Adam Engel was drafted in the 19th round of the 2013 MLB Draft. That’s not exactly a prestigious place to be taken. No other player from his draft round has made the majors. The last 19th rounder to make much of an impact in the majors was the last Adam who played center for the White Sox (Arizona drafted Adam Eaton 571st overall back in 2010). So while there is definitely the chance of finding All-Star quality talent almost 600 picks into the draft, it’s not exactly something you should bank on. When a player you take that late manages to provide any sort of utility for the parent club, you should think of it as a win, however minor of one it truly may be. Perspective.

Adam Engel was worth 0.9 WARP this year. That’s obviously not anything amazing nor what you really want out of your starting center fielder, but it’s certainly better than nothing (or his 2017 season in which he was worth -0.1 WARP). He managed to raise his OPS almost .100 points, going from an anemic .517 to a slightly more robust .614. His SLG passed the .300 threshold (.336) and his OBP inched ever closer to the almost palatable .300s as well (.279). And despite the occasional brainfart route, most metrics (and the majority of the time eye test) place him as an above average fielder. Progress! Perspective!

But there are, of course, negatives. All that progress still only amounts to an OPS+ of 70. It’s a big step forward from his previous year, but when your old OPS+ was 40 it’s hard to not make progress and keep getting playing time. If not for a hot August in which Engel hit .276/.284/.448 with three home runs, his second half slash line looks more like .239/.273/.310. Yikes. And while Adam stole twice as many bases this season (16), his success rate dropped precipitously from 88.9% to 66.7%. For a Man of Steal, that’s pretty bad.

The good news for Engel is that unless the White Sox pick up a new center fielder during the offseason, the three prospects gunning for his job are all still at least a year and a half away at the soonest from making their way to Chicago. Luis Basabe will likely start 2019 in Birmingham, though finding time for Luis Robert and Luis Gonzalez may force him up to Charlotte before long. And even if Engel winds up losing his starting job, gritty glove-first center fielders tend to stick around for quite some time.

Lead Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

That’s a question I’ve wondered throughout much of this season in regard to Adam Engel, and particularly this week as he’s thrust himself into the spotlight with insane home run robbing highlights on three separate occasions.

Engel’s been a source of frustration in this space for most of the season, not because of his hindrance on the 2018 White Sox’s ability to win games so much as his perceived limited upside coupled with playing time compared to other outfield options. That the White Sox are lacking in major league-ready players capable of playing center field isn’t necessarily his fault, but the organization’s reliance in Engel compared to the playing time of Leury Garcia and Charlie Tilson has seemed baffling at times, given the former’s now 650-plus career plate appearances of significantly below-average offense. It’s not that Garcia or Tilson offer significantly more upside, but more that the playing time split — Engel has started 87 of the team’s 117 games in center field — would suggest he’s the unrivaled starter despite the fact that, entering Sunday, all three of his triple-slash numbers begin with a 2.

But his defense.

It’s true that Engel is one of the better defensive center fielders in baseball, at least according to BP’s metrics. After putting up a 7.9 FRAA in 2017, good for ninth best in the league among center fielders, he’s third in the league this year with a 9.9 FRAA entering Sunday, trailing only Kevin Pillar (11.9) and Leonys Martin (17.4). He’s good out there, this much is clear. But is he good enough to make his batting line worth it?

Engel’s line entering play Sunday was .216/.266/.296 with a 55 OPS+. While that will go up after Sunday’s 3-for-4 game, which included a home run, we’re still talking about a player with a sub-.600 OPS. Engel doesn’t quite have enough plate appearances to qualify, but if he did he’d rank behind every qualified hitter in baseball except for Chris Davis and Alcides Escobar in that category. Davis and Escobar check in a -3.0 and -1.6 WARP, respectively.

Those players, though, don’t have the defensive value that Engel provides, with Escobar (at a premium defensive position) being worth -9.8 FRAA and Davis (at a, uh, less important position) being worth -7.0. Engel’s FRAA bumps him all the way up to … 0.6 WARP.

As I said, Engel has been a replacement level player even with the defense. The question then becomes how much would his bat need to improve for him to become a legitimate asset. We’re not talking first-division starter asset, but merely someone worth rostering going forward, maybe as a bottom-of-the-order starter or fourth outfielder. For posterity’s sake, we’ll set the threshold at 2.0 WARP.

Since 2013, there have been two occasions where a player recorded a season worth 2.0 WARP or better with an OPS below .600. Not surprisingly, both are catcher — Jose Molina and Chris Stewart both did so in 2013. Given that framing metrics change the scope of things in terms of catcher value, it’s tough to see those as apt comparisons to Engel. If you move the goal posts back a bit and say an OPS below .700 and focus specifically on center field as the player’s primary position, you get eight such occasions:

2018 (to date)
Kevin Pillar: .678 OPS, 11.9 FRAA, 2.33 WARP

2016
Leonys Martin: .684 OPS, 9.6 FRAA, 2.09 WARP
Billy Hamilton: .664 OPS, 9.5 FRAA, 2.36 WARP

2015
Cameron Maybin: .697 OPS, 1.0 FRAA, 2.49 WARP

2014
Sam Fuld: .663 OPS, 10.3 FRAA, 2.13 WARP
Ender Inciarte: .677 OPS, 16.4 FRAA, 2.94 WARP
Billy Hamilton: .648 OPS, 16.3 FRAA, 3.20 WARP
Leonys Martin: .689 OPS, 18.8 FRAA, 4.30 WARP

As you can see, all of the players listed have solid defensive reputations with the exception of Maybin, who just barely sat below .700 and still had a 94 OPS+, and the lowest OPS on the list is .648, which would be a huge leap from the offensive production we’ve seen from Engel thus far in his career. 2.0 WARP is such a low bar to clear for competency. Last year, 144 players reached that number, including guys like Jose Reyes and Miguel Rojas. A 2.0 WARP player isn’t even necessarily good, but for Engel to reach that even that mark it would take marked improvement with the bat and probably even a step forward with his already very good glove.

Engel’s highlight reel catches are fun and exciting. His defensive value is such that he need only be a slightly below average offensive player to provide some semblance of value, and with the White Sox internal center field options still a ways away from the majors, he’s being afforded every opportunity to prove he can do that. But those shortcomings are so drastic that the bar might be too high for the 26-year-old to clear. He’s had 650 plate appearances worth of opportunities and at least a few more coming to prove otherwise, but unlike the home run balls Engel keeps bringing back, becoming a positive major league contributor seems out of his reach.

Lead Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

2. Moncada’s two runs were enough support for Reynaldo Lopez, who needed 106 pitches to get through seven scoreless innings. Lopez’s start was once again something of an enigma as he struck out only four batters while also walking four Twins.  Lopez got 11 swinging strikes on the day (10.4 percent), which is just below the league average (10.6 percent) in that department. Lopez didn’t give up any runs in large part because very few Twins were able to put good swings on the baseball.  Yes, you’d absolutely like to see more strikeouts and fewer walks, but we need to get enjoyment from this season where we can and it is really fun to watch a young starting pitcher throw up goose eggs on the scoreboard against a division rival, and there are certainly other factors at work which are working against Lopez in each of his starts, but more on that later.

3. The two runs, however, were not enough support for the White Sox bullpen. Nate Jones came into the game in the eighth inning and retired the first two batters he saw. Jones then proceeded to allow a “hit” (a generous scoring decision) to Brian Dozier, a walk to Eddie Rosario, a laser single to Miguel Sano which scored the first Twins run, and finally the decisive blow, a three run home run to old friend Eduardo Escobar.  Dozier’s single was a sharply-hit grounder that bounced off of Yolmer Sanchez’s glove. Sanchez then recovered the ball with a nifty barehanded grab, but was unable to get the ball over to first on a fly and Abreu could not pick it out of the dirt, which opened the floodgates for the Twins. Based on the very solid defense we typically see from Sanchez, I’m sure he’ll tell you he should have made that play. Alas, it was not meant to be.

4. In the top of the sixth inning, the White Sox broadcast showed a highlight of Giancarlo Stanton hitting a monstrous home run off of Mike Fiers. The home run itself is nothing new for Stanton, but what was remarkable about it was that it came after Fiers had drilled Stanton with a pitch earlier in the game. This led to an enjoyable dialogue between Jason Benetti and Steve Stone in which Stone revealed that he was not a fan of Major League Baseball teams getting into beanball wars. I couldn’t agree more with Stone on this, and certainly do hope that MLB teams can move away from this frontier-style of justice. It’s really dangerous for the players and no one wants to see their players get hurt.

5. Calling back to No. 2, Lopez got very little help on the day from Omar Narvaez behind the plate. Narvaez has been worth a staggering -9.8 FRAA on the season and White Sox catchers have been worth nearly -15 FRAA as a unit, worst in the majors by a significant margin. Tuesday was no exception. On several occasions, Lopez threw borderline pitches that could very easily have been called strike threes, but instead were called balls because of poor catcher positioning/framing. Catcher framing has been a huge concern for the White Sox for a number of years now, and I certainly hope that they can find a catcher in the near future that can accentuate their young starters instead of actively harming them on a pitch-by-pitch basis.

6. After a short recess, the White Sox and Twins were back at it again for game two of their doubleheader. The Sox jumped all over Twins starter Zack Littell, who was making his Major League debut, and put up a big crooked number on the scoreboard with four runs in the first inning. Abreu kept up his hot hitting with a two-run blast. Tim Anderson got his first hit of the day with a double, Kevan Smith (welcome back!) drove in Anderson with a single and Adam Engel kept the party pumping with a line shot over left-fielder Eddie Rosario’s head to score smith.  Lucas Giolito followed up the big first inning by getting the Twins to go 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first. Why can’t the entire game be made out of the first inning?

7. Speaking of Engel, he’s really been hitting the ball well as of late. Since his OPS hit its season low of .396(!) on April 25, Engel has put together 111 plate appearances with a triple slash line of .275/.321/.422. His OPS on the season is now up to .621.  Engel’s speed defense has always been his calling card with the big league club and his bat an afterthought, but it’s nice to see him start to come around with the bat and make the most of his extended opportunity on the big league club.  When the White Sox are competitive again, they’ll need players like the more recent version of Engel to provide positive value off of the bench and guard against season-sinking injury replacements like the J.B. Shuck experiment.

8. As with most Giolito starts this season, I was skeptical that four runs would be enough for the White Sox to have the lead after Giolito departed. I ended up being wrong, but Giolito was not as sharp as his two runs allowed over six innings would indicate. He got some batted ball luck to get out of trouble in the second inning after he allowed the first two batters to reach, and then he benefitted greatly from a Twins base running blunder in the third. Eddie Rosario sent a towering fly ball to right field with no outs and runners on first and second base. Neither of the runners nor White Sox right fielder, Trayce Thompson, seemed to be able to pick up the baseball which ended up hitting the top of the right field wall. The runners were only able to advance one base and Sano bounced Giolito’s next pitch to short for an incredibly well timed double play. The Twins would get one run on the double play and Escobar would drive in the remaining runner on base with a double to the left-center gap.  Giolito may have only walked two Twins on the evening, but his control was largely erratic, as he threw only 56 of 95 pitches for strikes. While it’s good to see Giolito make it through six innings allowing only two runs, it was mostly lipstick on a pig. At some point he needs to limit the amount of solid contact he is giving up and start striking out more batters than he walks (he only got one strike out over the six innings) if he’s going to see his ERA fall significantly from its 7.08 mark.

10. Sanchez continues to have a very solid season at the plate. He added another double in the top of the fourth inning that drove in two more runs and chased Littell from the game. Sanchez doesn’t get the hype that Moncada or Anderson do, but he may very well be a great fit for the next White Sox contender and watching him on a nightly basis continues to be very enjoyable.

Sanchez’s double in the fourth was actually the last run scoring plate appearance of the game for the White Sox as their bats would fall silent against the Twins bullpen. Luckily enough for everyone invested in White Sox baseball, six runs would be enough as the White Sox took the nightcap in the doubleheader, 6-3. Chris Volstad was able to throw a scoreless seventh, and four relievers, Jace Fry, Bruce Rondon, Luis Avilan, and Joakim Soria, combined to allow only one run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Soria would stay on for the ninth, where the Twins would get runners on the corners with two outs, but he retired the final batter to preserve the win.  With the split, the White Sox start an amazing 21-games-in-20-nights streak of baseball on a relatively positive note. Next up is another match-up with the Twins. The probable starters are Jake Odorizzi and Hector Santiago.

11. As a bonus item, it was nice to see both the Twins and the White Sox wear their Jackie Robinson uniforms in the opener of the doubleheader.  The first game, of course, was a make-up game from the last time the White Sox traveled to Minnesota and were treated to some extended time off because of the early April snow. The two teams would have worn their Robinson jerseys on the original scheduled date, so I’m glad they decided to sport them again today to honor one of the most important players in MLB history.

Lead Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

1. James Shields again finished the seventh inning, allowing only two runs.  He has gone at least five innings every outing this season, barring an extra-inning relief appearance, and has now gone at least six innings six starts in a row, with quality starts in five of those.  While the year is still most assuredly 2018 and not 2011, his DRA on the year sits at 4.73, and his cFIP of 101 are the peripherals of a below average innings eater.  None of this removes the sting of Fernando Tatis Jr. starting to nuke Double-A as a teenager for San Diego.  And, there is still risk for regression here, as his 5.6 percent HR/FB rate and .254 BABIP are on the lucky side.  That said, Shields deserves credit for continuing to make adjustments as he ages into his late 30s and the White Sox desperately need his ability to soak up innings at a credible rate.

2. The White Sox’ outfield situation is dire.  Avisail Garcia was awful and then injured, and is not expected back until the end of June.  Nicky Delmonico’s power evaporated and he will be on the disabled list for 4-6 weeks with a broken hand.  Adam Engel is hitting .183/.262/.229 and opposing managers are intentionally walking batters ahead of him because they realize he can’t hit.  Trayce Thompson is hitting .117/.145/.300.  Tyler Saladino was traded to Milwaukee.  Daniel Palka is hitting perfectly well, for the moment, but putting him in the outfield is … well, extremely detrimental to your run prevention.  We’re at the point where Leury Garcia is hands down the best all-around outfielder on the active roster.

Worse, the alternatives in Charlotte are no better. Charlie Tilson is finally healthy, but he is hitting .237/.279/.288 in Triple-A.  Understandable, perhaps, given how long he’s been out with various lower body injuries, but he’s not in a position to be called up.  Ryan Cordell is hurt again.  Jacob May had his first season in Triple-A in 2016 and hit .266/.309/.352.  He’s hit worse there each year since.

Everyone knows this year is not about major league wins and losses, but at a certain point a sub-.500 OPS from multiple outfield spots just isn’t tenable and isn’t fair to the fans or the rest of the roster.  They’ve brought in Michael Saunders, who was once an underrated and solid player, but has since been destroyed by knee injuries and hit poorly in Triple-A last year.  Presumably Eloy Jimenez and Garcia are intended to be two thirds of the outfield at some point in 2018, but it’s unclear how long you’ll have to wait to get there.  The more advanced outfielders in Double-A like Jameson Fisher and Tito Polo have not hit well enough to merit promotions to Charlotte, let alone to the majors.

Short of a trade, though, I’m not sure what else can be done in the meantime if they genuinely believe Jimenez isn’t ready.  I suppose Seth Smith is still out there?  Perhaps with Jose Rondon looking competent you can see why Rick Renteria is musing on moving Yolmer Sanchez to the outfield as an empty .270 from Rondon would be a huge upgrade on one of these glaringly deficient lineup spots.

3. Unlike the outfield, however, the bullpen has somewhat gratifyingly progressed through the process of shuffling through internal options.  Bruce Rondon is so far putting his name forward as the latest “Don Cooper Reclamation Success Story.”  The erstwhile Tigers Closer of the Future boasts a 2.74 DRA over his first 16 innings on the South Side of Chicago.  A 27-year-old flame-throwing reliever rounding into form is quite common.  Who knows? Maybe Bruce Rondon will be one of those players the rebuild yields due to having innings available rather than a high draft pick or obtained via trade.

Another big boost to the ‘pen has arrived in the form of Jace Fry, who has now thrown 8 1/3 innings while only allowing two walks so far this year.  Fry only converted to relief last year, and he struggled mightily in his first look at the majors.  He’s actually throwing his fastball slower than he did last year, but he’s throwing his slider a lot more — up from 6.45 to 33.64 percent from 2017 to 2018.  So far it’s working really, really well.

4. After a slow start, Welington Castillo is slowly rounding into the normal, power-heavy but above average catcher hitting line one might have expected, as he’s up to .270/.314/.477.  This is unsurprising.  However, 2017 represented a quantum leap in terms of his catcher defense, going from near the bottom of the barrel to well above average.  So far in 2018, he’s reverted back to his poor results.  An area worth monitoring on his BP player card as the season progresses.

Meanwhile, Omar Narvaez has not managed to improve his framing numbers at all, and so far his on-base heavy offense profile has also collapsed as his average has slid well below the Mendoza Line.  Still, with these two and Kevan Smith stashed in Charlotte, there are much better teams with far worse catching situations.

5.  A quick note: as I was digging around in the minor league stat lines, I noticed Ti’Quan Forbes.  The White Sox acquired this 2014 second round pick from the Rangers in August 2017 for Miguel Gonzalez.  However, coming into this season, he had yet to slug above .350 or post an OBP above .315 in two full seasons above Rookie Ball, and so I wrote him off as organizational depth.  But, it’s worth pointing out his 2018 has been a huge step forward, as he’s hitting .276/.343/.402 in High-A Winston-Salem.  He’s walking more and has slashed his strikeouts approximately 10-12 points from his track record, and is down to 12.6 percent on the young season.

The road is very long, and he may turn back into a pumpkin at any time, but he does not turn 22 until August and for the first time he’s showing signs of real progress, and perhaps there’s a major leaguer in here somewhere after all.

Lead Image Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

It doesn’t matter. We know in our well-conditioned brain that in a few weeks or a month, what happened Thursday isn’t going to be fresh in our memories, and there’s a good chance whatever the outcomes of those games are going to have very little bearing on how these teams and players are performing in Game 31 or 62 or 100. But we react to the good and the bad with a level of excitement that isn’t seen for most median regular season games, because it’s Opening Day. It’s exciting. After five months, baseball games matter again.

The White Sox 14-7 victory over the Royals didn’t follow any typical script. The White Sox hit six home runs — three by Matt Davidson, two by Tim Anderson, and one by Jose Abreu — in coming back from an early 4-0 deficit to wallop a division rival. All three of Davidson’s bombs registered at a higher mph than any one he hit last season, per Statcast, and he became the first player in the Statcast era to hit three home runs that all registered faster than 110 mph.

It was the kind of performance that’s easy to dream on. No, the White Sox are going to average 14 runs per game. They probably won’t set a major league record for home runs in a season. And I’m not holding my breath waiting for the next time James Shields goes through a stretch of retiring 16 of 18 batters without allowing a base hit in that span. But it’s the only game in which we have to judge, and for one game, the White Sox were both victorious and fun as hell.

2. Just as we overreact to the good, we overreact to the bad, and Shields getting tagged with four runs before recording an out zapped the Opening Day excitement almost immediately, as we were quickly hit with the harsh realization that, yes, baseball is back, but the struggles that have made Shields a shell of the pitcher he once was were still there.

Shields bounced back, as I mentioned, but he did not get out of the final five innings unscathed without a bit of luck. He generated just four swinging strikes all afternoon and zero strikeouts. In fact, White Sox pitching didn’t record its first strikeout until Luis Avilan got Jorge Soler swinging in the eighth inning. Still, after that first inning, the Royals didn’t generate much hard contact. They put seven balls in play with an exit velocity of 100 mph or more, according to Statcast, and five of those came during the first inning.

Shields is going to be walking a tight rope between competence and combustion all season long. Getting through 6 innings was a coup for the White Sox considering the first inning, but one would imagine the batted ball luck and run support won’t always be there.

3. The five combined homers by Davidson and Anderson were the obvious highlights in the 14-run explosion. Davidson’s power isn’t surprising, but a strong start to the season would be a boost for a player who is undoubtedly trying to prove he belongs on a major league roster. Davidson could hit 40 home runs this year, as Paul Konerko has said, but for someone who won’t provide much if any value defensively, the key for him will be evolving his skills beyond that prodigious power. We’re talking, after all, about a player who was a net negative across the board last season despite 26 home runs in 443 plate appearances.

Davidson had two plate appearances Thursday in which he didn’t leave the yard. In his first at-bat, he worked the count full (good) before swinging at two pitches that would’ve been ball four (bad), ultimately flying out to right field. In the other, he watched six straight pitches and drew a walk. Having at-bats like that, to go along with the power, will go a long way for a player whose 4.3 percent walk rate would’ve ranked in the bottom 10 in the league last season if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.

4. Speaking of walks, Anderson took one as well in one of his three plate appearances where he failed to dinger. Even more than Davidson, the base on balls is noteworthy for a player who walked just 2.1 percent of the time last season, dead last in the majors. Anderson didn’t draw his first walk last season until the ninth game of the season and drew just 13 total in 606 plate appearances.

Unlike Davidson, success for Anderson isn’t wholly dependent on the 24-year-old turning into a more patient hitter. His two homers Thursday were a good sign, as him living up to his power potential combined with his speed and hopefully improved defense at a key position (he was initially charged with an error on a tough play in the first inning but it was later turned to a hit) would make him a valuable player even if he always hovers near the bottom of the league in walk rate.

5. The White Sox drew seven walks Thursday, including two each from Nicky Delmonico and Adam Engel, the latter of whom added two hits on the day. Those two, along with Davidson and Yolmer Sanchez, are the White Sox biggest question marks from a positional standpoint this year, so a good start (I know, it’s one game) is good to see.

But in general, the White Sox taking walks is a welcome sight. They were 28th in walk rate a year ago, ranking slightly ahead of Detroit and Baltimore in that department. Danny Duffy and the Royals’ bevy of anonymous relievers isn’t exactly the stiffest competition, but the White Sox showing more patience as a whole — not just Davidson and Anderson — would be considered a big step forward for a team still ripe with developing young players.

Lead Photo Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

1. Until then, however, we’re left scouring reports from the beats, box scores, and the random glimpse at MLB.tv where you have to squint and figure out who No. 92 is while awaiting the next Luis Robert at-bat or Michael Kopech inning. Patrick Leonard, who the hell is that?

The story Wednesday was the spring debut of one Lucas Giolito, whose results didn’t match his feelings about the performance after the game.

“Some of my pitches were working really well. I know what I did wrong on a few. It was a little fast — first one out (I had) a little adrenaline going (and was) working a little too fast. There’s a lot to take away and build on for the next one.”

Giolito went two innings, giving up two runs (one earned) while walking two and striking out one. Reports had his fastball hitting as high as 95 — a positive sign — and while his command wavered, he generated swings-and-misses with his curveball. Commanding the fastball throughout the zone and generating whiffs with his curveball will be the keys to his success going forward.

2. Adam Engel has become something of a whipping-boy in this space as the offseason has gone on. The speed and defensive potential are great, but his bat is such that optimism about his future with the team is very low. And with Charlie Tilson, Leury Garcia, and perhaps one or two others (Ryan Cordell?) seen as big-league ready options in center field, the desire to see another young piece who isn’t coming off a sub-.500 OPS season has increased.

But Engel will undoubtedly get another shot this season, perhaps even as the Opening Day starting center fielder, and he’s reportedly overhauled his swing — an added leg kick — in an effort to get better timing and rhythm that can help him cut down on what was a 35 percent strikeout rate in the majors last season.

“From a mechanical approach he’s actually developed a little bit more rhythm,” Renteria said. “He’s trying to get his feet underneath him and get comfortable with it. Hitting is timing and I think he’s trying to find a way that he can generate some momentum and more fluidity into his swing. We want him to touch the baseball a little bit more, take advantage of his speed, maybe bunt a little more. Yesterday he tried to bunt a couple of times so he’s trying to take his game, the things he’s capable of doing, use him a little bit more this spring and see if we can take advantage of his speed.”

The odds remain stacked against him. The above-linked article by James Fegan of The Athletic noes an inability to find external scouts who express the same optimism as the White Sox in Engel as anything more than a fourth outfielder, but the point of a rebuild — as we’ve said over and over again — is giving guys like Engel every chance possible to succeed. At 26, there may not be much development left, but given his speed and athleticism, there’s still enough to dream on to hope.

3. Last season, Anthony Swarzak went from non-roster invitee to legitimate trade prospect to someone who a team is willing to invest two years and $14 million. All offseason, as the White Sox scooped up a number of downtrodden veteran pitchers, the running gag has become the search for the Next Swarzak.

In reality, it’s a futile exercise. Success stories like Swarzak’s aren’t altogether impossible, but expecting it on a regular basis would be foolish. Still, with a bullpen filled with inexperienced, volatile arms and more than a few injury risks, names like T.J. House, Jeanmar Gomez, and Xavier Cedeno likely have a better chance of finding relevance with the White Sox than most organizations.

Lead Photo Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Look nobody has ever accused me of burying a lede, but while the short and simple answer to the question is “no”, there are individual elements of these games that matter both from a roster-building and developmental standpoint.

The White Sox begin their Cactus League schedule today against the Dodgers. Dylan Covey will start, and Tyler Danish, Thyago Viera, and Brian Clark are all expected to toe the rubber. It’s exciting, because live baseball will be in front of our eyeballs for the first time in far too long, but while these games can often feel like a meaningless slog as we count down to opening day, there are aspects worth keeping an eye on, even if the wins and losses absolutely do not matter.

1. HEALTH. If this list were 20-deep, health could probably take up spots 1 through about 16 or so. In those terms, the player everyone will have their eyes on is Carlos Rodon, who is in the early stages of a throwing program but who general manager Rick Hahn said Wednesday might not return until closer to June 1.

“This is more about getting him healthy for the long term rather than an extra two or three starts in April or May of 2018,” Hahn said. “I’m guessing it’s going to be closer to June 1, but until he’s actually throwing in games, it’s still speculative.”

Aside from Rodon, the most relevant injury-related name to watch in camp is Charlie Tilson. “Charlie Tilson if he’s healthy” has been an option in center field for more than a year now, but as much of a long-shot as it seems at this point, having a healthy Tilson as an option in center field would be a big bonus at a position where the incumbent is Adam Engel and his .517 OPS. Tilson is far from a sure thing, even when healthy. But you don’t know what you have in him until you know, ya know?

2. What the players and coaches say after spring training games actually matters, at least it matters as much as things like that can matter. Watching, say, Michael Kopech on the mound or Eloy Jimenez at the plate is fun to watch, but the results of those spring game appearances aren’t nearly as important as them executing what the coaching staff is asking of them in each appearance.

Maybe on Monday Don Cooper will have Kopech focusing on glove-side fastballs away, or standing tall. Fastball command is a common refrain you hear from White Sox coaches when working with young pitchers, and what and how they approach that with, say, Viara, is key.

You often hear what, specifically, those pitchers are working on after the game, in a matter-of-fact-ness that isn’t always the case in games that matter.

3. We mentioned Charlie Tilson earlier, and the group of outfielders will be worth monitoring throughout the spring. Tilson (yeah if healthy) and Engel are presumably battling for the starting center fielder spot, presuming the White Sox envision Leury Garcia for the utility role. There’s also Daniel Palka and Willy Garcia to consider.

Last year, the presumed starting center fielder in camp was Peter Bourjos before Jacob May came out of nowhere to earn the job. A lot can happen to change plans in these meaningless games.

4. Results. Wait, what? But you said …

Yes, results don’t matter. But let’s face it, it will be a helluva lot more fun this spring if Kopech comes out and torches a major league-ish caliber lineup, or Jimenez goes on a world-crushing tear. Last year, Yoan Moncada went .317/.391/.683 in 46 spring game plate appearances, and some guy nobody had ever heard of named Nicky Delmonico posted a .941 OPS and team-high five home runs in 71 plate appearances.

For every fun thing like that you have a May or Cody Asche, so take everything with a grain of salt. But the long spring is a lot more bearable when your presumed future roster pieces are playing well.

Lead Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Adam Engel and Nicky Delmonico mirror each other in many ways — long shots (Engel a 19th rounder, Delmonico on his second organization after a trip to rehab) whose performances outshone their pedigree, hoping that their one obvious strength (Engel’s athleticism, Delmonico’s hitting ability) played up enough to mask their clear drawbacks (Engel’s bat, Delmonico’s glove).

In other words, the sorts of guys you don’t mind giving some playing time to in a rebuilding year.

It went pretty well for Delmonico. At a high level, he graded out at about a win above replacement in 166 plate appearances according to the various metrics, which is pretty good! He achieved his .295 tAV in a fairly promising manner, with a 13.9 percent walk rate and 18.7 percent strikeout rate, each on the good side of league average, and a .277 BABIP, while not embarrassing himself in left field (FRAA even has him above average in the field). Even assuming some regression, that start ought to be enough to get him an extended look in left field in 2018. Not bad, for a guy who didn’t make the BP Annual last year.

Looking at the details, though, it was a lot better than “not bad.” It’s a mistake to presume we know players, especially young ones, but it’s hard to be anything other than excited for a guy who beat addiction having one of the best starts to a career of any player in franchise history; it’s even harder given Delmonico’s friendly, telegenic air and clear excitement to be in the bigs. It remains to be seen if he can really stick in left, or if the bat is for real, but he’ll always have this second half. Given where he started, he might have done better relative to expectations than anyone in the organization this year.

It didn’t go so well for Engel, however. The metrics liked the defense less than the eye test did, as he was below average by DRS, UZR, and FRAA (though above average according to MLBAM’s new catch probability/outs above average stats). There wasn’t any dispute about the quality of his offense; a tAV of .199 and a nearly 35 percent K rate tends to remove all doubt.

The all-in-one metrics had him slightly below replacement, and that seems about right. It’s not a guarantee that he’ll improve with the bat, but it’s not unlikely, either — he doesn’t have the profile of a guy who’d be locked in immediately, and you’d expect a BABIP uptick (.247 isn’t sustainable for anyone, much less a burner like Engel). He probably needs to figure it out quickly, or he risks losing a step on defense (a real concern for a guy turning 26 whose carrying tool is his speed), getting overtaken by a different White Sox project, or both.

If he can fend off Leury Garcia et al. for playing time, and more plate appearances help him improve as they have at other levels, and those improvements give him a little boost on offense, then he’s probably a decent, glove-heavy fourth outfielder for the next few years. That’s not a sexy outcome, and he will have to improve to get there, but it’s still pretty good for a 19th rounder. And hey, 336 PA would have been DeWayne Wise’s career high.

Lead Photo Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Jace Fry on Tuesday became the eighth member of the 2017 White Sox to make his major league debut. That number doesn’t even include the more heralded young players on the roster, as Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, and Reynaldo Lopez all saw time in the majors late in 2017. But nonetheless, I thought I’d take a look at those eight newcomers to the league, ranked in order of who I believe has the best chance of having a prolonged big league career.

1. Nicky Delmonico

Major league debut: Aug. 1
First plate appearance: Swinging strikeout against Toronto’s Marcus Stroman
First hit: Same day, single to center field against Toronto’s Ryan Tepera

Delmonico has simultaneously been the most surprising and most successful player to make his major league debut for the White Sox in 2017, hitting .307/.429/.573 with more walks than strikeouts in 91 plate appearances before going on the DL with a wrist injury (he’s expected back soon). Delmonico has been written about on a number of occasions in this space already this season, but it’s worth remembering he wasn’t among the White Sox Top 30 prospects even before the influx of talent, nor was he among the hundreds of players who received comment in last season’s BP Annual. However, he’s proven he can handle the bat at the major league level thus far, albeit in a very small sample size. While he’s limited defensively, whether it’s at an outfield or infield corner, he’s at least earned himself a further look going forward.

2. Aaron Bummer

Major league debut: July 27
First hitter faced: Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo, who struck out swinging
First strikeout: Rizzo

Bummer is one of the more fascinating players to debut this season. As a 19th round pick just three years ago, the odds of him making the majors, let alone this quickly, were incredibly slim. But he’s shown throughout his minor league career the ability to get left-handed hitters and as a potential LOOGY with three pitches and mid-90s heat, is obviously someone the White Sox see as a part of their future bullpen. He’s struggled through 18 appearances and 13 2/3 innings, with 10 strikeouts, nine walks, and a 6.59 ERA, but that’s to be expected given his inexperience. Like everyone else on this list, Bummer’s debut might not have happened if it weren’t for the state of the White Sox roster. Unlike most, however, his chances of sticking around are a little better than slim.

3. Willy Garcia

Major league debut: April 14
First plate appearance and hit: Same day, double to left-center against Minnesota’s Adalberto Mejia

The White Sox claimed Garcia off waivers from Pittsburgh in the offseason, and narrowly missed out on making the team out of spring training before making his debut just two weeks later when Melky Cabrera went on the paternity list. Garcia performed adequately in just 105 plate appearances, hitting .258/.317/.441 while playing passable if unspectacular defense in the corners. He’d undoubtedly still be getting run if it weren’t for the concussion he suffered in a nasty collision with Moncada, and the odds of him finding a role with a contending tim remain slim (sensing a theme here?) but for a player trying to prove himself for a non-contender, you could do a lot worse than Garcia has shown in 2017.

4. Adam Engel

Major league debut: May 27
First plate appearance: Swinging strikeout against Detroit’s Buck Farmer
First hit: Same day, a single to left field against Detroit’s Shane Greene

Engel actually scored his first career run before ever stepping foot in the batter’s box, appearing as a pinch runner and crossing home plate on a Leury Garcia triple in the first game of that day’s doubleheader. His first start, first plate appearance, and first hit came a few hours later in game two. Engel has gotten a lot of playing time for the rebuilding White Sox, something that might not have been the case on a team trying to compete. This is mostly because of his inability to handle the bat, and he’s proving that point through 246 plate appearances with a .170/.249/.284 line. Engel’s speed and defense plays, and he could very well find a spot on a major league roster beyond 2017 if his bat improves any. But right now, that seems like a long shot.

5. Dylan Covey

Major league debut: April 14
First hitter faced: Minnesota’s Brian Dozier, who singled to right field
First strikeout: Same day, Byron Buxton swinging

Cover was virtually guaranteed to be given every opportunity to stick around given his status as a Rule V pick in the offseason as well as the White Sox lack of pitching depth. A two month stint on the disabled list made it easy for them to avoid sending him back to Oakland despite his struggles. In 46 innings, Covey has a 8.41 ERA with 20 walks, 27 strikeouts, and an even-more-absurd-than-those-numbers 17 home runs allowed. Once the season ends, the White Sox will be able to send Covey to the minors with no repercussions, and he’ll likely continue his development and represent additional pitching depth going forward as a member of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.

6. Jacob May

Major league debut: April 4
First plate appearance: Strikeout looking against Detroit’s Justin Verlander
First hit: April 22, single to right field against Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco

Remember when I said you could do a lot worse than Garcia if you’re a player trying to prove himself for a non-contender? You should. It was like five lines ago. Anyway, that’s May. The surprising Opening Day addition to the roster started his professional career 0-for-26 in 30 plate appearances before finally getting a hit as a pinch-hitter nearly three weeks later. He was back in Triple-A Charlotte just two weeks later and spent the rest of 2017 there. We spent a lot of ink wondering what the White Sox had in May in the days leading up to the start of the season, and he’s not unlike Engel in that both are outfielders with good speed and the potential to play solid defense. But May’s April (or is it April’s May?) was downright disastrous. If he never sees a major league field for the rest of his career, he’ll still have those two professional hits to remember for the rest of his life. For his sake, I’m hoping he gets another shot somewhere down the road.

7. Jace Fry

Major league debut: Sept. 5
First hitter faced: Cleveland’s Carlos Santana, who singled to left-center field
First strikeout: N/A

Fry, of course, is the most recent of the newcomers, facing three batters in Tuesday’s loss to the Indians. He allowed the single to Santana, got Giovanny Urshela to line out, and walked Lonnie Chisenhall before giving way to Chris Beck, who promptly allowed a three run homer to Yan Gomes. Fry spent the entirety of 2017 before Tuesday with Double-A Birmingham, and has undergone two Tommy John surgeries in the last five years. That fact alone gives him long odds of having any type of lengthy major league career, so his story is the kind that I’m talking about when I say I find joy in any major league debut.

8. Brad Goldberg

Major league debut: June 3
First hitter faced: Detroit’s Justin Upton, who hit a home run
First strikeout: June 22 against Kansas City’s Alex Gordon

The White Sox have seen a lot of bad pitching performances in 2017 but Goldberg’s 11 appearances put together were about as disastrous as they come. In 12 innings of work, Goldberg walked 14 hitters and struck out just three, and allowed 11 earned runs. He exited a game unscored upon in just four of those 11 appearances. 2017 wasn’t all bad for Goldberg, however, as he helped a really fun Team Israel qualify for the World Baseball Classic and tossed two scoreless innings during their run in pool play. There isn’t much positive to say about Goldberg’s major league career thus far, and it’s tough to say whether he’ll get another shot (the White Sox are sure to be bad again in 2018, and he is a reliever, so you never know), but he’ll always have that.

Lead Photo Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports

Just look at the most recent White Sox wannabe-contenders. Despite having a core of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Adam Eaton, and Jose Abreu, the White Sox floundered while giving everyday at bats to the likes of Jerry Sands and J.B. Shuck. Quad-A bats and arms surrounded the White Sox stars and ultimately played a large role in dooming the White Sox in their ill-fated pursuit of the playoffs.

One of the benefits of going fully scorched Earth with their rebuild, as the White Sox have, is that you begin to get a closer look at players with a chance to fill those roles. Watching Moncada every day and Lopez every fifth day is the highlight of the remaining two months, undoubtedly, and seeing players like Matt Davidson, Avisail Garcia, Yolmer Sanchez, and Leury Garcia take steps forward in their development has been a pleasant surprise, but the White Sox have a few other, even lesser known players, with a chance to prove they can fill certain roles in the future. I’ve highlighted four players below who have been given rare opportunities and have shown, at times, flashes of that type of potential thus far this season.

1. Nicky Delmonico set a White Sox franchise record on Saturday when he reached base in his 12th consecutive game to start his major league career. The sample size is obviously incredibly small (49 plate appearances), but he’s impressed in the short term. Delmonico has played both the outfield and infield corners during his minor league career, but his versatility may be a bit overstated because while he can, in theory, play those positions, he’s yet to prove he can play any of them well. Thus, his ability to stick around at the major league level will be based almost entirely on continued offensive production. So far, so good, as both his swing and contact percentages are right in line with the league average, as are his strikeout and walk rates. Still, a .483 BABIP suggests quite a bit of luck when contact is made, so the jury’s still out as to whether or not Delmonico’s surprising debut is more than just that of a guy who finds some small sample size success during the second half of an otherwise lost season.

2. As a 19th round pick in the MLB Draft just three years ago, and someone who had Tommy John surgery just two years ago, Aaron Bummer has already surpassed most reasonably expectations for his major league career. And while he’s thrown just 7 2/3 innings in the majors thus far, his quick ascent through the minor league ranks speak to the White Sox confidence that he could be a valuable bullpen asset. Given that he’s a left-hander whose fastball sits 93-95 mph with a wipeout slider to boot, it’s easy to see why. Bummer’s ceiling is likely that of a mid-inning reliever, but considering where he came from, finding someone you can potentially plug into mid-relief for the foreseeable future is not nothing.

3. If there’s one thing we knew about Adam Engel throughout his minor league career it’s that his speed was real and his defense in center field seemed to be a strength. What we weren’t sure about is if his bat could hang around against major league pitching.

Mercy!

WATCH: https://t.co/DI9I0eQvR2 pic.twitter.com/1V11u4Wj5L

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 12, 2017

Must C: Adam Engel races back to the warning track, leaps up and makes an outstanding catch to rob Brian McCann of a home run. pic.twitter.com/EzXBoETlv2

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 9, 2017

Engel’s defense is legit, and the metrics agree as he’s put up 4.5 FRAA in limited playing time. The same can’t be said about his bat as he’s put up a .204/.273/.331 line and a 29.9 percent strikeout rate in 177 plate appearances entering play Sunday. He was always fighting an uphill battle offensively, and it’s possible he ultimately falls into the category of “above average defender who becomes unplayable because of his offensive shortcomings,” but with any improvement, there’s at least a chance he hangs around as a fourth outfielder/pinch runner/defensive substitute long term.

4. The offensive threshold for backup catchers isn’t very high, and thus, there’s nothing wrong with the .276/.307/.381 and 82 wRC+ Kevan Smith has put up in 194 plate appearances this season. Smith is different from the other three guys I’ve mentioned in that he’s not young — 29 years old despite not making his major league debut until last season — but he’s proved he can handle the bat at least to a certain extent at the major league level. Likewise, while the threshold for White Sox catchers is incredibly low over the last two seasons, he’s proved to be better in terms of framing than any other White Sox catcher in 2016 or 2017. The issue with Smith behind the plate is the running game, as opposing base stealers are 42-for-45 in attempts with Smith behind the plate this year. At 29 with a limited skill set and one very glaring weakness, both his ceiling and his floor are pretty low, but if the White Sox ever do figure out their catcher situation — internally or externally — there are worse backup options around than Smith.

The line between these aforementioned players having meaningful major league careers and being nothing more than roster filler for a bad team during a bad season is very, very thin. But all have been given a rare opportunity to show the White Sox they can stick around beyond this year.

5. The White Sox hadn’t made a trade in two whole weeks, but our long trade-less spell finally ended when news broke late Sunday that they traded Tyler Clippard to the Houston Astros in exchange for the well-traveled PTBNL or Cash Considerations.

Clippard threw 10 innings in his White Sox career after coming over as salary filler in the deal that sent David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, and Todd Frazier to the Yankees, and was mostly fine. After allowing two runs in his first 2 1/3 innings post-trade, he threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings over his final eight appearances.

This means very little in the long term, of course. As I mentioned, Clippard was a veteran throw-in that helped save the Yankees some of the money they were taking on in the form of Robertson and Frazier. He’ll likely provide some help to the slumping Astros and in exchange for either further salary relief or a non-prospect throw in we’ll learn about a few months down the road.

Lead Photo Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports