The Chicago White Sox went 93-69 in 2021. It was a year loaded with significant injuries to consequential players and they still managed to dominate their way to a division title. It was truly special to watch for the entire summer. The way that they bonded together through some tough times was inspirational.
How did the White Sox get there? Well, they went through a very difficult rebuild. They traded away stars in their prime in order to build organizational depth. They also got a little lucky with a few of their trades that sped up the rebuilding process as the extra talent came in.
Their farm was one of the best for a few years now which made it very exciting to be a White Sox fan. However, as they started to graduate into the big leagues, the farm naturally started to take a few hits.
Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, and Reynaldo Lopez were some of the first. Then Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease came up. Shortly after that guys like Luis Robert, Michael Kopech, and Andrew Vaughn came up. Even guys like Gavin Sheets coming out of the farm and into the big leagues will leave an impact.
The Chicago White Sox needs to get their farm system back to a top level.
The White Sox haven’t seen too many of their top prospects fall on their faces before reaching the big leagues. As a result, they aren’t viewed as an organization with a great prospect pool anymore because all of the elite ones are currently in the MLB.
This is a good problem to have but they do need to replenish the system through the draft and free agency. They are in a win-now mode so a few more prospects might be out the door soon too but that doesn’t mean they can’t still work tirelessly to keep the cupboard full.
This is a topic of conversation because Baseball America ($) came out with their farm system rankings this week and they don’t think very highly of the Sox farm. The White Sox came in ranked 30th out of 30.
It isn’t ideal but when you think about it, it isn’t that bad. They aren’t ranked that low because of incompetence. They are ranked that low because they were so good at developing prospects that they all graduated to the MLB.
How can it get fixed? Well, they are off to a good start by landing Oscar Colas in international free agency. They also have guys like Colson Montgomery, Jared Kelley, and Wes Kath that they are excited about. Building the farm with these guys already in it should increase the ranking.
Winning at the MLB level is the most important thing and they will be doing that for a long time. Getting this farm back to a top-level is important but that will come with time. It is certainly better than being a mediocre team with a mediocre farm.