The 2018 season was not what many with the Chicago White Sox had hoped at the major league or minor league level, but with a deep system, there were plenty of bright spots.
As part of our continuing coverage at Call to the Pen of the minor leagues, we will be covering each organization’s top players for 2018. The coverage will go in reverse order of record. Today, we will look at the Chicago White Sox.
We are going to review the system’s leaders for each organization statistically, then choose one hitter and one pitcher to honor for every team. This will be primarily based on statistical performance, though some “age relative to level” could come into play, so a very impressive season from a 28-year-old in AA will rank below a nearly as impressive season from a 20-year-old at the same level.
After we review each organization’s hitter and pitcher of the year, we will close out October with Call To The Pen’s Minor League team of the year. That will lead into November starting our team top 10 prospect lists. In other words, there will be plenty of minor league content on the way at CTTP, so keep coming back for more each day this offseason!!
Chicago White Sox minor leagues
The Chicago White Sox used two big trades after the 2016 season to jumpstart a rebuild that they hoped would start to see results this year, but instead the team finished in a major funk to be one of three teams to lose 100 games this year.
Seeing the team’s top arm require Tommy John surgery after just starting to get his feet under him in the majors is rough for the system, but the White Sox do have impressive arms and bats that have stepped forward this year, though a number of the “big names” struggled in 2018 around the system.
Before we offer up awards on the season, let’s take a look at the system’s statistical leaders:
Organization Leaders (min. 150 PA, 50 IP)
BA: Amado Nunez .357
OBP: Camilo Quinteiro .427
SLG: Eloy Jimenez .577
OPS: Amado Nunez .962
R: Luis Gonzalez 85
H: Luis Gonzalez 148
2B: Luis Gonzalez 40
3B: Blake Rutherford 9
HR: Eloy Jiminez 22
RBI: Blake Rutherford 78
SB: Joel Booker 26
TB: Eloy Jimenez and Luis Gonzalez 240
W: Four pitchers with 12
G: Rob Scahill 52
GS: Jordan Stephens and Spencer Adams 28
IP: Spencer Adams 159
SV: Ian Hamilton 22
K: Michael Kopech 170
ERA: Tyler Johnson 1.40
WHIP: Tyler Johnson 0.88
K/9: Tyler Johnson 13.8
K/BB: Carter Love 12.4