White Sox Prospects Dominate Jim Bowden's Preseason Rankings
Out of respect to Jim Bowden and The Athletic, I’m not going to post too much info on here as their new rankings are behind a paywall. But just know that the upper half of the White Sox system is still fucking loaded. I can hear Hubbs puking from 800 miles away that I’m talking about prospects, which is fine.
Truthfully, I’m sick of worrying about what’s to come opposed to what’s actually here too. But prospect depth and capital is the lifeblood of an organization, and the White Sox still have an abundance of that as their competitive window is opening. This is what they’re working with entering the 2020 season:
– Luis Robert #1 overall prospect in baseball
– Michael Kopech #11 overall
– Nick Madrigal #14 overall
– Andrew Vaughn #35 overall
That’s awesome. I personally would flip Madrigal and Vaughn as I think Vaughn has absurd potential as a hitter, but that’s semantics.
What’s not awesome is this – their top 3 prospects are going to graduate from prospect status in 2020. After that it gets a little murky. The best organizations in baseball like the Astros (cheating be damned), Yankees (cheating be damned), Dodgers (cheating be damned), and Rays (cheating be damned) all continually feed their farm systems new high end talent. I do think RHP prospect Jonathon Stiever will skyrocket up the charts in the coming months, but after that the cupboard is kinda barren, at least at face value.
The White Sox are in win now mode. They are going to do everything in their power to win the division in 2020 while also being mindful of not sacrificing length of their competitive window. Now that they’re no longer in the penalty box for the Luis Robert signing, they should be looking to make yet another splash on the international market this July. The only problem is…is that they’re not really tied to anyone major right now.
Typically the Sox operate with the quantity over quality approach on the international market, which is fine, but they have to start complementing their farm with more high end talent that’s 5-6 years away from being ready. I’m not sure quantity over quality should be how they operate in the next two years. It’s hard to land an Eloy Jimenez or Wander Franco type talent using that approach.
All of the best organizations in baseball do it. Their draft slots are going to be lower and lower in the coming years, so now is the time to be bold in LatAm, just as they were with Robert. Turn the organization into an assembly line of talent. Just my $0.02.