Top Chicago White Sox prospects before they decided to rebuild

In the years leading up to the first trade that kicked off the great rebuild of 2016, the Chicago White Sox were trying to contend. Their runs, obviously fell short, despite trades and free-agent acquisitions for top talent.

The Chicago White Sox didn’t always take advantage of having good prospects.

Part of the reason why those runs failed, some argue, was because of the free-agent acquisitions and how they ultimately hurt the team more than helped. This is true, but some of those players were only on the team because of the failure of the top prospects from the early 2010s who were expected to be the future.

The White Sox farm system in the 2010s, pre-rebuild was very thin, to say the least. Tim Anderson was the best prospect they had from 2011-2015 and it really isn’t even close. Despite that, there were some studs on top lists of the past. These players excelled in the minors and worked their way up. Some players on this list maybe did not get the playing time they deserved, but the team was trying to win during this time. If they did not break out in time, you were dealt or cut.

We know how these players did not break out, but at the time they were expected to be the future. These guys were like Michael Kopech, Nick Madrigal, Yoan Moncada of those farms. They clearly weren’t as skilled but there was the same level of hope that they would help the White Sox win. These prospects may not have been in the MLB’s Top 10 prospects but they were the best in the system at the time. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane past these previous top prospects in the White Sox system: