NorthSideSox72

I would still take Engel's defense over Leury's quite easily. I think Adam is taking his struggles onto the grass. That said, I am losing what little hope I had of him ever hitting enough. Not just because of a year's worth of results, but how he looks doing it. I think you start working Thompson in more starting now, and give Engel until like June or July to get going on offense. If he can't do it, ship him to AAA and he's just not part of the plan anymore. Hopefully by then you'll have a healthy Cordell, Tilson with his feet under him too. So there will be options available.

A couple signings not reported broadly yet among the transactions, updates on the affiliates and of course some Courtney Hawkins talk. News and Notes right here, to get you caught up!

That is not a reason to see him being successful as a reliever. What do you see that makes you think he A) won't be a good starter and B) would be better in relief?

Seen you say this a couple times now. I don't see it. What about him screams reliever to you?

I saw a lot of prospects during my week in Carolina, and one of the most pleasant surprises was RHP Dylan Cease. I'm now happy to report my ranking of him around 10th in the last T30 discussion was too low - he's clearly an MLB T100 guy and I'd put him substantially higher on the team list if I voted again today. All kinds of details here for you to peruse. Get to know Cease.

I like this new site. Feels cozy. Also weird, I had images off for so long that I forgot what everyone's avatars looked like.

Interview with Omar will go up on FutureSox soon. I personally was impressed with him, but how could you not be?

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 18, 2018 -> 11:34 AM) what's holding Basabe back in CF, routes? Route and glove work - maturity at the position, basically. He has the physical tools. So it's an open question. QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 18, 2018 -> 11:38 AM) is the hole in his UCL something that is just going to heal? Is there surgery being put off? Seems so strange to just have a bad elbow and not worry about it Surgery is not 100% for sure. We've got a writer there tomorrow, who will interview Micker, and see what he has to say.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 07:43 PM) the average is nice but is this "untapped power" ever going to show up? Talked about this in the article just put on on FutureSox.

There are five outfielders in Winston-Salem that really should all be starting somewhere. It's a fun, super-talented group. Get to know them here, including video and a few quotes from coaches.

Here's the weekly Hot List for the White Sox minor leagues. Hitters in Winston-Salem and pitchers in Kannapolis dominate the week.

On Zavala's defense, from what I've seen I'd put him ahead of Collins but not by much. In my viewings, in person and on MiLB TV, and talking with scouts, Zavala has a quick release and an average arm, and moves athletically from the position on defense. Handles pitchers well. But the sore spot for him was pitch blocking, which he has struggled with. He, like Collins, is bat-first still. But there's reason to believe the blocking can improve with time for Zavala. If it does and he can be MLB average at that, then he's an average overall defender there and that works just fine.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 16, 2018 -> 03:03 PM) Any word on where Victor Diaz is or what his condition is? I can't recall hearing his name at all this spring. He's on the DL. Again. Other than that I don't know, but our AZ correspondent will be checking on Extended ST this week and I will ask her to look for him.

There will be about 8-10 feature articles stemming from the time I (and Clint Cole) spent at the affiliates in North Carolina last week. There is a lot of info to put in front of you. First up - Kade McClure, right-handed starter, and someone who very likely creeps into the Top 30 this summer. Includes video, photos, quotes from Kade, and insight gleaned from scouts, his pitching coach and my own viewing. Everything you want to know about Kade.

Here's your catch-up opportunity to see what's been going on, down on the farm, in the past week.

I'll be there too. Looking forward to meeting some of you mugs.

It's official now, and I added a link to the OP. Also it is here, where you can get all the details.

Check out the thread in Pale Hose Talk - I got video of Joel Booker's steal of home to win it for the Dash.

In case you aren't on Twitter, FutureSox has a couple writers (myself being one) touring the NC teams this week. Tonight, Joel Booker pulled off a straight steal of home with two outs in the bottom of the 10th for a walk-off win. Very rare moment. I got video. Here it is on YouTube, that goes to our channel, it's the first video at the top. It's also been viewed by 9000 people already on Twitter. I'm told it will probably go on the West Coast Sportscenter momentarily as well.

Apologies in advance, some of the embedded tweets seem to not be working in the article. We are investigating. The rest of the article is just fine, it just may look weird in some places regarding tweets.

Our Thursdays columnist, Julie Brady, spent some time roaming around the back fields at Camelback Ranch in March. She already posted an article about the general experience. Now here is a rundown of what she saw in each of the top thirty White Sox prospects that she caught a glimpse of. But these aren't typical scouting reports - more like a consciously amateur view of what the rebuild looks like under the hood (note: I mean amateur only in the scouting sense - Julie has actually worked in baseball professionally).

Plenty of strong performances around the farm to highlight in the first White Sox Prospect Hot Sheet of 2018. Including a few names you may not yet have heard of. Enjoy.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Apr 7, 2018 -> 01:06 PM) I'll get to see KAN later this month and have reports Was looking forward to seeing Curbelo, Zangari, and maybe Abbott or Kincanon but we'll see Abbott was never going to be in consideration for Kanny in 2018. Curbelo was always destined for Ext ST too, though he could maybe make A-ball later in the year. Zangari and Kincanon are surprises though.

Catch up on a week's worth of transactions and other news bits from the farm, right here. There was another waves of releases (and a retirement), and the four full season clubs opened play.

This roster is interesting. No elite prospects, but if you look at the prospects most sites rank in the 20's and 30's (the ones who just missed T30's), probably half of them are on this squad. Should be a fun team to watch. Here's the preview.