Chicago White Sox: 3 prospects off to a blazing start
Chicago White Sox fans did not have a ton to cheer for while the team was in the midst of a rebuild. Often times the product in the Minor Leagues was more exciting than the product at Guaranteed Rate Field. Fans dreamed of what the team would look like once the White Sox top prospects made it to the show.
The Chicago White Sox has had some interesting prospects over the years.
Now, most of the top prospects have graduated to the majors and the farm system has lost some of its depth. The team’s top four prospects, Andrew Vaughn, Micheal Kopech, Nick Madrigal, and Garrett Crochet are all on the Major League roster. Just because the top-tier guys are in the show does not mean there are no exciting players in the farm system.
Jake Burger is finally healthy and has slimmed down over the off-season. Micker Adolfo is a five-tool player that has been compared to Manny Ramierez. Jared Kelly is a big right-handed pitcher with a plus fastball and secondaries that also flash plus. Gavin Sheets is another promising player with an excellent approach and plenty of pop in his bat.
The White Sox also added an intriguing prospect, in Yoelqui Cespedes, over the off-season. Tyler Johnson is a power arm that can touch 98 mph with his fastball. These are just a few names to keep your eyes on as the season progresses. The Chicago White Sox did not have the luxury of evaluating their farm system last season.
The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the minor league season. Players were forced to get work in at training facilities across the country. Now, Minor League baseball is back and there are several Chicago White Sox prospects who are making quite an impression early on. Here are three prospects in the White Sox system who are off to a blazing start:
Jake Burger
Jake Burger looks like he has a chance to be in the Chicago White Sox lineup soon.
Baseball America has Jake Burger listed as the No 17 prospect in the Chicago White Sox organization. He isn’t playing like it. Burger is tearing the cover off the ball in Triple-A Charlotte. This past week saw him hit .333 with six extra-base hits, three home runs, five RBIs, five runs scored, and one walk. He has been an offensive force.
This is a welcome sign for the White Sox, who have invested a lot in him. Burger was selected with the 11th overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft. Up until this year, 2017 was the last time Burger played in a professional baseball game for a team affiliated with the White Sox.
He missed the entire 2018 season due to a ruptured left Achilles tendon suffered in a spring training game. He re-ruptured the tendon in May adding insult to injury. In 2019 he missed the entire season because of a bruised left heel. Then the minor league season was canceled in 2020.
After missing that much time, people assumed that the White Sox would ease him back in. Instead, they added him to the 40-man roster and assigned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Burger has rewarded their faith by showing off the offensive potential the White Sox saw when they drafted him. He is slashing .259/.306/.655.
Almost all of his hits are extra-base hits as well which tells you how much power he has. His wRC+, which measures weighted runs created, is 143. Burger also has a ground ball rate well shy of 50% which suggests he is squaring up the baseball. The rate that he is pulling the ball is further proof that Burger is hitting the ball hard. He is still shaking off some rust. Although he has a very high strikeout rate, the early returns are very promising.
Micker Adolfo
Micker Adolfo has been in the Chicago White Sox organization for a while now.
Micker Adolfo is another talented prospect that has been hampered with injuries. His strong arm and power make him one of the more intriguing names in the White Sox farm system In 2017 he was named to the South Atlantic League postseason All-Star team and was among the league leaders in homers (5th, 16), RBIs (8th, 68), and total bases (9th, 192).
He looked to build off that in 2018 but only played 79 games before being shut down with Tommy John’s surgery on his right elbow. The next year he was limited to 36 games due to arthroscopic surgery on the same elbow. After spending the 2020 season in the Schaumberg training facility, he is back in full force.
He is coming off arguably the best week of his Minor League career. Adolfo hit .444 with four extra-base hits, two home runs, three runs scored, six RBIs, and a walk. His isolated power has been on full display, evident by his .293 ISO. Adolfo also has a 139 wRC+ to go along with it.
On May 21st, he showed off his strength by hitting an absolute laser that took under four seconds to clear the fence. It was his fifth home run of the season. Adolfo is slugging .525 on the year. His strikeout rate is down, indicating that he is seeing the ball a lot better. These are promising signs for a prospect who started the year in Double-A Birmingham. The White Sox don’t think he is Major League ready but that could soon change if he keeps pushing the envelope.
Blake Rutherford
Blake Rutherford is off to a very good start in the Chicago White Sox Minor Leagues.
Blake Rutherford is one of the more underrated prospects in the White Sox farm system. He was acquired in a trade package for Todd Frazier, Tommy Kahnle, and David Roberston. When he entered the organization he was rated as the number-99 prospect in baseball. Baseball America has him listed as the number-12 prospect in the organization currently.
In 16 games with Charlotte, he has been raking. Rutherford is batting .308 with 20 hits, five doubles, one triple, one home run, nine RBIs, and a pair of stolen bases. Last week he hit .348 with four runs scored. Between May 9th-May 20th, Rutherford registered a nine-game hit streak. During that stretch, he had 13 hits. He also has five multi-hit games on the year thus far.
Rutherford has always been a good hitter. His best season to date was in 2018 when he slashed a respectable .293/.345/.436 with 25 doubles, nine triples, seven home runs, and 78 RBIs for the Winston-Salem Dash.
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In 2019 he crushed right-handed pitching hitting .286 with six homers and 40 RBIs against right-handed pitchers. He reached base safely in each of his last 15 games of the 2019 season for the Birmingham Barons. With all of the White Sox injury issues in the outfield, Rutherford is showing he is a viable option to get called up.