there was still a hole on the roster at second base. While Madrigal is the most talented player for that position right now, even with no MLB experience, he struggled throughout the short spring season and it felt like White Sox fans would have to wait a little longer to see him man that position at the major league level.

This means Nick would be heading back to Charlotte to “develop” before he’s ready to make his big league debut. So what do the White Sox need to see from Nick Madrigal in Charlotte before they feel like he’s ready? To be honest, there isn’t much for him to prove at Triple-A, especially since he has such a unique profile. He brings solid defense, and he’s shown many flashes of that throughout his career in the minors thus far.

We all know he doesn’t strike out much and the elite contact rate is something he’s been able to carry with him at every level up to this point. If there’s anything the White Sox would like to see from him in Charlotte, the easy answer is some development of power. He’s not going to be a guy that will hit 12-15 home runs each season, but you would like to see him show some improved power numbers in Charlotte, especially when you factor in the juiced ball and BB&T Ballpark being a hitters’ haven.

In 29 games at Charlotte last season, Madrigal had a 60.7 ground ball rate. While that is a small sample size, he’s carried a ground ball rate near or above 50% at each affiliate. If he can start turning more of the ground balls into line drives, then the White Sox can get the most out of his profile that has minimal power.

Major league pitchers won’t be afraid to pound the strike zone when facing Madrigal if they are expecting grounders as a result. If he could start producing more line drives in Charlotte with a balls similar to what he will see in the majors, it could benefit him tremendously and set him up for a long, successful career on the South Side of Chicago.

Can Yolbert Sanchez show more than elite defensive ability?

Leading up to his decision to sign with the White Sox, many scouts raved about Yolbert Sancez‘s glove. He was considered a high profile signing, with his defense being a major reason why he was thought of so highly. Some scouts even went as far to say that he had a major league ready glove right now. His bat, however, is not on the same development path.

At 22-years-old during his signing, many expected Sanchez to head to either Kannapolis or Winston-Salem because of his age. Instead, he spent his first season in the organization with the Dominican Summer League affiliate, where he slashed .260/.297/.302 with 2 triples, 7 RBI, 5 walks, and 7 strikeouts in 32 games. Those numbers aren’t ideal, especially when you consider the fact that he was playing against competition much younger than him.

He’s graded as having good speed and is known to be a line drive hitter, but you would’ve liked to see a little more out of him offensively in the DSL. If there isn’t regular affiliate ball this season, Sanchez will be at the point where he will be 24-years-old heading into next season with only 32 games of pro ball under his belt. His glove will always make him valuable infield depth throughout the organization, but missing out on one year of development time for a guy that is already behind in terms of age is a little discouraging.

Regardless of what happens, this is a prospect I was excited to keep a close eye on in 2020. He’s already intriguing based on the elite defensive abilities, but if he can develop some consistency at the plate that will obviously make him more valuable to the franchise.

Pairing his age with his glove made it seem like there was potential for him to rise quickly, but now, his development path might look different. If he wants to continue to build a case to rise quickly, then he will have to hit and show more of the line drive ability that he had coming out of Cuba.

Where does Bryan Ramos start the year after a breakout season in the AZL?

Bryan Ramos is an under the radar, interesting prospect that wrapped up his first professional season in 2019. At 17-years-old during the season, he was one of the younger prospects in the Arizona Rookie League. He skipped out on the DSL entirely and held his ground facing stateside talent for the first time. In 51 games with the AZL White Sox, Ramos slashed .277/.353/.415 with 10 doubles, 4 home runs, 26 RBI, 19 walks, 44 strikeouts, and posted a 110 wRC+ on the season.

The now 18-year-old is at an interesting point in his development. Given his age, repeating at the Arizona Rookie League for a portion of the season wouldn’t be surprising, but he showed that he can handle that league and pushing him to Great Falls to face tougher competition wouldn’t be a surprise either. At times, it seemed like the AZL wasn’t too much of a challenge for Ramos, so sending him to Great Falls would make sense.

There would be playing time for him in the infield at Great Falls. Towards the end of the 2019 season, he saw some action at first base which gives him an opportunity to earn more consistent playing time as he moves on to higher affiliates. He’s one prospect that I would like to see be pushed to a higher affiliate and I think he could handle the transition well.

The White Sox have a lot of young talent flooding the lower levels of the farm system and these prospects will have to get regular playing time to continue their development. As a result, we will see some players move up pretty quickly. Ramos has the talent and tools to be able to handle a new assignment, even if it seems premature at the time.

Will Yermin Mercedes continue to rake wherever he ends up?

It wasn’t that long ago when Yermin Mercedes was building a very strong case to be the 26th man in 2020. However, with everything else going on in the world right now it feels like that was months ago. Mercedes was one of the highlights of the spring season, as he was crushing everything and leading the club in home runs. He had a ton of confidence in himself and even included “see you soon Chicago” in a lot of his social media posts, and he deserved to feel that way after a strong performance.

While he was fun to watch during the spring, the White Sox optioned Mercedes to Charlotte back on March 16th. The White Sox have a lot of depth at catcher, especially in the upper levels of the minors. His lack of defensive abilities and the amount of bats ahead of him at the major league level that need to be in the lineup would’ve made it difficult for Mercedes to find playing time if he did break camp with the team.

So, will Mercedes continue to rake wherever he ends up? Yes, I think he definitely will. Hitting has never been a question mark in his game. He’s always been able to hit and has shown that frequently throughout his time with the White Sox. He hit well in the Southern League and as expected, he raked in Charlotte last season.

If the MLB decides to expand rosters in 2020 for a shortened season, Mercedes would be one of those guys that would benefit from that as he would have an opportunity to earn some playing time at the big league level. If or when that is the case, Mercedes will continue to hit at the big league level too. His performance this spring and in the minors isn’t a fluke, he has a big league ready bat.

The problem is he plays a position with depth and doesn’t have much of a fit outside of that besides being a designated hitter. Both catcher and DH were upgraded this offseason, leaving guys like Mercedes in a tough spot to find consistent playing time above Triple-A. He would be a guy to keep an eye on if rosters are expanded this year and I expect him to continue to swing the bat well if given that opportunity.

Can DJ Gladney Decrease his K rate in first full season?

2019 16th round selection, DJ Gladney, was one of the positive developments coming out of the Arizona Rookie League last season. His professional career got off to a powerful start as he initially broke the AZL White Sox single season home run record, but was later edged out by one long ball. In 50 games with the AZL White Sox, Gladney slashed .264/.309/.428 with 5 doubles, 8 home runs, 25 RBI, 10 walks, and 82 strikeouts.

The strike out total is a lot for 50 games, but the rest of his numbers are impressive for a guy that was just getting his feet wet in professional baseball. Gladney has massive power potential and he showed that many times during the season.

His biggest issue with the strikeouts are pitch selection and recognizing certain pitches. His timing was off at times too, but that’s expected when you face professional pitching for the first time. Not to mention, he was making the jump from high school baseball to the AZL which is not easy by any means.

Like I previously mentioned about Ramos, Gladney has the tools and talent to be successful. In due time, I believe he will cut down on his strikeout rate as he moves through the system. He might not be able to cut it down a significant amount and swings and misses could always be a part of his game. However, the best way to improve pitch selection is through game reps and over time, Gladney will start developing that aspect of his game and will start developing more of his tools.

James Beard’s Development and Success in Rookie Ball

When the White Sox drafted James Beard, scouts raved about his speed by saying he was the fastest player in his draft class. They also mentioned that he was viewed as a “project” and his development might be a little longer because he was not going up against a lot of top talent in Mississippi as a prep player. After a season in the AZL where he struggled and was unable to find consistency at the plate, the scouts seem to be right about his development path being a little longer.

Beard was likely to repeat in the AZL for a portion of the 2020 season. He struggled with timing up fastballs in 2019 and needs to go through another tuneup in Arizona before moving on to another affiliate. There’s power potential in his bat and the speed is electrifying, so there’s a lot to like about his game. He’s also the type of player that needs to build confidence before moving on, and some extra time in Arizona could do just that for Beard.

He has the potential to be a true two-way, impact player that White Sox fans should be excited about. There will be some rough moments with Beard as he develops in the system, but if he’s able to put it all together, then he will be a player that could find himself carving out multiple roles down the road.

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