Those are just some of the guys who have taken advantage of the circumstances that surround the White Sox roster the last few years. If the White Sox were in a different situation — say, trying to contend — many of those players may not have had the opportunity to try to prove their worth at the major league level. There’s hardly any benefits to a rebuild from the perspective of a fan, but one of the minor ones is seeing borderline major leaguers prove they can hang. Most of those players won’t over the long haul, but the Astros obscene tank job in the early 2010s allowed them to give meaningful playing time to guys like Jose Altuve, Dallas Keuchel, or even Marwin Gonzalez, all of whom wound up being valuable members of their World Series team in 2017.

Those are extreme examples, of course, but the point is that while 99 percent of the “quad-A” types who litter the rosters of rebuilding teams will flame out, there’s always a chance one of them might break out in a meaningful way and thrust themselves onto the next team built to contend.

It’s yet to be seen if any of the players that fit that profile will do so for these White Sox, but another player who may have played himself into further opportunities in 2018 was Jose Rondon. The 24-year-old only had 107 plate appearances at the major league level, but showed enough during both that time and during his season at Triple-A to make you wonder what, exactly, the White Sox have in the player they acquired from the San Diego Padres last January.

As a prospect, first for the Angels and later the Padres, Rondon profiled as an above-average glove at shortstop who could hit for a decent average with little power or patience, and that reputation pretty much stuck throughout his career. His career high in home runs was seven in 2017, and his walk rate for the most part hovered in the 3-8 percent range. Something change in 2018, though, and he led the Charlotte Knights in home runs with 16, and hit 24 total across Triple-A and during his cup of coffee in the majors. The strikeout rate increased with it, as one might expect, but an ISO more than 50 points higher than his career average is enough to make you turn your head.

If the improvements Rondon made in 2018 are real he goes from potential minor-league depth to potential major-league contributor. He’ll have just turned 25 by the time the 2019 season starts, so there’s a decent chance he’s just now starting to turn into the player he’ll become. A player who can more than hold his own at shortstop while providing legitimate power is valuable on any team. The problem, of course, is that the White Sox already have a facsimile of that entrenched at the position, and one with a lot more upside and athleticism. Similarly, while he may be better suited in a utility infield role given he’s a projected plus defender at third and second as well, the White Sox have guys like that in Yolmer Sanchez and Leury Garcia.

Still, having a surplus of players of that ilk isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The White Sox aren’t yet in a position where a young and intriguing player is going to get squeezed out of playing time, so like the plethora of fringe major league players looking to prove their worth, Rondon will surely get more opportunities in 2019.

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Then, right before Carlos Rodon went out and threw another quality start, the White Sox made a trade and a few other roster moves.  First the bad news: Jose Abreu is on the DL with an abdomen/groin surgery and early projections have him out until mid-September or so.  Given how many plate appearances they may need to devote to sorting through options like Nicky Delmonico, Daniel Palka, and Matt Davidson — not to mention, hopefully, Eloy Jimenez — perhaps we have seen the last of Jose Abreu for 2018.

The White Sox also made a trade! They sent Luis Avilan and his unremarkable left-handed competence to Philadelphia in exchange for Felix Paulino.  Paulino is a slightly undersized right-handed relief prospect who has spent his age-23 season finally pitching his way out of High-A and has had a rough go of it in his first look at Double-A. Paulino sits in a 90-95 mph band on his fastball and features both a slider and a cutter but he hasn’t missed as many bats as you’d hope for a slightly older pure reliever. Presumably the White Sox picked him because they saw something, as although moving Avilan (who is in his final arbitration year for 2019) clears a 40-man spot, Paulino will need to be added this winter to avoid being claimed in the Rule 5 draft.  He has this in common with Caleb Frare and Kodi Medeiros.

To replace Jose Abreu on the major league roster, the White Sox called up Jose Rondon.  For all that Rondon has whatever the opposite of Kopech’s hype is, he’s 24, can legitimately play shortstop, and has suddenly shown a good amount of power across Triple-A and the majors this year.  That’s certainly a player who could use another decent run of major league time before the offseason.

Last, to replace Avilan in the Chicago bullpen, they called up Ryan Burr.  Acquired for IFA money from Arizona, Burr has breezed through the minors without much difficulty.  Listed at 6-foot-4, 225 lbs., Burr is physically imposing, although his velocity is more good than great.  The right-handed reliever was only in Charlotte for a few weeks, but is certainly ready for a major league look — he’s also due to be added to the 40-man this winter.

Inevitably, for reasons both silly and legitimate, Burr getting called up ahead of Ian Hamilton (Burr. Hamilton. Everyone will point this out whenever they can) was a little surprising from a baseball perspective.  Hamilton scrapes triple digits and has been annihilating all comers with his heat and low-90s slider, and even made it to Charlotte before Burr did.  However, Hamilton doesn’t have to be on the 40-man yet, so perhaps that vaulted Burr ahead of him for logistical reasons.  Regardless, I stand by my position that Hamilton being in Triple-A made/makes even less sense than holding down Kopech and Eloy Jimenez did.

Still, Burr is a legitimate prospect as far as relievers go, and I am excited to see if he and Hamilton can form the nucleus of an elite bullpen despite minimal resources committed.

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The 23-year-old Rondon was once among the Top 10 prospects in San Diego’s system, rising as high as No. 6 prior to the 2016 season. His star has fallen since, to the point where he wasn’t mentioned in BP’s write-up of the Padres’ system either of the last two seasons, and he was DFA’s by the club four days prior to Wednesday’s trade.

The move is curious in that it comes just six days after the White Sox sent another minor league infielder, Jake Peter, to the Dodgers in a deal that netted a pair of veteran relievers. But the main difference between Peter and Rondon is that the latter is a pure shortstop, something the White Sox are of despite the strength of their system. It’s true they have an abundance of major league utility-types, but Tyler Saladino is 28 and coming off a lost season amid injuries and ineffectiveness, and it’s possible they’d prefer Yolmer Sanchez and Leury Garcia, two more players capable of handling shortstop, to focus on third base and center field, respectively. Outside of those options, the next man up on the shortstop depth chart is, uh … Eddy Alvarez?

So Rondon makes sense, even if his upside offensively doesn’t match that of Peter, who slugged .506 in the second half of the season with Triple-A Charlotte a year ago. With a minor league option left, Rondon, who was added to the 40-man roster, will likely be the Knights’ starting shortstop to enter the season and be used as insurance in case of injuries to incumbent starter Tim Anderson or one of the other utility infielders.

Lead Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports