BP's Top 15 White Sox Prospects
Four-Star Prospects
1. Daniel Hudson, RHP
2. Jared Mitchell, OF
3. Tyler Flowers, C
Three-Star Prospects
4. Jordan Danks, CF
5. Dayan Viciedo, 3B
6. Brent Morel, 3B
7. Clevelan Santeliz, RHP
8. Trayce Thompson, OF
Two-Star Prospects
9. Santos Rodriguez, LHP
10. David Holmberg, LHP
11. C.J. Retherford, 2B
Four More:
12. Jhonny Nunez, RHP: Nunez has a 93-95 mph fastball and a very good slider, both of which should fit in a big-league bullpen, though he falls short of being the late-inning type.
13. Josh Phegley, C: The 2009 draftee is the rare college catcher with power and patience, but there are way too many questions about his defensive prowess.
14. John Ely, RHP: Ely has consistently gotten minor league hitters out, but on a pure scouting level, he has merely average stuff and command.
15. Nathan Jones, RHP: Standing 6-foot-5, he's projectable as all get out and dialed up heat clocked up to 97 mph this year; he'll also be 24 in January while having yet to get out of A-ball.
...
The Sleeper: While the White Sox are rarely big players on the international scene, they might have found something in 18-year-old Venezuelan catcher Miguel Gonzalez, who combines a good bat with power potential and impressive catch-and-throw skills.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9776
42 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
pretty weak
flowers looks like he’ll hit, but can he stay at catcher or will he be konerko’s replacement?
Hudson = a pitchability guy with a 87/88 mph fastball
mitchell/danks = toolsie college guys that are far from sure things
trayce thompson sounds like every other raw toolsie guy drafted except in other organization he wouldn’t be a top ten guy.
Williams has really depleted this system with all of his trades
viciedo has bust written all over him
Next time follow the link for the #1 Scouting Report
The Good: Hudson combines plus stuff with well above-average command. His 92-94 mph fastball can touch 96 and features good tailing action, and he throws strikes to both sides of the plate with it. His best secondary offering is a plus changeup that is a true swing-and-miss pitch, which lessens the concerns about his slingy, low three-quarters arm action.
92-94 touching 96 is a FARRRR cry from 87/88, paired with a plus change up noted as “true swing-and-miss”, and an inconsistent but potential to be big league average slider
all those points to -—> not just a pitchablitiy guy
are you a cubs fan????
and i thought everyone knew by now that flowers was fine as a catcher.
you could follow the link for that, too.
us Braves fans
know that he was not “fine at catcher”.
he’s got a decent arm, but his foot-work needs A LOT of work. He’ll be a good DH for the Sox in a few years, but he won’t be a Catcher.
by apoxonbothyourhouses on Nov 19, 2009 4:31 AM EST up reply actions
Braves fan here...
…who will point out that he was voted the best Defensive Catcher in the Southern League. He’s obviously improved from when he first arrived in pro ball.
Sidenote: Anyone else remember Flowers getting busted for steroids?
Hey, look!
You can go here too!
It’s almost as if there’s no good excuse to spout off misinformation about a pretty good prospect like Hudson. Almost.
um
based off everything that Baseball America has said about him including the prospect handbook tells me more than your “misinformation”…almost
Their "misinformation"
like actual radar gun readings from a company hired by Major League Baseball to calculate such things with remarkable precision?
Yeah you’re right, vague references to Baseball America (referencing things they haven’t even said) are probably better than Goldstein’s scouts with their radar guns and BIS/MLBAM with their “technology.”
Concerns
I think he’s been rushed and should spend at least one more year at AA/AAA. The track record for pitchers with less than that is brutal.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
by WayneCampbell08 on Nov 17, 2009 9:33 PM EST up reply actions
is it?
That definitely lands wrong in my mind, especially when you’re talking about pitchers. Care to expand?
Well
aCone, listed a few good examples below. I believe it was a year or two ago that I read an article about pitchers who struggle when first arriving in the major leagues. I think it was a Baseball America article, but I’m not sure. The gist of the article was that pitchers had the best chances for success with a full year at AA and at least 1/2 a season at AAA. There was also some discussion here of this while Tommy Hanson toiled away the first couple months of the year in Gwinnett.
Why does it ring wrong in your head? It seems pretty self-evident to me. I’m also a big believer in having prospects advance up the ladder one step at a time. I’ll have to try to dig up the article because it’s late and I don’t have the words …
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
by WayneCampbell08 on Nov 20, 2009 4:42 AM EST up reply actions
tim lincecum
pitched a total of 31 innings a AAA at the beginnings of 07, jumping AA completely after ending 06 in A+
he’s done alright for himself
liked mitchell at lsu
but he is far from a finished product and he has questions about discipline and power to be answered
Thompson
This guy could explode in the next couple years and it wouldn’t surprise me if he eventually is #1 on this list.
The Sox have some nice talent at the top (Hudson, Flowers, Mitchell). However, this system lacks depth and although it’s not awful, it’s certainly unspectacular…. Williams has taken some gambles and shipped off a good deal of minor league talent and now needs to restock the system.
Its a pretty bad system. Definitely bottom half.
The top three include a decent pitching prospect who scouts feel has already “maxed out” his talent, a raw toolsy OFer who’s already 21 yo and a decent hitting catcher who’s not great behind the plate. Further, none of those guys are top 25 guys. There’s not much beyond those three, either.
I really like Hudson and Mitchell, and to a lesser extent Flowers, but they have some question marks and either arent elite/impact talents(Hudson and Flowers) or are far away and raw (Mitchell). To be honest, these are the kind of guys who profile as 4th, 5th, 6th best prospects in a good system. Compare Hudson to Danny Duffy, for instance. If Jared Mitchell were in the Red Sox system he might be the 4th best OF prospect.
I agree with you.
I’d probably peg it around the 25th best system in baseball (or conversely 5th worst). There’s some nice talent here, but there’s a serious lack of depth in this system combined with no truly elite players (although personally I’m a big Hudson fan). Chicago’s big league team is fairly mediocre so they need to infuse some talent into this system to stay competitive (especially considering the Twins consistent good play and the excellent farm systems of the Indians and Royals).
technically
25th system is the 6th worst… infront of 26(5), 27(4), 28(3), 29(2), 30(1)
flowers
what do you guys make of his offensive cieling?
KG had some negative things to say about in the chat today
“lots of holes in his swing” and he has serious concerns about his ability to hit for average. Sort of seems like a poor man’s Mike Napoli to me.
Mike Napoli is really, really good.
80 BB and 20 HRs is a good deal less than Napoli would put up in a full season of ABs – if he ever friggin gets one.
Because we know all about catching defense and how to evaluate it
enough to say that an offensive catcher should be playing everyday?
by Daniel Berlyn on Nov 17, 2009 5:43 PM EST up reply actions
especially since everything we can measure puts Mathis about equal defensively.
Sure, Mathis is better though. But enough to make up for his bat? Never. Not remotely.
just tweaking you.
i’m sure you recall the “who will be better: napoli or flowers” post. you’re slowly coming around on flowers. now he’s just “not that great” on defense. this time next year you’ll be calling him johnny bench or something.
fair enough
Im still not a huge Flowers fan, but you’ve convinced me in previous arguments that I was too low on him. I think some people around here have some unreasonable expectations for his bat. Definitely seen a lot of stuff on his defense improving this year, so have to bump him up further.
i have questions about the bat, as well.
but he looks like a major league catcher to me now. the walk rate is what will make or break him.
true
but he also said hes good for 80 walks and 20 homers making him above averge at the position
False
The only way he gets 80 walks is if he plays all 162 games a season. Not very likely. Or goes back to AA.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
by WayneCampbell08 on Nov 17, 2009 9:31 PM EST up reply actions

by 













