The Hot List is back and we will be looking over the last two weeks of action to highlight the best performances by White Sox prospects regardless of ranking.
Charlotte Knights
Yoan Moncada slumped badly when he returned to action on May 26th from a DL stint, but has responded recently. The top prospect in all of baseball has hit .286/.446/.449 in his last 13 games.
Carson Fulmer similarly has responded to a couple of rough starts, posting a 3.00 ERA over his last two outings. If we cheat and look back at his last three outings, the ERA drops to 2.57, though the peripherals are ugly (7 BB/5 K).
The definition of a journeyman, 35 year-old OF Jason Bourgeois is far from a prospect, but I promised you an unbiased report on players on fire and Bourgeois qualifies. The outfielder has hit .410/.439/.410 over the last two weeks.
Birmingham Barons
Jordan Guerrero was just named the Southern League Pitcher of the Week (June 12th-18th) and it was well deserved. The lefty has a 1.13 ERA over his last 16 innings with 10 strikeouts to just two walks and nine hits. Guerrero leads the Southern League with 88 strikeouts, but has decreased his ERA and walks as well as strikeouts (3.30 ERA and 5.13 SO/BB in May compared to 1.17 ERA and 7.00 SO/BB in June), becoming a more well-rounded pitcher.
2014 third rounder Jace Fry is trying to beat the odds as a double-TJS victim and was singled out by GM Rick Hahn as being a stand-out in Spring Training. The lefty tossed 7.2 scoreless innings over his last four appearances, striking out 10 batters and only allowing four hits.
It was a good couple weeks for several Barons pitchers, including Thad Lowry (1.17 ERA), Connor Walsh (1.42 ERA), Jordan Stephens (1.42 ERA), and Spencer Adams (2.35 ERA).
Outfielder Mason Robbins has been a contact machine this year and especially recently, only striking out three times over his last 54 plate appearances. Robbins is hitting .327/.352/.346 during that span (he doesn’t walk much either).
Winston-Salem Dash
Remember when Dane Dunning was carving up (0.35 ERA, 33/2 K/BB) the South Atlantic League with Kanny? Well it took him a few starts to acclimate to Winston-Salem, but he has been back to his old ways recently, posting a 1.17 ERA with a 23/4 K/BB rate over his last 17.2 innings.
It has been a rough stretch for Dash hitters, but Landon Lassiter keeps chugging along, slashing .273/.346/.636 over his last eight contests. The jacked up slugging percentage is especially encouraging, as Lassiter is now slugging .460 in 2017, compared to a paltry .350 in 2016. Not bad for a prospect who was released earlier in the year.
Kannapolis Intimidators
While the other affiliates have struggled in the standings, Kannapolis just won the South Atlantic League Northern Division first half title, ensuring their first post-season appearance since 2009. The entire team has been red-hot recently, so bear with me as I’ll be highlighting a lot of Intimidators.
On the pitching side, Jimmy Lambert (0.00 ERA), Alec Hansen (0.75 ERA), and Bernardo Flores (2.08 ERA), have been dominant. Hansen in particular has been unbelievable, striking out 18 batters to just two walks over his last 12 innings. At the back-end of games, Mike Morrison has not been scored upon since May 31st (actually the only time he has been scored upon all season), and has a 0.53 season ERA.
The Kanny offense has been driven by three sluggers who have been going crazy, Micker Adolfo, Seby Zavala, and Brandon Dulin. Adolfo and Dulin each have homered five times over the past two weeks, but Zavala (3 HR’s, 5 2B’s) posted the best slugging % at .714. Outfielder Joel Booker (.305/.354/.373) and 3B Zach Remillard (.298/.293/.386) also deserve to be mentioned as well.
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