• Dylan Cease continues to add to his breakout 2018 season, as he has now thrown 40.2 dominant innings in Double-A after coming into the year having never pitched above Low-A.  Although Cease had some things in common with Kopech–elite fastball velocity, potentially wipeout breaking pitch–Cease’s issue had been staying healthy and on the mound more than Kopech’s bugbears of command and control.  That’s not to say Cease is Greg Maddux, exactly, but he does not boast Kopech’s musclebound build and had never thrown more than 93.33 innings in a pro season before this year.  On the other hand, he hasn’t gone totally walk crazy the way Kopech has from time to time either.  He’s now up to 112.33 innings in 2018 and judging from his stat line he’s showing no signs of fatigue.  Indeed, his last three starts have been triumphs, combining to 19 shut out innings with 28 strikeouts and only three walks.  One suspects he’ll start 2019 in Double-A again, but this is what he needed to do to make up for his time lost to injury and has thoroughly revived his chances to actually stick as a starting pitcher.
• The Winston-Salem Dash of High-A have lost Micker Adolfo to injury and Luis Alexander Basabe to promotion, and their lineup is still loaded with talent.  Blake Rutherford continues his bounce-back 2018 campaign, continuing to hit for contact and improving his power numbers with a .305/.352/.450 line.  On Tuesday, Luis Robert returned from his most recent injury and went two-for-four.  He joins Rutherford and Luis Gonzalez, the 2017 third-rounder who is posting an identical .850 OPS in High-A as he had in Low-A while working with Aaron Rowand to try to stick in center field.  From the outfield, all three can look in to see Nick Madrigal on the dirt who, unsurprisingly, has been a fast mover.  After 19 pro games, Madrigal finally had his first strikeout, but he has hit for average and gotten on base as advertised.  If they play well down the stretch, all four of these are candidates to start 2019 in Double-A.
• Ian Hamilton and Ryan Burr have been reunited at Triple-A Charlotte, as Burr has  joined his brother in history puns.  While the Mets have devoted a lot of resources without a lot of results to replenishing their organizational right-handed relief depth–this was essentially their only return for their sell-off last trade deadline, for example–the White Sox may have found a brace of setup men or even closers via trading international pool money (Burr) and the use of an 11th round pick (Hamilton).  Burr hasn’t skipped a beat in his first three innings in Charlotte, as he has yet to allow a run, and Hamilton keeps cruising along with an ERA in the low 2.00s and peripherals to match.  As fun as it is to see Matt Davidson’s surprising success in his relief outings, it seems likely these two will arrive sooner rather than later and take up some of the innings that have gone to lesser talents of late.

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

• The overall state of the White Sox farm system.
• The upside of Eloy Jimenez and Michael Kopech, what sets them apart from the rest of the system, and what went into picking between the two for the No. 1 spot.
• The high upside but risk of a prospect like Dylan Cease.
• Alec Hansen’s roller coaster ride from potential No. 1 draft pick to terrible college performance to top prospect.
• How the hell you rank Luis Robert.
• The next group of guys, what to like and dislike from Jake Burger, Dane Dunning, Blake Rutherford, and Zack Collins.
• Thoughts on guys outside the Top 10, including Micker Adolfo, Spencer Adams, A.J. Puckett, Yeyson Yrizarri, and more.
• The construction of the White Sox Under 25 rankings, as authored by Nick.
• Some always necessary talk about Japanese wrestling between Jarrett and Collin, while Nick tries not to fall asleep.

Be sure to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by searching for “The Catbird Speaks.” Please be sure to rate and review us!

Delmonico is a bit of a tweener as a prospect.  He can cover both outfield and infield corners, but unless he takes another step forward in his development it’s likely his bat limits him to a bench / platoon / second division starter role.  Delmonico has had his advocates, and with his mysterious departure from Milwaukee and reappearance in the White Sox system it hasn’t been a traditional development path.  Also in his favor is the fact that he shredded Double-A and had nice K:BB numbers in Triple-A, so maybe there’s room for him to upgrade his forecast if he shows more power.

2. Concussions are scary and often unpredictable injuries, so it is unclear when Willy Garcia will be cleared to return, but one hopes he doesn’t experience any long-term symptoms. Despite being only the third-best Garcia Breakout on the roster this year, getting what has been a league average bat with solid defense off of the Triple-A waiver wire is a victory as well if he can continue performing at this level in the future.

So far there has been no change in the day-to-day prognosis for Moncada, as it seems like he simply sustained a severe contusion to the quadriceps with appurtenant inflammation

3. On the pitching side, Mike Pelfrey nearly went six innings, but between his efforts and those of Gregory Infante, Pelfrey was charged with six runs as well. Although Pelfrey and Infante are surely giving their best efforts to try to keep their major league careers going, as far as the White Sox rebuild is concerned they fall into the category of “veteran stopgaps.” Given that the pitching staff is almost entirely composed of this phylum of pitcher at the moment, Tuesday’s game is a representative sample of the types of losses we should expect to continue for the remainder of 2017.

4. Fortunately, the arms in the system continue to impress. Michael Kopech kept his run of utter dominance rolling as he pitched 7 innings allowing only one earned run, striking out 8 and walking none. Over his last 27 innings, Kopech has walked just four batters.  Baseball America’s Ben Badler recently noted that he has done a better job of staying in line to the plate in his delivery, which is consistent with the sudden improvement in his control numbers.  Kopech’s arsenal is terrifying, so pitching deep into games and reigning in his walks checks the two biggest boxes one could have hoped for this season.  The questions now are how many more innings will the White Sox let him throw this season and can he keep this going?

Dane Dunning shoved again, striking out 11 over 7 innings with one walk and one run allowed.  In some respects this is what Dunning should be doing at High-A, given his advanced pitchability and change up. Still, if these trends continue Dunning should have positioned himself to start 2018 in Birmingham.

Compared to his recent blitzkrieg, Tuesday’s start represented a bit of a disappointment for Reynaldo Lopez, “only” striking out 5 in 5 innings while allowing two runs and 3 BBs.  Lopez seems ready for a call up, but it’s not exactly a crisis to let him keep learning in Triple-A while the White Sox see if they can find a waiver buyer for Miguel Gonzalez.

5. Blake Rutherford has had a very Blake Rutherford-y stretch since his arrival in Kannapolis, hitting .351/.415/.432. As an older high school draftee, one would hope he’d be able to dominate at this level.  Rutherford gets high marks for his bat-to-ball skills and he is controlling the strike zone well enough, but it remains to be seen how much power will arrive as he ages.

By contrast, Eloy Jimenez is six months older than Rutherford and continues to obliterate High-A, hitting .349/.406/.651 since joining Winston-Salem.

Lead Image Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA Today Sports Images.

• -The return for Todd Frazier, David Robertson, and Tommy Kahnle.
• -The high difference of opinions on Blake Rutherford.
• -Whether trading Kahnle was the right thing to do.
• -Any other trades likely? Does anyone want Melky Cabrera?
• -The insanely mediocre American League Central
• -Yoan Moncada’s promotion and what to watch from him the rest of the season
• -Other prospects who might get called up this season. Reynaldo Lopez? Lucas Giolito?

Also be sure to check out our summary of Wednesday’s deal, as well as BP’s transaction analysis. You can also read a more in depth take on the decision to trade Kahnle by Ryan Schultz, and Collin’s closer look at Moncada’s White Sox debut. Follow us on Twitter @BPSouthSide.

You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by searching for “The Catbird Speaks.”

When the White Sox traded for Kahnle, there was a good chance he would simply never cut it on a competitive team.  The stuff was always there, providing 11.1 and 13.5 percent swinging strike rates in his two seasons with the Rockies. He struck out batters at a rate of 22.1 and 25.2 percent those years. While that isn’t elite, it showed his ability to miss bats. The biggest problem was a common one among young pitchers — finding the strike zone. His 18.1 percent walk rate in 2015 was indicative of that issue. Even in his first season with the White Sox, his walk rate was at an uncomfortable 16.8 percent.

In this breakout 2017 season, however, the walk rate has plummeted to just 4.9 percent. That alone would have helped Kahnle become a more useful pitcher. What has been even more crucial is that his ability to find the strike zone has led to even more strikeouts. 37 innings into the 2017 season, Kahnle has struck out 43.1 percent of the batters he has faced. Only Craig Kimbrel has struck out hitters at a higher rate.

Kahnle’s much-improved control has had a domino effect on his pitching. With his walk rate reduced, hitters are more willing to chase pitches out of the zone. The swing percentage on pitches out of the zone against Kahnle has risen by 11.2 percent. He’s gotten first pitch strikes 53.7 percent of the time, a drastic increase from a season ago. He’s also dramatically improved the number of 0-2 counts he’s manufactured, now sitting at a rate of 29.3 percent. What these numbers boil down to is that he’s getting ahead in counts, and as a result getting whiffs to finish off batters.

All of this has come in one breakout season, or half season, really. There’s no certainty that it will last. Relievers are volatile, and a pitcher magically finding control doesn’t often last for a long stretch of time. That’s where the White Sox brilliance in his handling comes into play.

Relievers are wildly unpredictable, but the trade market at the deadline is incredibly lucrative for teams with bullpen arms to spare. The White Sox are aware of both of these things. Debates raged about whether the White Sox should deal the righty with three years of team control remaining. When the uncertainty of relievers is considered, it was almost a no-brainer that he should have been dealt at the height of his value. If a team was willing to give up valuable assets for a reliever with relatively no track record, the team should have absolutely jumped at that opportunity.

While opinions of Blake Rutherford certainly vary, he remains a Top 100 prospect at nearly every reputable prospect website, including being ranked 49th overall by Baseball Prospectus coming into the season (he was not included in the Midseason Top 50). That’s valuable to a White Sox team in the early years of a rebuild. And while Kahnle didn’t fetch that talent alone, he was likely the most valuable of the three pieces involved in the trade. The White Sox could have seen that value and decided to keep him on the staff. Instead, they decided to trade him while it is reasonable to assume he is at peak performance. It is this type of move that could be invaluable for the White Sox in the next few seasons, especially with pitching coach Don Cooper having a good reputation, albeit mostly anecdotal, for fixing broken pitchers.

The buy low-sell high tactic is certainly not a new one to teams in the throes of a rebuild. However, it’s not often that it works this well. Even by just looking inwardly at the White Sox roster, examples can be found of failures in this strategy. But when it works, it can turn something small into something really valuable.

Beckham’s failures were an indictment of the poor player development regime of recent years past, but they were able to turn him into Yency Almonte. Almonte in turn brought Kahnle to the South side. That provided the White Sox with half a season of a very valuable reliever, which then led to a Top 100 prospect landing in the organization. If the team is able to do that even just one more time, it would be a massive help in the process of rebuilding and piling on the organizational depth.

Lead Photo Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Concurrent with the trade, general manager Rick Hahn also announced that heralded top prospect Yoan Moncada would make his debut with the team Wednesday.

Rutherford is the headliner here as far as the return. The 18th overall pick in last year’s draft was often linked to the White Sox in the weeks leading up to the draft. He was considered arguably the most polished high school hitter in that class, but fell because of bonus demands and a ceiling that isn’t considered quite as high as those who went ahead of him. As BP’s Greg Goldstein put it on Twitter, he has a solid all-around game but no standout tool. He’s an outfielder who’s played a lot of center early in his career but is likely going to be destined for a corner long term. He was No. 49 in BP’s Preseason Top 101 but didn’t make the recently released Midseason Top 50, however, he’s ranked as highly as No. 30 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100, and was No. 36 on Baseball America’s Midseason Top 100.

Clarkin is a left-hander who was a first round pick in 2013 and has yet to pitch above A-ball, primarily because of injuries. Entering this season he’s thrown only 178 innings in his career, but he’s had modest success in High-A through 75 innings thus far in 2017. Polo is a 22-year-old outfielder originally signed by Pirates in 2012 who came over to the Yankees for Ivan Nova last summer. He was on Colombia’s World Baseball Classic team this spring, and has split time between High-A and Double-A with the Yankees this season. He was not in their system’s Top 30, per MLB Pipeline.

The final piece is Clippard, who is decidedly not a prospect. The 32-year-old veteran has a 4.95 ERA with the Yankees in 2017 and is a free agent after this season. He was likely included solely to help balance out the salaries (the Yankees are taking on the entirety of the money owed to Frazier and Robertson), and to eat some innings for the Sox for the rest of this season.

Frazier and Robertson being traded wasn’t a surprise, but packaging the two together, in addition to Kahnle, was a bit of a shocker. Kahnle’s trade value had obviously increased exponentially since the start of the season and there had been some debate as to whether or not he was worth trading at peak value or hanging onto as a present and potentially future bullpen asset. Hahn said in a press conference Tuesday that the trade wouldn’t have happened without the addition of Kahnle, and given the volatility of relievers, as well as the suddenness of his ascension, it’s tough to blame the White Sox for selling highly.

Combining those trades with the call-up of Moncada (as well as reliever Brad Goldberg; sorry for overshadowing you, Brad!) is a logical choice as Moncada can take Frazier’s place on the infield at second base with Yolmer Sanchez and Tyler Saladino now splitting time at third base. It will be important, of course, to temper expectations as he adjusts to the majors once again after an extremely small trial last September.

Lead Photo Credit: Kelley L. Cox / USA Today Sports Images

Unlike recent years when the White Sox picked 1-3 (and ended up with Carlos Rodon) and 1-7 (Carson Fulmer) the White Sox options are tougher to pinpoint, in part because they’re picking deeper (albeit slightly) in the first round than they have in recent years, and partly because the beginning of the first round seems to be less certain.

Mock drafts and power rankings are coming out in full force, so it’s time to get acclimated with the players who the White Sox might be considering at 1-10 in this June’s draft. Before we begin, I should start out by saying that I’m not a scout and don’t pretend to be a scout. These speculations are an assortment of my research of scouting reports, rankings, discussions with scouts, and my own viewing of those I’m able to see.

My favorites

Every year I have one or a few players who I prefer more than anyone else who could potentially be available when the White Sox pick. Two years ago, Rodon and I were love at first sight. Last year, I was kind of into Fulmer, but had eyes for Tyler Jay and, more explicitly, Andrew Benintendi. Neither of those two made it to the White Sox pick, of course, and I had no knowledge suggesting they preferred either to Fulmer, but this list represents who I would most like them to draft among the players who at least have a shot at making it to No. 10.

Corey Ray, OF, Louisville

If Ray were to make it to No. 10 in the first round, he’d immediately be a sentimental favorite and great story as a Chicago native who graduated from the White Sox ACE (Amateur City Elite) Program, which helps Chicago inner city youth discover baseball and grow as athletes and individuals.

Aside from that, Ray is an incredibly intriguing prospect, so much so that ESPN’s Keith Law has him ranked No. 1 on his list of top prospects for the upcoming draft, comparing him to Ray Lankford (who the uninitiated might think is a slight, but had a hell of a 6-7 year run during the peak of the Steroid Era).

Where he’s being placed in mock drafts varies quite a bit. Baseball America’s John Manuel actually has him reaching the Sox at No. 10 and them selecting him. Scout.com’s Jeff Ellis has the Braves taking him at No. 3, while Taylor Ward has him going to Milwaukee at No. 5. Over at MLB.com, Jonathan Mayo has the Marlins selecting him No. 7 overall.

Nick Senzel, 3B, Tennessee

Law called Senzel and Ray the two highest-floor bats in the draft, and the 21-year-old has seen his draft stock soar this season while mashing SEC pitching in his third year with the Volunteers, hitting .343/.441/.591 with more walks than strikeouts. You don’t need me to tell you that draft prospect stats, whether they’re coming from high school or college, don’t mean a whole lot, but he seems to have risen in similar fashion as Benintendi a year ago.

Unlike Ray, however, none of the aforementioned mocks have Senzel lasting to the White Sox at No. 10. BA’s Manual and MLB.com’s Mayo both have him going sixth to Oakland, while Scout.com’s two draft experts have him going first and second, respectively.

One mock draft says…

Blake Rutherford, OF, Chaminade Prep HS, Canoga Park, Calif.

MLB.com’s Mayo has both of my aforementioned favorites off the board before the White Sox pick, and has them taking the prep outfielder Rutherford. Baseball Prospectus’ Chris Crawford, in his Draft Guide, says Rutherford has a plus hit tool and the potential to have plus power, with the biggest question mark for the 19-year-old being whether he will be able to stick in center field or if his future is in right field. Prep players are tougher to project, of course, but “chance to be an All-Star” is something you appreciate reading about a player your team might select.

Other guys who would be cool

Mickey Moniak, OF, La Costa Canyon HS, Carlsbad, Calif.

Moniak’s stock has risen so much of late, that even if the White Sox want him it’s becoming increasingly likely he isn’t around at No. 10 anymore. Both Mayo and Manuel have him going No. 4 to the Rockies. Moniak, who turned 18 today, is expected to be a guy with a plus hit tool and speed, but little power, per Crawford, who also called him the highest floor prep player in the draft. It’s rare that a prep player could be considered a “safe” pick, but Moniak seems to be it.

Matt Manning, RHP, Sheldon HS, Sacramento, Calif.

Manning’s rankings are all over the board. He’s Law’s ninth favorite prospect, while Mayo doesn’t have him getting selected until Toronto at No. 21. Manuel, on the other hand, pegs him for the Twins at No. 15. He’s supposedly a long-term development project, but is 6-foot-6 and can throw 98 mph, so there’s obviously a lot to like.

Dakota Hudson, RHP, Mississippi State

Hudson certainly fits the bill of White Sox targets as a polished college pitcher with the potential to move through the system quickly. However, it would be foolish to compare him to Rodon or Fulmer. Hudson didn’t really break out as a prospect until a dominant summer in the Cape Cod League, and is one of a surprisingly small amount of college arms who are expected to go in the top half of the first round. Mayo has him going 15th to the Twins while Manuel actually has him being selected before the White Sox pick, at No. 9 to Detroit. Crawford says his slider is his best pitch and he has the upside of a mid-rotation starter with high-leverage relief as a fallback option.

Oh, that No. 26 pick

While the No. 10 pick will get the focus, the White Sox also pick 26th overall as a compensation pick for losing Jeff Samardzija in free agency. As tough as it is to predict a Top 10 pick, doing so for the latter portion of the first round is even more difficult, but some names to note are high school shortstop Gavin Lux (Mayo’s pick for them at No. 26), college LHP Eric Lauer (Manuel’s pick), and the guy I have my eye on, Stanford RHP Cal Quantrill, who had Tommy John surgery a little more than a year ago and has yet to pitch this season, but was once considered a potential Top 5-10 pick and is now expected to come off the board around the mid-20s.

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