The Chicago White Sox made a huge move to trade ace Chris Sale. How did the return impact their minor league system?
An Introduction
Our minor league top 10 series is coordinated by Benjamin Chase, one of our contributors at Call To The Pen.
He has poured over thousands of minor league games over the course of the year via milb.tv along with speaking with a number of team and independent scouts. These lists are based out of those conversations.
Each system will have prospects from 10 to 1, and then finish with one newcomer to the system that is worth keeping an eye on that is not in the top 10 at this time.
Conversations are certainly encouraged in the comments section on each system as we go along!
After taking big swing and misses on high athleticism in guys like Courtney Hawkins, the system is missing truly elite talent
White Sox System Review
One of the major reasons you’re hearing rumors about Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, and many more being on the market this offseason has to do with the barren state that the team finds their farm system.
Even after the big Chris Sale trade, the White Sox still have a very shallow system, though they have now acquired some major top-end talent.
After taking big swing and misses on high athleticism in guys like Courtney Hawkins, the home-grown system is missing truly elite talent. Those types of players can turn into a solid player with extra development time, as seen with Trayce Thompson, but more frequently, they’re susceptible to an extremely high bust rate.
When it’s come to arms, the team has hit big with guys like Sale and Carlos Rodon, who both moved quickly through their system, but outside of that, the picks have been rough, to say the least. Their pursuit of high-velocity, big breaking ball college arms has produced those two, but it’s also led to some big fallout picks, which is tough to do when it’s a top 10 overall selection.
The White Sox will be intriguing to watch this offseason, and I would wager that they would be wise to pursue a trade of more quantity than quality in any further trades this offseason, and I’m sure their front office knows this. Teams like the Braves, Brewers, Padres, and Yankees have quickly jumped their systems to elite level by going for a wide swath of talent rather than one or two elite guys in a trade.
Let’s take a look at the top 10!
Next: #10