FutureSox looks at the White Sox relieving pitching prospects

The relieving pitching prospects looked at were Chris Sale, Gregory Infante, Kyle Bellamy, Ryan Buch, and Santos Rodriguez:

Infante was recently cut from Major League camp, but figures to get some innings with the Sox at some point in 2011. After transitioning to the bullpen last season he showed major heat. His fastball sits mid to high 90s and has been clocked hitting triple digits. His curve is a good pitch, but Infante needs to be more consistent with it. He has the potential for a one-two punch of plus pitches. Of course, control is key and that will probably be the No. 1 thing to watch in Charlotte this year.

Kevin Goldstein’s 2011 Top 11 White Sox prospects [UPDATE]

Goldstein @ BP:

Five-Star Prospects
1. Chris Sale, LHP
Four-Star Prospects
2. Eduardo Escobar, SS
3. Brent Morel, 3B
Three-Star Prospects
4. Dayan Viciedo, 1B/3B
5. Jared Mitchell, CF
6. Jacob Petricka, RHP
7. Greg Infante, RHP
8. Trayce Thompson, OF
Two-Star Prospects
9. Addison Reed, RHP
10. Thomas Royse, RHP
11. Andre Rienzo, RHP

9 more and Goldstein’s scouting report on Chris Sale at the link.

UPDATE: Goldstein discusses the White Sox Top 11/20 on Episode 25 of his podcast (mp3). The White Sox discussion is at the 72:30 mark and runs for about 12 minutes.

John Sickels’ White Sox Top 20 Prospects for 2011

Sickels:

1) Chris Sale, LHP, Grade A: I don’t see how I can give him anything but a Grade A considering how his debut went. Starter or closer, either way he looks great to me.

2) Brent Morel, 3B, Grade B: Should be a solid regular, very good glove, bat will be enough, Joe Randa comps are common and accurate, in my view.

… 9) Andre Rienzo, RHP, Grade C+: This guy is a huge sleeper. You won’t see him on many other lists, but he has good stuff and good numbers. From Brazil.

The rest at the link.

FutureSox’ White Sox Top 25 post-season prospects list [UPDATE]

FutureSox:

1. Chris Sale
2. Dayan Viciedo
3. Brent Morel
4. Jared Mitchell
5. Tyler Flowers
6. Trayce Thompson
7. Eduardo Escobar
8. Jacob Petricka
9. Jordan Danks
10. Addison Reed
…

UPDATE: Jim covers the White Sox Top 10 prospect list by Phil Rogers for Baseball America.

Fangraphs’ White Sox 2011 Top 10 prospects

Hulet @ FG:

1. Chris Sale, LHP

Sale not only reached the Majors in his draft year – he dominated. The lefty pitched just 10.1 innings in the minors before posting a 2.74 FIP in 23.1 innings. He missed a lot of bats (12.34 K/9) while showing respectable control (3.86 BB/9). A starter in college, Sale pitched out of the bullpen in pro ball and saw his fastball velocity climb from the low 90′s and sit around 96 mph. He also displayed a sharp slider, at times, and a promising changeup (which he’ll need to combat right-handed batters). …

More at the link.

Baseball America’s Carolina League Top 20 Prospects

Lusk @ BA:

15. Gregory Infante, rhp, Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox)

20. Santos Rodriguez, lhp, Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox)

Baseball-Intellect reviews its White Sox prospects list

Eisenberg:

7. Trayce Thompson | OF | Age – 19 | Grade – C+

Numbers don’t completely reflect it, but he’s made a lot of progress since last year. Upside remains huge, but as big as his upside is, he’s just as raw.

FutureSox’ Midseason Top 25 Prospects

Cassidy:

Rank	Player	Points	Previous	Change
1	Dan Hudson	179	1	unch
2	Dayan Viciedo	172	4	+2
3	Chris Sale	168	n/a	NEW
4	Tyler Flowers	161	2	-2
5	Jared Mitchell	156	5	unch

…

I’d rank them in this order: Hudson, Sale, Flowers, Mitchell, Viciedo.

FutureSox’ Top 25 White Sox prospects

FutureSox:

Rank	Player	Points	Previous	Change
1	Dan Hudson	208	2	1
2	Tyler Flowers	203	1	-1
3	Jordan Danks	194	4	1
4	Dayan Viciedo	186	3	-1
5	Jared Mitchell	184	6	1
6	Brent Morel	178	7	1

…

FutureSox reviews Sox Relieving pitching prospects

Here’s what they have to say on Sergio Santos:

What he needs to improve: Control, big time. Santos has the ability to be a very good Major League reliever, but until he can harness his stuff he isn’t going to succeed. His slider can be inconsistent.

Chicago White Sox Top-15 Prospects of 2010, No’s 6-15

Alex Eisenberg posts the 6-15 part of his Sox prospect list. Here’s a sample from Dayan Viciedo’s scouting report:

Viciedo struggled to consistently center the ball, swinging through fastballs or fouling them off, but when he did connect, the contact was usually of the hard variety. Part of the problem was Viciedo swinging for the fences more often than not. He swings extremely hard and doesn’t adjust for the situation at hand, making it more difficult for him to center the ball.

*Credit to TriB81

Viciedo has tremendous raw strength and plenty of bat speed. In addition, he’s able to keep his swing relatively short in the process though he does wrap his bat behind his head, which adds to the length.

Viciedo also has to work on keeping his weight back as he gets too far out in front on his front foot at times. This happens often when he’s thrown an off-speed pitch and usually you’ll see him ground out meekly as a result.

It’s easy to forget that Viciedo is just 20 y/o and we have to ask ourselves how many other 20 y/o prospects would fare in Double-A in their first season of pro ball? I think most would say not well. …

Part 1: Chicago White Sox Top-15 Prospects of 2010, No’s 1 – 5.

January 8 links

- Sox Minor Leaguer suspended 50 games

- Jim has some minor-league notes from Phil Rogers’ Baseball America chat (Trayce Thompson, Daniel Hudson, Clevelan Santeliz, John Ely, Dan Remenowsky, Josh Phegley, Santos Rodriguez, Charles Leesman, Sergio Santos, Jose Martinez, Ryan Buch).

- Fangraphs adds CHONE projections.

- Jonah Keri on Tim Raines.

- Dan Shaughnessy get the FJM treatment from Patrick Sullivan.

- Graph of starts/innings in 2009. And broken down by league.

FutureSox compares Sox prospect rankings

Santaromita:

Today, Baseball America released their top ten prospect rankings for the White Sox. This means all of the major prospect publications have released their White Sox rankings. Let’s take a look at the differences from each and try to figure out what it all means.

We’ve gathered six White Sox top 10s from Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, Fan Graphs, John Sickels’ Minor League Ball, Diamond Futures and our own postseason rankings. Fan Graphs does things a little differently, they don’t include 2009 rookies in their rankings due to a lack of sample size, so you have to take that into account. …

I’d go Hudson-Flowers-Mitchell for my Top 3.

John Sickels 2010 Top 20 Sox prospects

Sickels:

1) Dan Hudson, RHP, Grade B [changed to B+]
2) Jared Mitchell, OF, Grade B
3) Tyler Flowers, C, Grade B
4) Brent Morel, 3B, Grade B-
5) Jordan Danks, OF, Grade C+
6) Dayan Viciedo, 3B, Grade C+ …

Go to the link for descriptions and the entire list.

Fangraph’s Top 10 Sox prospects

Marc Hulet ranks the Top 10 Sox prospects. Tyler Flowers is on top of the list:

Flowers should be ready to take over the full-time catching chores right around the time that veteran incumbent A.J. Pierzynski’s contract runs out after 2010. The right-handed catching prospect has impressive power (.246 ISO in double-A) and he hasn’t hit below .279 in any season since 2006. Flowers began the year in double-A in ‘09 and hit .302/.445/.548 in 248 at-bats, before moving up to triple-A where he hit .286/.364/.438 in 105 at-bats.