2010 Chicago White Sox Pre-Season Top 20 Prospects in Review

2010 Chicago White Sox Top 20 Prospects in Review

Here is a review of the 2010 White Sox prospect list, originally published December 9, 2009. THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE OLD LIST AND PRE-SEASON GRADES. THIS IS NOT A NEW LIST.  The 2011 list and new grades won't be ready until the season is over and I start writing the book.

1) Dan Hudson, RHP, Grade B+:  3.47 ERA, 108/31 K/BB in 93 innings in Triple-A, 81 hits. 2-1, 4.56 with 18/12 K/BB in 24 innings so far in the majors. The White Sox will regret trading him.

2) Jared Mitchell, OF, Grade B: Missed entire season with nasty ankle injury. Rehab reportedly going well.

3) Tyler Flowers, C, Grade B:  .220/.326/.447, 16 homers, 106 strikeouts in 83 games for Triple-A Charlotte. Has drawn some walks but strikeouts are eating him up. Stock dropping.

4) Brent Morel, 3B, Grade B-:  .313/.354/.439 combined between Double-A and Triple-A. Doesn't hit for much home run power and his walk rate is low this year, but has good contact hitting skills and a strong glove.

5) Jordan Danks, OF, Grade C+:  .241/.314/.371 with 14 steals, 34 walks, 117 strikeouts in 340 at-bats for Triple-A Charlotte. Eaten up with contact issues. For some reason I still think he can improve, but that's intuitive not objective.

6) Dayan Viciedo, 3B, Grade C+: .290/.329/.525 in Triple-A, .328/.328/.552 in 23 games in the majors. Completely unable to draw walks but it hasn't hurt him this year.

7) David Holmberg, LHP, Grade C+:  4.57 ERA, 32/11 K/BB in 45 innings in the Pioneer League, 59 hits. Traded to Arizona along with Hudson in the Jackson deal. Just 19, has a chance to improve.

8) C.J. Retherford, 2B, Grade C+:  .197/.249/.296 between Charlotte and Birmingham. Horrible year, no way to spin it otherwise. Hit well in Double-A in 2009 so rebound is possible, but at age 24 his window is small.

9) Christian Marrero, 1B-OF, Grade C+:   .257/.356/.362 for Birmingham, 59 walks, 67 strikeouts in 378 at-bats. Controls the zone well, but no power this year. Not what you want from a corner player.

10) Santos Rodriguez, LHP, Grade C+:   3.57 ERA, 59/32 K/BB in 40 innings for High-A Winston-Salem, 27 hits. Excellent K/IP and H/IP ratios, but walk rate is much too high.

11) Miguel Gonzalez, C, Grade C+:  .205/.250/.275 for Low-A Kannapolis. No power, bad plate discipline, unable to replicate '09 Appy League success. Good glove, has thrown out 51% of runners. Just 19.

12) Jhonny Nunez, RHP, Grade C+: Decent as Double-A starter (3.71 ERA,38/17 K/BB in 51 innings) but poor as Triple-A reliever (6.35 ERA, 28/14 K/BB in 28 innings, 32 hits).

13) Josh Phegley, C, Grade C+:  Just 16 games at Winston Salem due to injury, hitting .259/.306/.310. Sample too small to mean much.

14) John Ely, RHP, Grade C:  Traded to Dodgers after I did this list. 4.63 ERA in 14 starts for the Dodgers, 59/25 K/BB in 80 innings, 80 hits. A non-horrible rookie season.

15) John Shelby, OF, Grade C:  .240/.287/.399, 12 steals, 20 walks, 93 strikeouts in 89 games for Birmingham. The skills just aren't developing.

16) Tracye Thompson, OF, Grade C:  .236/.296/.458 in 39 games for Kannapolis before going on DL in late May with a thumb injury that required surgery.  Good power, bad plate discipline, young enough to improve at age 19.

17) Clevelan Santeliz, RHP, Grade C:  5.30 ERA, 32/22 K/BB in 36 innings for Charlotte, 32 hits. Decent strikeout rate, but command issues hold him back.

18) Lucas Harrell, RHP, Grade C:  4.24 ERA, 73/53 K/BB in 119 innings for Charlotte, 114 hits, 1.65 GO/AO. Typical ground ball guy with low strikeout rate, possible inning-eater.

19) Brandon Hynick, RHP, Grade C: Effective at Birmingham (2.36 ERA in 10 starts) but not so at Charlotte (6.21 ERA in six starts, 36 hits in 29 innings). Lack of plus stuff and low strikeout rate are handicaps despite his good control.

20) Carlos Torres, RHP, Grade C:   3.41ERA, 122/57 K/BB in 129 innings for Charlotte, 103 hits. Older prospect at age 27, but usually effective in the minors. Could still be useful utility pitcher.


Hudson is one of my favorites. Mitchell is too; I just hope the injury doesn't cost him his speed. The Sox system looked thin to me pre-season and struggles from several guys on this list don't help. I don't know what to expect from Viciedo; I just can't see him being consistently successful with so little patience. Could he be a Vlad Guerrero/Kirby Puckett type who can get away with impatience early in their career due to a lightning quick bat?