Welcome back to your News and Notes article covering all things concerning the White Sox minor league system. After a couple slow weeks, things are starting to pick up again as the momentum builds towards Spring Training.
Hitters’ Minicamp
White Sox coaches and player development staff got their first chance to see Yoan Moncada, the crown jewel of their off-season prospect bounty, at a three day minicamp at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona last week. In addition to Moncada, there was fifteen other hitters who took part, including last years crop of promising draft picks, Zack Collins, Alex Call, and Jameson Fisher. The minicamp was attended by many coaches, including White Sox manager Rick Renteria, White Sox hitting coach Todd Steverson, as well as player development folks like scouting director Nick Hostetler and new director of player development Chris Getz.
I spoke with 2016 4th round pick Jameson Fisher, who called the minicamp an “awesome experience to be surrounded by some of the top up and coming hitters in the organization.” He expressed gratitude to the White Sox coaches and the older players participating, saying he learned a lot mentally and mechanically.
2016 3rd round pick Alex Call echoed what Fisher had to say, telling FutureSox that the camp was “a lot of fun” and the Indiana native was appreciative of being able to play outside in January and escape the cold.
Transactions
- The White Sox claimed Pittsburgh OF Willy Garcia and designated Jason Coats for assignment. Garcia has loud tools but has struggled to put it all together, hitting .245/.293/.366 over 129 games for AAA Indianapolis in 2016.
- If the White Sox were hoping to stash Coats in Charlotte, that plan was foiled by the Tampa Bay Rays who claimed him. Coats was ranked #14 on the 2016 FutureSox mid-season rankings, but the White Sox gave him only 58 plate appearances at the major league level. A candlelight vigil for Coats’ sudden departure is being planned by FutureSox writer Matt Cassidy, please contact him for more details.
- The White Sox signed 26 year-old 3B/LF Cody Asche to a minor league deal. Asche was DFA’d by the Phillies earlier in the off-season after hitting .213/.284/.350 over 71 major league games last season. Asche has a career slashline of .286/.345/.449 over six minor league seasons.
- The White Sox signed INF Everth Cabrera to a minor league deal. The 30 year-old was an All-Star in 2013, but was out of baseball in 2016 and has had a multitude of personal issues in the last few years.
- Released: RHP Jorge Rondon, who they only signed a month ago, so that he could pursue a contract in Japan.
Caribbean Winter Leagues
*NOTE: The Caribbean League regular seasons have all ended, so this will be the last update from those leagues, barring any unusual news during postseason play…
Dominican Republic
Rymer Liriano (.258/.350/.342 in 37 games)
Liriano had a solid tuneup in his native Dominican Republic and will fight for a fourth outfielder spot in Spring Training.
Mexico
Jason Bourgeois (.255/.310/.280 in 41 games)
K.C. Hobson (.125/.125/.500 in 2 games)
Terance Marin (18.1 IP, 29 H, 17 ER, 7 BB, 10 K in 4 starts)
Bourgeois is a free agent, so he may or may not be back with the club in 2017. The other two are signed for the upcoming season.
Venezuela
Gerson Montilla (.083/.313/.083 in 6 games)
Cleuluis Rondon (.103/.133/.172 in 13 games)
Alfredo Gonzalez (.200/.286/.240 in 13 games)
Similarly here, Montilla is technically a free agent, while the other two should be on the farm for 2017, barring setbacks.
Puerto Rico
Wilfredo Rodriguez (.230/.319/.295 in 22 games)
News and Notes
- Guest writer Chris Kusiolek saw a number of key White Sox prospects live this past fall in Arizona, during the AFL and Instructs. He’s going to be writing up some of his scouting notes for us, and the first installment went up a couple weeks ago, covering Moncada, Collins, Michael Kopech, Dylan Covey, Courtney Hawkins and Nolan Sanburn.
- The revamped FutureSox podcast is back with myself and host Brian Bilek breaking down the prospect received in the Chris Sale and Adam Eaton deals and an interview with special guest Chris Cotillo.
- The market for trading Jose Quintana is still strong, but on hold as part of a generally slow-to-move offseason across baseball. Our own Brian Bilek wrote an update on who is still possibly in on the left-hander for SoxNet, our sister site.
- In a somewhat unusual article for us, we spoke with White Sox scout John Tumminia about his charity organization, Baseball Miracles. It’s a great story about good works that John and others are doing that go far beyond American baseball diamonds.
- Kopech changed agents, and is now with CAA, if you care about that sort of thing.
- COMING UP: We are working on the next Top 30 White Sox Prospects list right now. The plan is to release it, in 2 or 3 parts, the week of January 23rd.
- COMING UP: SoxFest starts on January 27th, and just as in the past two years we will have a writer there covering the festivities. Look for live tweets, videos and interviews.
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