White Sox: Three players to focus on in spring training
The Chicago White Sox are starting up spring training games on Sunday. Here are three players to keep an eye on before the regular season.
The Chicago White Sox were supposed to be starting spring training games like most of the league on Saturday, but their game got postponed.
As a result, they will now be starting games on Sunday with their first one coming against the Cincinnati Reds.
There’s a lot of optimism surrounding the 2020 White Sox after an offseason that saw the team improve significantly.
Yasmani Grandal, Edwin Encarnacion, Dallas Keuchel, Gio Gonzalez, Steve Cishek, and Nomar Mazara joined the club, creating a lot of enthusiasm about a team that struggled in 2019, going 72-89.
On Sunday, the team sends Dylan Cease to the mound, probably only for an inning or two at this stage of spring training.
Throughout the next month, there should be some interesting players to keep an eye on, given that there will be position battles and players trying to prove themselves while in front of major league coaches.
Every spring training produces a surprise player and someone who creates causes for concern.
This article will focus on players that should be kept an eye on this spring training, so without further to do, here are three players to pay attention to this spring.
1. Michael Kopech
This was probably the most obvious name to keep an eye on this spring training after missing the past season (Tommy John Surgery).
The right-hander remains one of the team’s most exciting prospects having not exceeded rookie eligibility in 2018 when he made his MLB debut.
So far, so good for Kopech as he appears to be throwing very well from videos we’ve seen early on in camp.
Kopech live BP pic.twitter.com/1gUwjZhtXd
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) February 21, 2020
Kopech, 23, is going to have to earn himself a role in the 2020 rotation given that the team actually has a lot of depth entering the season.
Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, and Gio Gonzalez are virtual locks at this point, while Reynaldo Lopez is pretty likely to reclaim his spot in it.
Dylan Cease theoretically could be optioned to Triple-A, but he showed improvement in the month of September last season so there’s a good chance the team will keep him in the fifth spot this season.
That leaves Kopech likely starting the year in Triple-A himself, especially given he wasn’t too great in his cup of coffee in 2018 when he registered a 5.02 ERA, 6.16 FIP, and 1.535 WHIP over four starts for the South Side.
Nonetheless, Kopech’s ability to miss bats this spring will be a major storyline to watch as any pitcher capable of throwing over 100+ MPH is a storyline in itself.
Considering he’s coming back from a major surgery and he’s expected to have a long-term future in Chicago, Kopech is going to be worth watching every time he’s on the mound.
2. Nick Madrigal
The second baseman is certainly going to be worth watching because, unlike his fellow top prospect, Luis Robert, he will likely have to be very impressive in spring training to make the Opening Day roster.
Currently, he’s set to compete with Danny Mendick and Leury Garcia as detailed in a recent article I wrote about the current second base situation.
In 2019, the soon-to-be 23-year-old ascended through three levels as he had a .311/.377/.414 slash line with four homers, 55 RBI, and 35 stolen bases across three levels.
The most impressive part of his stats was the bat-to-ball skills that allowed him to only strikeout 16 times all season. That meant that his walk to strikeout ratio was almost 3:1 (44 walks).
Whether or not the team is actually planning on giving him a real chance to break camp with the team or not remains to be seen, but either way it will be worth monitoring his production.
Even if they don’t give him a chance to start the season with the team, his play could determine just how quickly he’s called up to the majors.
If the purpose of him being optioned is service time manipulation, which they should not pursue, then the team could simply call him up in mid-April.
However, if it is related to wanting him to get more Triple-A plate appearances and he doesn’t impress in spring training, it’s possible the White Sox might not call him up until mid-May or even June.
3. Eloy Jimenez
The outfielder will be entering his second season in the big leagues which is often a very crucial season in one’s development.
Jimenez, 23, was very solid in his rookie season and showed immense progress throughout the season as detailed in this piece, which I also talked about how important he is to this team’s success.
While most second-year players are not focused on too much in spring training, Jimenez is one that should.
The right-handed hitter was abysmal defensively in 2019, but played winter ball in the offseason with the hopes that he could work on and improve his defense.
If he can improve significantly from the -11 DRS and -5.1 UZR he accumulated in left field last season, his overall value could go up significantly as his offense was very strong with a .267/.315/.513 slash line in addition to 31 home runs and 79 RBI to give himself a 116 wRC+.
His 1.9 fWAR would suggest that he isn’t nearly as good of a player, but that was largely brought down by his defense last season.
If he truly has improved his defense, this could prove to be a breakout season for him in which he puts the league on notice.
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Jimenez will likely get a lot of outfield reps in spring training in order to give him more chances to work on his defense and how he performs in that time could be very telling for what’s to come in 2020.