It’s rankings week at FutureSox!
In addition to our regular content, some of our writers who participated in ranking the prospects (James Fox, Mike Rankin, Dan Santaromita, Steve Hasman, Sean Williams, Adam Hess and Jasper Roos) will each release their individual top 30 lists to Patrons throughout the week!
TOP FIVE: NO SURPRISES
1. Luis ROBERT
2. Andrew VAUGHN
3. Michael KOPECH
4. Nick MADRIGAL
5. Garrett CROCHET
I don’t have to explain myself here, do I? This is the consensus top 5 here at FutureSox, and it is a dandy. Sure, we’ll have to let go of Robert and Madrigal in the not too distant future, as they’ll accumulate too much service time to hang around this list, but let’s enjoy their presence for now. If all goes well, Crochet will be the number one by this time next year, as Kopech and Vaughn should also graduate between now and then. That’s a little scary, but I’m going to worry about that when the time comes.
6-10: STILL ON STIEVER
6. Jonathan STIEVER
7. Jared KELLEY
8. Dane DUNNING
9. Matthew THOMPSON
10. Andrew DALQUIST
I was one of only two writers to have Stiever ahead of Kelley, and my reasoning is two-fold. For starters, I am very, very high on Stiever. Though the lack of a minor league season certainly hurts his development, I will continue banging this drum until I can’t anymore. Secondly, I am generally a little more conservative with regards to high school arms. I think the world of Kelley and I am still riding high from the moment the White Sox landed him in the second round in the draft. If ― in a vacuum ― I have to choose between a fresh-out-of-high-school arm and a guy with a few minor league seasons under his belt, I’ll probably rank the latter higher.
Regarding Dunning: we handed in our list before Dunning’s second major league start. I doubt it would have made me move him ahead of Kelley, but I am even more excited than I already was.
11-15: CALL TO ARMS
11. Luis GONZALEZ
12. Blake RUTHERFORD
13. Micker ADOLFO
14. Jimmy LAMBERT
15. Codi HEUER
I’m apparently the high-guy on Gonzalez. That’s cool, and I really like him as a player, but it’s largely a product of clustering the three musketeers (Gonzalez, Rutherford and Adolfo) together. It may seem weird to have them in a different order from last time (I had Adolfo 10, Gonzalez 11 and Rutherford 13 last time around), but Gonzo got a call-up, so he moves in front of the other two automatically. The unceremonious dumping of Luis Basabe by the Sox made me re-assess the other two as well. Rutherford got the nod, as we got to see a ton of him in spring training and I liked the direction he seemed to be taking.
Lambert and Heuer both made huge jumps, from 17 and 23 respectively. Heuer has shown what he can do at the major league level, but Lambert still gets the spot ahead of him due to the last remnants of starter potential.
16-20: THE STRUGGLE
16. Gavin SHEETS
17. Yolbert SANCHEZ
18. Bryce BUSH
19. Zack BURDI
20. Jake BURGER
There are at least two choices here that I struggled with, and they are on opposite ends. Sheets ended up at 16, down 4 spots from the preseason, and Burger moved up 10 spots to 20. Why the struggle? Because I feel I should have moved Burger up further. Heck, I’m one of the low guys on him, while I don’t think I am in real life. Burger saw collegiate action earlier this year and was added to Schaumburg, so there is ample reason to be excited about his potential return on a professional baseball diamond. Sheets, on the other hand, has been left out of everything.
That said, I liked the direction Sheets was heading last season, and I couldn’t justify dropping him that much further. I probably should have moved Burger right behind him, in hindsight. Sanchez and Bush are extremely talented (I bumped Bush quite a bit, despite him not seeing game action due to COVID), but I don’t know if they should be ahead of Jake. Burdi got the nod for being added to the big league team and throwing 100 mph heaters and 91 mph sliders. Tantalizing stuff.
21-25: SIMILAR TO PRESEASON
21. James BEARD
22. Konnor PILKINGTON
23. Benyamin BAILEY
24. DJ GLADNEY
25. Bryan RAMOS
Pilkington and Beard remained in the 21-25 range, while Gladney, Bailey and Ramos moved up a few spots. This had a lot to do with the big jumps made by Lambert, Burger and Heuer, and the removal of Basabe, but still. I considered moving Matt Foster and Tyler Johnson into this area, especially with Foster having success at the big league level. The ceilings on Bailey and Gladney, however, kept them in this range for me. Pilkington is the wildcard. I saw no reason to drop him in the list at this point. In our preseason list, we initially ‘forgot’ Ramos, but I said that I would have slotted him just behind Gladney, so I made up for that mistake by placing him there.
26-30: CALL TO ARMS
26. Tyler JOHNSON
27. Matt FOSTER
28. Bernardo FLORES
29. Jose RODRIGUEZ
30. Andrew PEREZ
The final five were pretty difficult for me too. Dropping Johnson a few spots felt weird, but the rapid development of Foster made me realize how close together they could potentially be. That’s the same reason why I dropped Flores a couple of spots. Pitching-wise, he has just been surpassed by a few others. I dropped Ian Hamilton and Lenyn Sosa from the list completely, but added Andrew Perez. I fully expect to catch flack for that (because why drop Hamilton or Sosa off the list and add Perez, without any baseball played?), but it was just something I felt like doing.
I’m on the record as a fan of what Perez brings to the table and he was very close to my top 30 in the preseason anyway. Heck, he may be my number one left-handed relief pitcher in the org now, with Kodi Medeiros not doing himself any favors. With the subtractions of a few players and the shuffling of others, I seized the opportunity and gave the nod to ‘El Platano.’ Due to the general acceptance towards ranking relievers in a top 30, Perez’ tasty strikeout rate and the fact that he is a lefty, I feel good about this. I don’t know for how long I’ll be able to maintain this stance, but at least I can say that I was on Perez when he eventually makes the big leagues (that’s right: when. Help me out here, Andrew. Go get them in 2021).
Photo credit: Clinton Cole/FutureSox
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