The Kids Can Play

If you want to be naive and believe its all good down there, that your choice. Yes there are some interesting prospects down in the minors, but not enough to help now or by next season. The good ones are in low and high A. We for sure don't have prospects ready to go at the big league level like the Dodgers, Reds, Guardians and Orioles have.

First of all, I do know what's going on with our farm system. I'm not enjoying posting your disaster porn as you so ridiculously claimed. No mater what source find our Sox farm is flawed. Facts are facts. Secondly, we all know why the Sox farm system sucks. It is because of a horrible front office run by Hahn, garbage scouting, bad drafts picks and terrible player development. If you don't like hearing that than that's fine, then you can thanks your Hahn for that. Thirdly, yes we have some decent high level prospects, but so does every other farm system. The problem is we don't have enough of them to make a difference bring up to the majors, like the Rays, Orioles, Dodgers, etc.

They haven't come out with one yet.

Like others said here they go with Baseball America and the Sox last were 26th by them. Since when is 26th not trash? When the ERA at AAA is dead last at 6.36 and 2nd to last in AA at 5.30 ERA, you can see why no matter what source you find, they will be near the bottom on anybody's list and not sure how that isn't defined as trash.

Ok that's fine with me, so according to the last Baseball America published rankings, the Sox are 26th instead of 29. Seriously, does it really matter? The Sox farm system sucks no matter who ranks them.

Yeah I saw that, but how much is it off. There is no way the Sox are any higher than the former 26th ranking that MLB gave them right before the season started. Regardless of anybody's ranking, the Sox farm system sucks.

An updated farm system ranking from July 14 from Bleacher Report. I realize there are many baseball sites that put out rankings and of course it's very subjective. However this at least puts into some perspective the state of the White Sox future talent or lack of. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10082392-updated-mlb-farm-system-rankings-after-2023-mlb-draft The Sox at #29 Updated 2023 Farm System Rankings 30. Houston Astros (Previous: 29) 29. Chicago White Sox (Previous: 26) 28. Los Angeles Angels (Previous: 19) 27. Minnesota Twins (Previous: 11) 26. Kansas City Royals (Previous: 27) 25. Toronto Blue Jays (Previous: 28) 24. Atlanta Braves (Previous: 30) 23. Miami Marlins (Previous: 25) 22. Philadelphia Phillies (Previous: 23) 21. Oakland Athletics (Previous: 22) 20. Arizona Diamondbacks (Previous: 16) 19. New York Yankees (Previous: 24) 18. Milwaukee Brewers (Previous: 20) 17. San Francisco Giants (Previous: 17) 16. Boston Red Sox (Previous: 21) 15. Cleveland Guardians (Previous: 3) 14. Detroit Tigers (Previous: 12) 13. Colorado Rockies (Previous: 14) 12. New York Mets (Previous: 13) 11. San Diego Padres (Previous: 18) 10. Seattle Mariners (Previous: 15) 9. Texas Rangers (Previous: 10) 8. Tampa Bay Rays (Previous: 7) 7. St. Louis Cardinals (Previous: 6) 6. Washington Nationals (Previous: 8) 5. Chicago Cubs (Previous: 9) 4. Pittsburgh Pirates (Previous: 5) 3. Cincinnati Reds (Previous: 4) 2. Los Angeles Dodgers (Previous: 2) 1. Baltimore Orioles (Previous: 1)

Carrasco has been up and down this year, but is a smart veteran pitcher with 4 good pitches. When he is on he can be very tough to beat, as evidenced by his last outing beating a very good Diamondbacks team, by going 8 shutout innings with only 3 hits and 1 BB. He seems to do his best against impatient free swinging batters like the Sox. Hopefully this game tonight will be one of his down games.

Nah, Hahn doesn't need any stats or reports, he just goes by his genius gut level feelings, like he did in the June 2017 draft, when he used a #2 pick #49 overall to select 1B Gavin Sheets. Hahn's genius was simple...he figured the Sox desperately needed a slow DH/1B, even though they already had Jose Abreu on the roster. Btw, Jose in 2017 was only having one of his killer years again with no sign of slowing up by putting up: .304/.354/.552/.906 along with 33 HR, 43 2B 102 RBI. Yep that's our genius Hahn playing checkers when the other GM's are playing chess.

Ok than my mistake. Thanks for the clarification. The number of soft tissue injuries is alarming on this team. However so are all Sox player development strategies, theories and practices this dysfunctional team seems to do.

Maybe he forced to do them, but maybe he does them half ass. None of us no because we aren't with him 24-7. Plus it's not just about the stretching or lack of. The other big factor today is about building the core muscles, building proper hip strength and lower body/leg muscles as a preventative process in his off-season. Your theory that some guys bodies just don't hold up, is the reason for Eloy's constant injuries is just not true. There are plenty of big guys in baseball who are playing everyday and not being placed on the IL like Eloy. If that was the reason for his constant 19 IL stints, then that is even more of a urgent reason for the Sox to trade him now rather than later. Based on your theory his big body will continue to fail him.

I didn't say it was only about stretching/flexibility exercises. Although when you go to the Sox games it appears the Sox trainers are doing a lot of the outdated exercising you seem to imply that is outdated with their players. I also didn't say it was only a lack of stretching. I did list in the bullet points, the aspect of more strength work around the core and lower leg muscles. Regardless of whatever is best for an athlete to prevent groin strains, the simple fact is, Eloy apparently doesn't do the proper strength core work in the lower body, or the proper dynamic warmups as you suggested. If he is doing them, then he isn't doing them correctly or half ass...because if he was he wouldn't keep pulling hamstrings and groins so often. Again as I stated before, there are plenty of players in baseball that will not pull a hamstring or groin this year. So it's not about luck and more about the proper preventative maintenance routines.

Thanks for the answer and that makes sense.

Forearm is better than elbow at his age. He is on thin side, so hopefully they will work some proper strength training into his future, relative to what strength work a pitcher usually needs.

When he makes it to the majors, Montgomery will be one of the few Sox players I can recall maybe since Frank Thomas, that understands the value of being patient and working the count in order to get a walk, even though he didn't get a hit. He currently has an OBP of .575. Plus he is a lefty bat!

We are all frustrated and tired of his constant injuries. I agree trade him now and whatever they can get back, they get back. This waiting until the Sox hope he has a healthy season to put up big numbers and have great trade value, is the pure definition of Insanity. The Sox will be waiting until it's too late to trade him. Hopefully some other organization can fix Eloy of his frequent injury problems, because the Sox surely haven't figured it out.

I completely agree that would help too!

Excellent example! They attribute much of Dylan's avoiding injuries to his extensive yoga preparation.

Yes some of these are assumptions, but they are logical medical and athletic training assumptions. I will list several assumptions of detailed areas he might not be doing or doing well enough. One must ask themselves if Eloy is doing all he can, then why is he constantly injuring his hamstring, groin etc.? Do a dynamic warm-up! This is easily overlooked, but important. Prior to training and competing, ensure you perform a complete warm-up, including slow to fast movements, dynamic stretches (movement stretches) and sports-specific drills. Stretch the inner thigh and outer thigh muscles on a daily basis. Tight groin muscles are a large contributory factor to groin strains. Also, hamstrings should also be stretched to ensure good muscle balance. Regularly get manual therapy and massages from certified physiotherapists, athletic therapists or massage therapists. This will help to get the muscles flexible and break down any trigger points or scar tissue that can lead to injury. Learn sport-specific drills from our strength and conditioning experts to practice the change of direction and cutting maneuvers which commonly cause groin strains. This will help the muscles to adapt and become stronger at performing this kind of movement. Work on your core stability. Having good core and pelvic stability provides a solid base for sport-specific movements and reducing the chance of adductor strains. Strengthen the inner thigh muscles using weight machines and resistance bands. It is especially important to strengthen the muscles in the movement which caused the injury, to prevent a reoccurrence. Strengthen the lateral hip muscles, mainly the gluteal muscles. This will help with pelvic stability. Improve your proprioception. This is our sense of where each body part is in space and is similar to balance. Proprioception affects the way we move, especially when our balance is compromised and is therefore important in avoiding all injuries. Get plenty of rest and avoid over-training! If you train too much or for too long fatigue sets in, which increases the risk of injury. I don't make this stuff up. I have access to some of this knowledge on these injuries, since one of my best friends is a college athletic trainer with a college degree in this field and having 5 different board certifications. These are just some of the things he stresses that prevent muscle strains. The pro Eloy camp of people here need to get off this constant making excuses for him, like he has bad luck, a fluke injury, or just not the right body type, etc. I'm sorry, but there are many baseball players that never have a groin injury the entire season.

Great article. Sounds like a great potential draft class and hopefully Rick Hahn will be gone by next year, so we can clean house in the minors and get some better coaching and player development people in place, to make sure these last two draft classes make it to the majors and be productive players.

They all stretch before the game. That is the team's initial stretching routine which is a great start to the game. However they still have to do continual stretching throughout the game to stay loose, especially right before their at bat. A perfect example of this was Jose Abreu. As we know he was rarely ever injured. Yes his pre-game stretching routine was extensive with the coaches. Yet throughout the game Jose would be stretching in between innings or especially right before his next at bat in the on deck circle. Keep in mind medical research has proven it's not just proper stretching to avoid muscle strains . There is extensive documented research that states that certain other core muscles in the lower body need to be developed properly in order to hopefully avoid muscle strains and tears.

Yet another injury due to a lack of proper strength conditioning and/or stretching/flexibility routine. There are tons of major league players who never even pull their groin muscle one time in an entire season. There are plenty of articles and research reports on how to help prevent groin injures. I am copying one such source from the website Action Sport Physio, which talks about 9 Tips for preventing groin strains and tears. It is obviously with Eloy's history of injuries, he either doesn't do these exercises or does them half ass. https://actionsportphysio.com/top-9-tips-for-preventing-groin-strain#:~:text=Prior to training and competing,contributory factor to groin strains. Here is a history of Eloy's never ending injuries: DATE INJURY 7/16/23 Groin 6/8/23 Leg 5/6/23 Appendix 4/5/23 Hamstring 9/1/22 Leg 8/23/22 Elbow 8/19/22 Hamstring 7/13/22 Leg 4/23/22 Hamstring 4/13/22 Ankle 9/7/21 Knee 7/28/21 Groin 3/29/21 Pectoral 10/1/20 Foot 9/24/20 Foot 7/26/20 Light-headedness 8/22/19 Hip 7/16/19 Elbow 4/26/19 Ankle

That is the genius of Hahn! He is always playing chess when the other GM's are playing checkers! ?

Sometimes a bad team can give you a mirage and make you think it's all good now!