White Sox Spring Training should feature many position battles for the upcoming season. However, some veterans could lose their spots to top prospects.
The only people who can stand to wait on the White Sox rebuild might actually be a few guys on the team itself if they’re still on it. Everyone from Guaranteed Rate Field to Glendale, Ariz. is over the moon for the White Sox rebuild. The organization and the fans especially, cannot wait to see how the team grows and improves over the next two years. But the team’s success might come at the expense of a few veterans.
Players that currently find themselves in the minor league system seem to already have their spots on the White Sox reserved. Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert have two future spots in the outfield reserved. Michael Kopech and Dylan Cease could have two spots reserved in the starting rotation. Just like keeping Yoan Moncada’s spot at second warm and ready for when he was called up. However, because the Sox have placed so much value on these players and their positions, a few veterans have a chance to be pushed out the door just for these rookies to flourish.
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Leury Garcia/Yolmer Sanchez
Leury Garcia and Yolmer “Don’t Call Me Carlos” Sanchez are packaged into one entity for this exercise because they’re very similar players. They both contribute similar production and play the same versatile roles on the team. Both players fill in gaps in the outfield as well as the infield and play crucial roles for as pinch-hitters and pinch-runners.
It may be smart to keep both players on the roster just for depth. However, it’s hard to see both of them staying on the team with a bottomless pool of prospects waiting to get their call-ups and opportunities. Because their positions are not absolutely defined, their places on the teams are not absolutely guaranteed. They both started 2017 competing for second base, but that position is now taken. The outfield is also just about reserved while third base is looking more like their final stand for a starting spot.
For the last few seasons, they’ve been both used as rotation players, being constantly promoted and demoted from Triple-A Charlotte. With more prospects being called up and more prospects waiting behind them, they just haven’t reserved their spots for the future.