Add Baseball America to the list of publications impressed with the Chicago White Sox farm system. Their 2025 rankings consider the Sox prospect pool fourth best.
That is a huge leap from 18th where Baseball America rated the Sox system at the start of the 2024 season.
The White Sox farm system continues to impress outlets such as MLB Pipeline, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and Baseball America.
A lot of that is because of the return the Sox got in the Garrett Crochet trade. Getting Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery back gave the Sox two more consensus top 100 prospects.
Before the trade, the Sox had four prospects that were generally considered top 100 prospects in pitchers Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith along with shortstop Colson Montgomery and catcher Edgar Quero.
Practically every prospect guru agrees that Schultz is the Sox's best prospect. The tall left-handed pitcher, with his delivery and size, has been compared to Randy Johnson.
Baseball America still has not graduated pitcher Drew Thorpe from prospect status, while every other outlet has since he started nine games last season before getting shut down to have surgery on his elbow to shave down a bone spur. Thorpe has had a setback in his recovery and may not be ready by Opening Day.
It is nice to see a lot of prospect outlets being impressed with the Sox system, as it provides hope for better days. Only the Athletic's Keith Law has published a team farm system ranking with the Sox outside of the top 10.
The rankings are nice but developing these players is what matters.
I would like a farm system ranking based on which orgs have consistently produced solid MLB players to go alongside the rankings of who has the best collection ML players.
— BZ (@BezBeyondThePen) February 5, 2025
The Sox had a highly regarded farm system at the end of the last decade that opened up a contention window. However, not being able to develop prospects after the initial wave is what contributed to that window getting slammed abruptly shut after the 2021 AL Central Division-winning season.
Also, the Sox farm system is considered to be propped up with six top-100 prospects. The system could tumble down the rankings the moment Montgomery, Quero, and Teel graduate from prospect status which could come quickly if they make the Opening Day roster.
However, the Sox do have a lot of promising pitchers beyond Schultz and Smith. Grant Taylor could be in the top 100 soon if he stays healthy in the minors. Jairo Iriate still has highly regarded stuff, and his ceiling is at least a very good high-leverage bullpen arm.
Ky Bush had four starts with the big-league club and showed if he can command his pitches, he can be a solid starter. Nick Nastrini showed some flashes, but like Bush, he has to get better at commanding the ball in the bigs.
Outfielder George Wolkow also has the potential to be a top-100 prospect at some point with the power he has in his young bat. He just needs to cut down on the strikeouts.
These rankings will not make a difference if none of these players make it to the majors and are nothing more than replacement-level. If this rebuild is to work better than last decade's rebuild, more players must be developed from within.
Also, more prospects have to be added through a couple of drafts and international free-agent signing classes to provide another wave of young players to either be traded or fill in holes in the roster that the initial group could not produce a player.