Santiago spent the duration of 2018 with the major league team after making the final cuts out of camp, pitching mostly in long relief with a few spot starts here and there. His final line: 49 appearances, seven starts, a 4.41 ERA, 5.12 FIP, a decent amount of strikeouts and a whole lotta walks.

He was the prototypical mop-up man for a White Sox team that needed mop-up duty on a whole bunch of occasions. Of his 42 relief appearances, exactly half of them came with the White Sox trailing by four or more runs and only six times did he appear in the eighth, ninth, or extra innings with the game tied or the White Sox leading by one or two runs. Nine times, he entered the game in the fifth inning or earlier and in only one of those games were the White Sox leading at the time.

That’s pretty much what one would have expected when the White Sox acquired Santiago. He was depth, served to protect the young arms and join James Shields as someone capable of eating innings without completely embarrassing himself. Was he good? It would be tough to argue that he was. But he certainly served a purpose for a team that lost 100 games.

Kevan Smith, as you know by now, is no longer with the White Sox after the Los Angeles Angels claimed him through waivers shortly after the World Series.

Smith was always kind of the odd man out when the White Sox signed Welington Castillo last offseason, but was pressed into more playing time in 2018 than initially expected after Castillo’s banned substance suspension.

Smith was hardly incompetent in extended playing time, and was the only of the White Sox three primary characters who the defensive stats liked even a little bit. His FRAA_ADJ was 0.7, compared to Castillo’s -6.4 and Narvaez’s league-worst -15.7.

That Smith won’t be around in 2018 is unfortunate, as more catching depth is never a bad thing. It’s entirely possible that the offensive potential of Castillo and Narvaez — after a breakout season at the plate — won’t outweigh the defensive negatives, but catching stats fluctuate strangely from year to year (Castillo was good in 2017), and with Zack Collins and Seby Zavala waiting in the pipeline to hopefully, potentially, take over catching duties, losing him is hardly a detriment to the rebuild.

I’ll save the hand-wringing over the integrity and morality of Castillo’s deed for those who feel more inclined (although Rosenthal also confirmed the suspension is not for a steroid), but assuming MLB confirms the suspension Thursday, the White Sox will essentially be right back where they were prior to Castillo’s signing — with a glaring black hole behind the plate.

Omar Narvaez, who was more or less than starting catcher throughout 2017, is better served as a backup catcher (if that), and what he brought to the table last season (on-base skills) hasn’t carried over to his part-time work this year. Narvaez is hitting .180/.275/.246 through 70 plate appearances with twice as many strikeouts as walks. Castillo’s defensive numbers, which have dipped this year after a career-year in 2017, were more palatable considering the plus offensive skills he provided. Narvaez provides none of that, and poor defensive skills to boot. In his limited action, he ranks last in the majors in FRAA_ADJ at -5.7. And while he has thrown out 31 percent of attempted base stealers, he leads the league in passed balls allowed.

Behind Narvaez will presumably be a familiar face in Kevan Smith. The 29-year-old, who spent a majority of last season with the White Sox, was just placed on the minor league 7-day disabled list, although the severity of the injury is unknown. Smith provides a bit more offense than Narvaez, and has also received glowing reviews from pitchers for his game calling in the past, but features the same defensive shortcomings.

Outside of those two, there aren’t a lot of options. The only other catcher on the 40-man roster is Alfredo Gonzalez, who has received glowing reviews for his framing throughout his minor league career, but is a career .233/.319/.304 hitter at the minor league level, including .169/.278/.191 thus far this season with Triple-A Charlotte. The other catcher on Charlotte’s roster, Brett Austin, was Carlos Rodon’s catcher at N.C. State but has garnered just five at-bats this season and is also currently on the disabled list. 39-year-old Carlos Ruiz and old friend Geovany Soto are free agent possibilities, but it’s unclear if there is any interest or if either would represent much of an upgrade over Narvaez and/or Smith.

What this means for Castillo’s future is perhaps even more unclear. When the White Sox signed him to a two year, $15 million deal with a team option for 2020 in the offseason, it was seen as a level-headed move for a stabilizing veteran meant to bridge the gap between the present and when Zack Collins was presumed ready to take over.

80 games is demoralizing for a team, not because they’re trying to contend, but because that stability is now lost. Castillo will presumably rejoin the team following the suspension and play out his contract in 2019, but what comes next for both him and the White Sox catching position is now up in the air.

Lead Photo Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Kevan Smith didn’t blow the roof off the place by any means. But the offensive threshold for catchers isn’t high, and a .283/.309/.388 line is perfectly acceptable for a backup catcher type. The metrics didn’t love his defense, as his -6.6 FRAA ranked 29th out of 35 catchers who saw at least as much playing time as Smith (Omar Narvaez, for the record, checked in at 30th), but he got nothing but positive reviews from pitchers on how he called the game from behind the plate. Smith is still a long shot to be a contributor to a contending team, of course. He’ll be 30 in June, and for however good I made him sound in the previous few sentences, all of that added up to what was essentially a replacement level catcher. But for a rebuilding team plagued by the Curse of Non-Tendering Tyler Flowers, the White Sox couldn’t have asked for much better given the expectations coming in.

The reason, of course, that Smith got as much playing time as he did is because the veteran backstop the White Sox brought in on a cheap, minor league deal played all of 13 games. Geovany Soto’s bat has been, for the better part of his career, a plus as far as catchers go. The White Sox let him go after an unimpressive but not terrible 2015 season, and he came back this year to presumably split time behind the plate with Narvaez. But after battling knee injuries during his year in Los Angeles, he underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery after suffering an injury in April and was never seen again.

Soto is the type of inexpensive veteran who makes sense as roster filler for a rebuilding team, particularly one bereft of impact catchers at or near the major league level. Whether he’s able to continue to be something close to that is up in the air, but by the start of next season he’ll be a 35-year-old catcher with a long list of injuries in his past, so his swan song may have already been sung.

My full time job revolves around designing sports sections for daily newspapers (yes, those still exist), and a lot of the papers I design are in cities with minor league baseball teams. One of my favorite things to do while designing these papers is look through that day’s minor league box score for some random major league retread still hanging around at Triple-A.

Chris Volstad was the epitome of that for the White Sox the last few years. You’d look at the Charlotte Knights roster and go “WTF is Volstad doing here?!” It became particularly funny in 2017 when Volstad was joined in the rotation by guys actually worth being excited about. Imagine going to a Knights game, where you’d have the chance to see Lucas Giolito or Reynaldo Lopez, or at least guys like Carson Fulmer or Tyler Danish. But nope. You bought a ticket on a day when Volstad was pitching. I live 10 minutes from the home stadium of the Round Rock Express, the Texas Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, and I did that once on a day Kyle Lohse was pitching. Minor league baseball is fun regardless of who is playing, and at Triple-A you’re not exactly at a game chock full of prospects (I went to an Express game this year that featured the likes of Will Middlebrooks, Pete Kozma, and Jared Hoying), but it’s a lot less fun when you’re watching an aging hurler holding onto his career by a thread. In fact, it’s kind of sad. Dammit, now I’m sad.

Anyway, that’s the end of my story. Volstad threw 19 2/3 innings for the 2017 White Sox.

Check out Michael Ynoa’s first Baseball Prospectus Annual comment from back in 2009:

It’s hard to get a PECOTA projection when you’ve yet to pitch a pro inning, and even more difficult when you’ve barely pitched a competitive inning at all. But Inoa is deserving of far more than just a comment at the tail end of the chapter. The talk of scouting circles all spring, the Domican wunderkind signed for $4.25 million, more than doubling the previous high-water mark for a Latin American pitcher. Many who saw him called him the best 16-year-old arm they’ve ever seen; he already touches 94 mph, has a very good breaking ball, and with a long, loose six-foot-seven frame, his potential is almost immeasurable. Obviously he’s very young, and there are countless things that could go wrong between where Inoa is now and potential stardom, but his talent is borderline historic, and deserves mention.

All of the countless things that could have gone wrong for Ynoa went wrong, and eight years later he’s coming off a season where he walked 22 batters in 29 innings, got hurt, was DFA’d, and subsequently spent the remainder of the season in the minors. When the White Sox acquired Ynoa in the infamous Jeff Samardzija trade, there was at least a “Hmmm” factor, given his once lofty prospect status. He’s now 26, remains injury prone, and has yet to demonstrate the ability to throw the ball over the plate on a consistent basis. The optimism, it is waning.

Lead Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-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

1.  It was another big night for the potential bats of the future. Yoan Moncada raised his line to .196/.366/.321 by going 1-for-2 with two walks and a scorched double on the night. Tiny sample size and arbitrary end points ahead, but he is hitting .389/.560/.444 in his six games since returning from injury.  Similarly, in his last seven games, Tim Anderson has hit .355/.355/.710, including a 2-run home run to open the scoring against the Astros on Wednesday.

It will take a lot more of that for Anderson to get his year-end statistics to a positive place, and there are still significant flaws in his game.  But as Collin pointed out, there are reasons to cut Anderson some slack, and over the past week we have seen a dramatic reminder of the dizzying potential that the White Sox’ middle infield of the future holds.

2.  Adam Engel and Nicky Delmonico don’t have the prospect pedigree of Moncada and Anderson, to say the least, but 2017 has represented a year of significant progress towards establishing themselves as major leaguers.

In Engel’s case, so far he has shown that he can convert his speed into plus range in center field.  FRAA agrees, having him as plus 4 already in very limited playing time.  Engel turns 26 this winter and his bat inspires healthy skepticism, but at the very least he has flashed some hitting ability during hot streaks in the minors, and he’s bigger and more physical than most speedy / glove-first center field options.  Engel may already have shown enough to get future looks as a bench bat, particularly for an NL team, but even if he is a .550-.600 OPS plus glove in center he would represent an upgrade over some of the back-up plans we’ve seen the White Sox deploy at that position.

Delmonico is hitting a totally sustainable .400/.455/.533 as he is clearly the second coming of Shoeless Joe Jackson.  Unless something changes and his power takes a leap forward, Delmonico looks like a guy who can play mediocre defense at all four corner positions while making good contact from the left side. He also has the scrappy part of the bench player down, as he is already 2-for-2 on bunt singles to punish infield shifts against him.

Engel was a 19^th round draft pick, Delmonico was a minor league free agent, and they both look like major leaguers, albeit as backups, which is a fantastic outcome in both scenarios.  Moncada and Anderson are infinitely more important to the future of the organization, but the White Sox continue to demonstrate an organizational leap forward in finding and developing complementary pieces with minimal investment, which could be a huge part of building the next playoff team.

3. Miguel Gonzalez continues his roller coaster 2017, holding a stacked offense to 1 run on a solo homer across 8 innings of very efficient work. Gonzalez struck out four while only walking one. He occasionally missed his spots with his fastball, but it had enough life on it that he got away with it, and was able to steal strikes and get swings and misses with his breaking pitches.  Since coming off the DL, Gonzalez has pitched two very good games with more walks than usual, one absolute disaster, one decent outing, and then one gem.

There are still three weeks until the waiver trade deadline.  The Cardinals have surged back into the NL Central division race, and good stretches from the Twins, Orioles, Mariners, and Angels have six teams within 2.5 games of the second wild card spot in the American League.  Whether the White Sox get offered anything they think is worth having to find someone else to pitch Gonzalez’ innings remains to be seen, but he would be able to help out a lot of teams trying to sneak into the playoffs.

4. Catcher defense is a complicated thing, but by our metrics, Kevan Smith has thus far been virtually neutral as a pitch framer. FRAA is still bearish on his defense given his shortcomings in other aspects of catching, but by all accounts the pitching staff enjoys working with him. Smith is already 29, but again, represents a big league return for a late draft pick, and there have been really good teams with worse catching situations than the White Sox currently possess.

5. Reynaldo Lopez will make his major league debut on Friday, August 11. Even after a shakier outing on Sunday, Lopez’ has pitched to a 2.70 ERA across his last eight starts, holding opponents to a .193/.262/.339 line in the process. There are still plenty of doubters as to whether Lopez can remain a starting pitcher, as he did not crack our Midseason Top 50 list for precisely that reason.  He has done everything the organization asked of him, the stuff is certainly there, and the results have matched the stuff for some time now in Triple-A, so now all that’s left is to see what he can do against major league hitting.

Lopez will join the growing list of players that are worth watching every time out on a team that is losing an awful lot of games this year.

Lead Image Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

1. Lucas Giolito had his second strong start out of his last three, striking out 11 over 6 innings while only allowing 5 hits 1 run and 2 walks.  The White Sox have been very clear that Giolito is a work in progress as they try to overhaul his mechanics. His fastball is no longer the 80-grade offering it was when he was in the discussion for Best Prospect In Baseball, but he could be a good mid-rotation starter as soon as next year, and that’s a really valuable thing.  The process is more important than the results at this stage with Giolito…but uh, feel free to explain to me why 11Ks is a bad thing.

2. Jake Petricka is back throwing rehab starts for Charlotte, throwing twice over the weekend.  The results haven’t been pretty, but unless you think his health is still compromised or this most recent injury permanently diminished his skill set, these appearances should probably be viewed as one would approach Spring Training.  Petricka isn’t a guy who had such a huge margin for error, so any permanent regression could be problematic. However, given his track record, he represents an upgrade over, say, Gregory Infante.

3. Given Jose Quintana‘s struggles, a popular conversation has been whether the White Sox erred in retaining his services into the 2017 season. This topic will be the subject of its own piece, but the only concrete offer that was made public was that the Astros declined the White Sox offer of Quintana for Francis Martes, Kyle Tucker, and Joe Musgrove.  For what it’s worth, Martes is getting annihilated at Triple-A thus far. It is the PCL, which is an extreme hitter’s environment, but he’s walking almost a batter per inning while also surrendering a billion hits.  Tucker dominated High-A and is adjusting to Double-A.  Joe Musgrove has been bad.

4. For a second round pick in an until-recently threadbare system, Chris Beck has certainly flown under the radar.  And while his velocity jumped when he shifted to the bullpen–which is a common phenomenon, but not a certainty–he got tattooed in his first extended look in the majors last year.  Undeterred, he’s posting respectable numbers in 2017 with a DRA of 3.45 and a cFIP of 96.

If Beck can maintain this level, he would represent a solid middle reliever. If he finds any further improvement as he continues to adjust to the deployment of his Reliever Stuff rather than his Starter Stuff, there may be a little more in there.  Either outcome would be a very welcome one for any second round pick.  Generating depth like this from within is certainly not flashy, but it’s really nice not having to spend resources in trades or free agency to fill out the back of your bullpen.

5. Kevan Smith has struggled with the bat out of the gate. Catching prospects are weird as a general rule and their development can meander all over the place, sometimes leading nowhere, or…well, look at Tyler Flowers.  Either way, so far Baseball Prospectus’ defensive metrics rate Smith as an average defender behind the plate.  If you can defend the catcher position, you can hit really badly and still have a major league career.  It’s an even more impressive result given that he was always considered a huge liability behind the plate, and you can see his steady improvement year-by-year as he worked with the White Sox’ player development staff. Factor in Smith’s physicality and decent minor league track record, it’s not impossible that he scratches out enough offense to contribute value off of the bench.

Omar Narvaez and Smith hardly combine to form Buster Posey, but as with Beck above, if you can generate serviceable options for the margins of your roster cheaply, it gives you a ton of flexibility elsewhere and continues to help avoid the death anchors / black holes that torpedoed the last White Sox would-be contention cycle.

Lead photo credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

1. Avisail Garcia once again had a good game, going 3-for-4 with 3 RBI, a walk, and no strikeouts. He’s hit safely in each of the White Sox first eight games this season. It’s still far too early to make any meaningful conclusion, but Garcia hasn’t slowed down yet. It will be interesting to see if and when his OPS drops below 1.000 for the season. Perhaps this is a resurgence, thanks to all pressure being removed, for Garcia. Or perhaps this is just a hot streak that even the worst major league hitters have. Speaking of performing well with the pressure removed, Matt Davidson hit another home run. He also struck out thrice, allowing his strikeout rate to stay above a comfy 50 percent.

2. Miguel Gonzalez managed to survive thanks to the offensive onslaught, but he didn’t look overly impressive as he lasted only 4.2 innings before being removed. Baserunners plagued him during his short start despite his ability to escape most of the jams he put himself into. His breaking ball lacked life and location, and his fastball was too hittable. Luckily for him, the White Sox offense decided to show up in a huge way.

3. Tim Anderson kicked the game off with a beautiful dinger on the first pitch of the ballgame. As he continues his sophomore season, it will be interesting to see whether he can produce the same type of power he did a year ago. His home run started a monstrous first inning for the White Sox offense, in which they batted around and scored seven runs. Just a week into the season, the White Sox did something they didn’t accomplish all of last year by hitting two home runs in a single inning (h/t @ckamka).

4. It was a busy day for White Sox prospects as pitchers Lucas Giolito, Spencer Adams, and Dane Dunning all made starts for different minor league affiliates. Dunning’s day was the most impressive of the three as he pitched eight innings of one-run ball while striking out 13 and walking none. Adams also had a good day, going seven innings while giving up 3 runs on 8 hits with 4 strikeouts and no walks. Giolito’s night, on the other hand, was not so pretty. He stuck around for just four innings where he gave up 3 runs, walked 4, and struck out 4. Reports from Charlotte indicated that his fastball velocity is still somewhat of a concern. He seems to command the ball better when he sits in the low 90s than closer to 94 or 95, but the White Sox would certainly hope that he can figure out how to command his fastball with higher velocity. Zack Collins threw out two runners in his start behind the plate, making him 6-for-8 in such situations for the season.

5. Just a couple days after Rick Renteria was asked about how he plans on using Omar Narvaez and Geovany Soto throughout the season, Soto is headed to the disabled list with an elbow injury. Renteria remarked that he expected the catching duties to be split more evenly. With Soto’s injury it seems that we will see even more of Narvaez than was previously anticipated. Kevan Smith got the call-up, but it doesn’t appear as though the White Sox want to see him start too many games during his presumably short stint with the team. This is of interest for two reasons. The first being that, because of Soto’s hot start, we haven’t seen Narvaez play much at all eight games into the season. The second is that Narvaez is still somewhat of a mystery, and watching him could have implications for the future as the Sox continue their rebuild.

Lead Photo Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The only problem was betting on Navarro and Avila. Navarro turned 32 in September and for his career only had one season of above average offense and two directly at league average. He could still throw runners out, but that was the extent of his defensive abilities. And while Avila is a fine enough backup, expecting a catcher with at least three admitted concussions since 2013 to be able to handle half of a platoon was hardly realistic. The Sox went from buying the eight on the craps table to betting a hard eight: the payoff is theoretically better, but you’re sinking your odds of walking away with a favorable outcome.

Which is exactly what happened. Navarro was shipped back to Toronto in August for a 25-year-0ld Double-A reliever. Avila had one of the stranger batting lines after the trade, managing only seven hits in 46 at bats but with four of those hits beings home runs, and drawing 14 walks as well. You don’t often see a .763 OPS paired with a .152 batting average. And while the return on the Navarro trade will likely never result in major league anything for the White Sox, it did free up playing time for someone who might. Omar Narvaez used his 34 games to show off his silent skill set: an impressive knowledge of the strike zone as a hitter and defense that, while not officially good, at least won’t make you want to break your remote while watching.

The White Sox grabbed Narvaez from the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2013 Rule V draft and stashed him away in the minors. He didn’t show up on any prospect lists because, well, he just kind of existed. Seven home runs in 1,543 minor league at-bats isn’t much of anything to write home about, and neither is a .277 average, so it’s completely understandable that no one knew who he was going into last year. He struggled tremendously in Birmingham in 2016, putting up a .208 TAv in 13 games. His 41 game stint in Charlotte didn’t go much better (.210 TAv). But then Kevan Smith got hurt and Navarro got traded and circumstances more or less forced the Sox into playing Narvaez in the majors. And he managed to hold his own.

There’s nothing inherently sexy about a .267/.350/.337 slash line or a .261 TAv. But from a 24-year-old catcher who before that season had never played above High-A? That’s pretty impressive. Of course, there are caveats. We’re looking at a 34 game sample size, most of which came at the end of the year when pitching staffs are cooked, manned with September call ups, or both. But after watching a full season of Navarro and Avila, it was a refreshing glass of lukewarm pond water after drinking sand.

I don’t expect Narvaez to be anything amazing, but he doesn’t have to be. He’s not going to suddenly develop power. His defense might improve from acceptable to decent. It’s not likely, but it happened with Flowers so I’m not willing to write it off completely. PECOTA is not optimistic at all about his upcoming season (-1.6 WARP, .233 TAv). But again, I’m not expecting Buster Posey. All I’m hoping for from Narvaez is what he’s shown his whole career: an eye that allows him to draw an equal amount of walks to strikeouts and a bat with enough hits in it to make him a 1-2 WARP player. The current rebuild is predicated upon stocking the minors with players with the chance of becoming All-Stars or more. If everything breaks right, Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada are the stars capable of carrying the offense. But those teams still need quietly useful guys filling in some of the other gaps. This year will go a long way in showing if Narvaez can turn into that type of player for Chicago.

Lead Photo Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

With this gaping maw for major league experience at the catcher position, pretty much any veteran would be a necessary addition for the Sox, and Geovany Soto, returning to the club on a minor league according to Bruce Levine and Dan Hayes, fits the bill well enough that penciling him into the Opening Day roster barely feels like a stretch. After all, he pulled off the same ascent from non-roster Spring invite to the big club just two years ago.

Not much has changed with Soto in that time. The ball still jumps off his bat (.196 ISO the last two seasons) when he actually makes contact (28.4 strikeout rate), he still has throwing arm good enough to stave off total chaos on the basepaths (his injury remains the secret turning point of the 2014 AL Wild Card Game), and he’s coming off another season where he barely played, specifically due to a tear in the meniscus of his right knee, again. He also is a below-average rated framer who could potentially be a challenging match with some of the lively, erratic arms the Sox figure to be matriculating through their system.

Entering a rebuilding season, with quality free agent catchers in typically short supply, it’s no surprise the Sox are rolling the dice with their internal options and making a meager investment in Soto. Long-term solutions are what they are searching for these days, and a commitment to Matt Wieters, or even a pursuit of Jason Castro, would likely have meant signing up for the descent from usefulness, with their best work coming now, when the roster is being stripped down.

But with the budget already slashed, there’s a case to be made that an investment in a sound backstop could have cascading benefits, especially with the degree to which the Sox future is tied up in pitching development. Carlos Rodon, who might soon be the staff ace by default, struggled to progress and utilize his changeup as a rookie until Tyler Flowers became his permanent partner in 2015, and last year did not earn the Sox a lot of benefit of the doubt that they are placing enough emphasis on this facet of the catching duties.

Not that Soto is suddenly responsible for the entire pitching staff; he hasn’t so much as played more than 81 games since 2012. If anything, a part-timer like Soto being the veteran stability signing only further cements 2017 as a trial opportunity for Narvaez, who emerged from near-total anonymity to flash a surprising mastery of the strike zone (.350 OBP and as many walks as strikeouts in 117 plate appearances) at the end of 2016. The bat control helped offset some of the power limitations that could be expected from someone snatched away from the Rays in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft three years ago. Narvaez also earned some encouraging plaudits from Rodon for his amiable work behind the plate, but that too is counterbalanced by poor–albeit early–framing numbers and pretty much no success at throwing out basestealers. 

With a great career opportunity lying in front of him, Narvaez could show that he has the skills to be a major leaguer for years to come, if not necessarily a long-term starter. Or he could flop and give way to a cycle of internal options with even lesser qualifications. Even a generous projection of a Narvaez-Soto platoon figures to merely adequate, and the downside could earn comparisons to last year’s group.

Such comparisons could only go so far, because the 2017 Sox will not be operating on the stakes of trying to prop up a playoff contender, they simply need to give their opportunities to someone worthwhile. Narvaez won’t earn much preseason buzz, but he’s already earned his shot, and with Soto aboard, at least he won’t be struck on an island.

Lead Image Credit: Kevin Jairaj // USA Today Sports Images

Hopefully he’s been very entertaining, because Anderson’s season is the only year by any White Sox player 25 or younger that hasn’t been drenched in failure or unfortunate injury. Carlos Rodon has scuffled, Carson Fulmer did the same early on in Double-A, made an adjustment back to more violent mechanics and started to rack up strikeouts, but has been mostly unusable upon being called up. If we want to expand the range to 26, Erik Johnson drummed himself out of the organization, but Brett Lawrie provided some encouragement by hitting exactly to his career averages before hitting the disabled listed with a hamstring strain.

Of course, continuing the theme of injury, the Sox have now seen four players hurt during their major league debuts: Kevan Smith tweaking his back in pre-game stretches, Jason Coats colliding with J.B. Shuck in the outfield, Matt Davidson breaking his foot on the basepaths, and now Charlie Tilson stepping awkwardly and crumpling over in pain after pursuing a sinking drive to the right-center gap.

Tilson is the first loss of anyone with anything resembling true prospect shine, but is the exception that proves the rule. Like Avisail Garcia in 2014, what all these players wind up having stripped from them is the rare chance to show their worth in major league games, during a stretch where the White Sox do not have to be particularly concerned with the losses they might pile up if these rookies fail. That in Tilson, Davidson and Smith’s case, they all went down before the Sox could even get the slightest glimpse of what they were capable of, is all the more confounding.

Garcia hurt the Sox because they went into 2015–a year where for which they made a number of short-term moves for the purpose of contending–with more aspirations for his ability than cold reality, and couldn’t very well offer Garcia a real shot and stash a plus-hitting corner outfielder on the bench just in case he failed.

No one involved in the rookie carnage this year was expected to play that large of a role, but having some organizational depth come to the majors and hold their own is how you get Tyler Saladino as an affordable, capable utility man, instead of spending $6 million on Emilio Bonifacio and Gordon Beckham. When the biggest free agent acquisition for the 2016 team was Austin Jackson, being able to discern whether Tilson can effectively duplicate his production is not such a small consideration.

The White Sox could still pull a full teardown, and trade both Jose Quintana and Chris Sale after the season, since those deals were never beholden to the trade deadline. But since they are unlikely to do so until proven otherwise, they can be assumed to be steaming toward some sort of plan to compete in 2017. With spending to augment the team likely to be an even more difficult path than when they bypassed last season, now that a weak free agency class will usher in higher prices for less impactful talent, the lack of progress and frequent injuries from their developing talent is truly vexing. That’s where a lot of the help needs to come from, and while there’s still plenty of time and hope, it’d be better if their first foot forward would stop buckling underneath them.

Lead Image Credit: Rick Osentoski // USA Today Sports Images