Under is an evaluation of the prospects within the farm system of the Chicago White Sox. Scouting stories have been compiled with info supplied by business sources in addition to my very own observations. That is the sixth 12 months we’re delineating between two anticipated aid roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see within the “place” column under: MIRP for multi-inning aid pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning aid pitchers. The ETAs listed usually correspond to the 12 months a participant needs to be added to the 40-man roster to keep away from being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Handbook changes are made the place they appear acceptable, however we use that as a rule of thumb.
A fast overview of what FV (Future Worth) means will be discovered right here. A a lot deeper overview will be discovered right here.
All the ranked prospects under additionally seem on The Board, a useful resource the location gives that includes sortable scouting info for each group. It has extra particulars (and up to date TrackMan knowledge from varied sources) than this text and integrates each workforce’s listing so readers can examine prospects throughout farm techniques. It may be discovered right here.
Different Prospects of Word
Grouped by sort and listed so as of desire inside every class.
Accidents Have Interfered
Alexander Albertus, 3B
Casey Saucke, OF
Jarold Rosado, RHP
Wilfred Veras, OF
Nick McLain, OF
Albertus got here to the Sox alongside Jeral Perez and Miguel Vargas in mid-2024 once they shipped out Erick Fedde, Tommy Pham and Michael Kopech in a three-team commerce, however he has been restricted to eight rehab video games on the advanced because the swap attributable to recurring points from a left tibia fracture. Saucke received an aggressive draft 12 months project to Excessive-A after getting practically $165,000 over his fourth spherical slot worth, and confirmed some warts (below-average in-zone contact, extreme chase) however not a lot of the facility that might want to drive his nook outfield profile earlier than TJ worn out his 2025 season. Acquired on the 2024 deadline straight up for Paul DeJong, Rosado appeared like a future seventh inning man upon arrival. However he confirmed as much as camp underweight with backed up stuff and by no means received on monitor in his 40-man platform 12 months. There are different causes Veras’ above-average uncooked juice hasn’t actualized than simply repeated hamstring strains, however they actually haven’t assist. McLain put up massive numbers at ASU, however appears to be like like a little bit of ‘tweener and has hit instrument considerations. The larger downside is again points limiting him to 13 professional video games because the Sox popped him within the third spherical of the 2024 draft.
Relievers Who Have a Little One thing
Pierce George, RHP
Eric Adler, RHP
Seth Keener, RHP
Luis Reyes, RHP
Gabe Davis, RHP
Phil Fox, RHP
Tommy Vail, RHP
Lucas Gordon, LHP
Jake Palisch, LHP
Nick Altermatt, RHP
George is 6-foot-6, 240 kilos, constructed like a brick wall, and touched 100 mph final 12 months, but it surely performs down attributable to a stiff decrease half that limits his command and extension. Adler entered 2025 with stuff adequate for 40-man safety consideration, however his fringy management backed up and he walked 31 in 36.2 innings with a demotion to Double-A thrown in. Neither Wake Forest nor the White Sox have discovered the magic bullet fastball tweak to permit Keener’s promising secondaries to drive a possible aid future, and the previous third-round choose has a 6.01 ERA in professional ball. Reyes was a $700,000 signee in 2023 below the earlier worldwide workers, which struggled to supply a lot pitching from the DR however noticed the right-hander quite a bit in opposition to stateside competitors as an beginner. He made massive strides in his strike-throwing to slip under a ten% stroll price in 87 Low-A innings as a 19-year-old, however Reyes’ lengthy arm motion and hittable fastball give him a aid look. The Sox simply gave Davis $50,000 over slot within the fifth spherical for premium uncooked elements — he touched 100 mph and has a lanky 6-foot-9 construct and a probably plus slider — with an emphasis on uncooked, given his 5.61 ERA over three years in Stillwater and myriad supply points. Vail and Fox are each relievers with low-90s four-seamers that carry particular elements. Vail is a lefty with 20 inches of induced vertical break, and Fox is a 5-foot-9 righty with a low slot that will get an uphill angle. Gordon sits within the low 90s and drops an excellent changeup out of funky excessive slot that he will get to with a peculiar-looking supply. Palisch is a tightly-wound undrafted lefty who received a cup of espresso final 12 months in a testomony to the worth of pumping strikes. Altermatt is a 26-year-old pure reliever with a uneven supply, however there’s one thing funky about his 92-95 mph heater; A-ball hitters haven’t any reply for it.
Utility Profiles
Matthew Boughton, INF
Ben Cowles, SS
Ryan Burrowes, INF
Dru Baker, OF
Rikuu Nishida, 2B/LF
Boughton was an eleventh spherical prep choose this previous July who turned 20 simply after draft day. He performed in a small parochial convention with mild competitors, and his swing could possibly be a slow-burn growth challenge, however he’s a champion lengthy jumper with sufficient athleticism to dream on a six-position reserve future. Cowles was half of the Cubs’ return for flipping Mark Leiter Jr. to the Yankees, and was claimed off waivers after being DFA’d in September. He can cowl shortstop and has some thump, however hit instrument points have re-emerged in an enormous means since a wrist fracture in his breakout 2024 season. Burrowes’ sleek athleticism doesn’t translate to his hit instrument, the place his swing nonetheless underperforms in opposition to in-zone velocity regardless of a few tweaks to simplify his operation. He’s made actual plate self-discipline good points, however a super-utility future is clouded by shaky glovework on the filth. Acquired final Might for Matt Thaiss because the Rays have been shuffling by means of backup catchers, Baker has fifth outfielder versatility however lacks a median offensive instrument. Nishida is a pleasant pint-sized slash-and-dash menace to minor league defenses. He has bottom-of-the-scale energy and 2B/LF utility.
Complicated Dudes
Christian Gonzalez, OF
Yobal Rodriguez, RHP
Marcelo Alcala, OF
Alejandro Cruz, IF
Frank Mieses, OF
Osniel Castillo, OF
Diego Perez, RHP
Alexander Martinez, RHP
Gonzalez is a stout contact maven with precocious plate self-discipline who hit his option to a midseason stateside promotion to the ACL, however he has below-average energy and restricted projection. Rodriguez is a teenaged Cuban right-hander who was a late addition to the final worldwide class below a brand new workers. He topped out at 93 mph this previous 12 months, however has some projection and flashed a plus changeup. Alcala’s hit instrument points (37.5 Okay% within the ACL) are very out within the open, however the 19-year-old Venezuelan has compelling pace and uncooked energy potential. Cruz received $2 million in final 12 months’s class as a projection wager that added energy would develop his offensive instruments to match his current defensive acumen. That hasn’t come to move but, however the soon-to-be 19-year-old Cuban confirmed good zone self-discipline in his professional debut. Mieses has his personal hit instrument questions, however he’s a formidable athlete in heart and has been a precocious performer (.285/.410/.415 as a 17-year-old within the DSL) up to now. Castillo is a bat-to-ball service provider who slashed .375/.444/.542 in a tiny DSL pattern. Perez is small and slight however has an enormous 2,500 rpm curveball that was dominant out of his excessive arm slot. Martinez is a big human (6-foot-5, 210 kilos) who flashed 96-97 mph at instructs.
System Overview
Main league organizations, even ones with extra modest budgets and worldwide attain, are massively advanced organisms that pull in expertise in multitudinous methods. However boy howdy, do these guys love their Space Codes workforce. For the annual scouting showcase, the White Sox are chargeable for scouring the Midwest to construct out a roster of the perfect prep prospects from what is basically their yard, and when draft day rolls round, they nonetheless really feel each ounce of possession over the territory that such a time period implies. The Midwest will not be the nation’s premium expertise hotbed, however with Noah Schultz, Caleb Bonemer and Christian Oppor all taking massive steps ahead from some initially risky-looking draft day profiles, this listing gives some testomony to the worth of discovering one thing to attempt to dominate and committing to it.
One other learn is that the White Sox have racked up three consecutive 100-loss seasons with a correspondingly spiraling massive league payroll, which has no instant indicators of rebounding. In response, their participant acquisition course of has made a tough pivot towards taking massive pictures on high-ceiling athletes, in lieu of ever anticipating to have the ability to signal prime expertise in free company. With the main league workforce not adequate to consider the short-term, extra picks are aimed towards addressing their long-term plight. Tanner McDougal was chosen out of a Las Vegas-area highschool in 2021, the identical 12 months Colson Montgomery broke a streak of eight straight White Sox first spherical picks spent on school gamers. Beneath new management, the worldwide workers is pursuing seven-figure agreements with Dominican youngsters in future courses, this from a franchise that beforehand used its pool cash on superior and skilled Cuban gamers. The latest signing of Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami, pouncing when his market fell into Chicago’s worth vary due to hit instrument considerations, matches throughout the methodology of a corporation that feels prefer it should settle for threat to unlock entry to elite instruments.
On this vein, an space the place the Sox are already by nature scouting closely has served to turn into their hottest path to taking pictures on prep expertise. The Jaden Fauske choose looks as if it matches into the sample of Midwestern prep stars like Bonemer and George Wolkow, with Blake Larson nonetheless dwelling in Iowa when he emerged as goal, and there’s even the well-known story that the Sox provided six figures to Chicago Bears tight finish Cole Kmet when he was nonetheless at close by St. Rita Excessive College. However their most up-to-date draft may additionally make Fauske look a bit just like the outlier from a singular deal with up-the-middle teenage athletes like Billy Carlson, Landon Hodge and Matthew Boughton.
After all, it is a rebuilding workforce, so a variety of the prospect inhabitants right here continues to be simply the wages of fencing established massive leaguers. And because the offers that flipped Dylan Stop, the trio of Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech and Tommy Pham, and eventually Garrett Crochet, have been all unfold fairly evenly throughout the buildout of a brand new entrance workplace group, there’s a common thought that you would be able to slowly see baseball ops getting higher, and working off higher info. Crochet was additionally simply essentially the most beneficial piece of the three, however all 4 gamers within the prospect bundle for him have a reasonably good likelihood of holding down main league roles, whereas Drew Thorpe’s restoration from TJ represents the perfect hope of discovering worth from this group’s first blockbuster.
As with the farm techniques of earlier White Sox rebuilds, that is fairly a top-heavy group that might see most of its 50-FV gamers graduate within the coming season, downgrading it to middling earlier than the massive league product has returned to playoff competition. Not like earlier iterations, nevertheless, when the farm system’s excessive factors have been largely enabled by buying and selling frontline starters on team-friendly contracts of their prime, or pushing all of their worldwide sources in direction of a single participant, the style through which a few of the workforce’s greatest expertise has emerged offers a highway map for the way they may construct a robust system once more.
They are going to in all probability store native.