NorthSideSox72

Get to know yet another prospect acquired by the White Sox, this time 1B Casey Gillaspie. Details, video therein.

Bummer has an upper 90's fastball that get's 7's from some scouts. His slider is a new/changed one, learned it from Jace Fry, and can show plus. Had TJS, missed most of 2015 and 2016. Here's an interview with him.

I've seen Seby play a number of times, interviewed him, talked with coaches about him. We have a profile on FutureSox here, but it needs to be updated for 2017 (will be done soon in fact). To be fair, I am higher on him than some of the other FS writers (though not all). He gets a wide range of evaluations. But my take... --He's got a short, quick swing with good speed and leverage. That's probably his best asset overall. It give him a 6 FV for power for me, though 5 may be more realistic. --His contact rate is OK, not great though. He can wait back plenty long enough because of that swing, but he offers on offspeeds a little too often. That short/quick makes up for it to an extent. He does draw some walks, though not as many as he did before, and not a ton of them. --Speed is below average overall, but average to slightly above for a catcher perhaps. --His arm is just OK, but he does have a very quick release. So, unless he's catching Hansen, he's pretty effective throwing out runners. Will never be elite in this category though, and even above average might be a reach. But I think he can be average at it. His footwork looks good on throws. --Doesn't hesitate to back pick at any base, and occasionally throws guys out that way. --His weakest point is plate blocking, where he's behind where you want him to be. Certainly he's got the tools to make progress with it, but it's an area of attention for him. --He provides a nice quiet target for his pitchers. Speaking of that, pitchers and pitching coaches have said very positive things about him. --In terms of active defense from the position, he shows good athleticism and commands the field well. --In my interviews with him, he's got a very high "baseball IQ", and can and does talk in detail about framing and pitch subtleties. I'd say this gives him a better than average chance at making further development strides. --He's got some professional blood lines. Father and an uncle both played professionally, though in Mexico.

This is fun. Here's a ranking, with photos of course, of the top pitchfaces in the White Sox minor leagues according to Julie. There are bonus pictures of the guy who took top billing - you might be able to guess who it is.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 25, 2017 -> 08:30 PM) I don't know who they are, but there are a couple in the White Sox organization. Tyler Flowers and Chris Stewart come to mind immediately as guys who are/were phenomenal pitch framers, and Flowers has developed into a pretty damn good hitter too. John Orton is the catching coordinator. He definitely works on framing with his guys too. Also worth noting that the hitting coach in Birmingham is a former catcher (Cole Armstrong).

Get to know Ryan Cordell right here. All the detail you need. Probably back end of Top 30 in this system, or just outside of it.

I can point out at least 5 or 6 statements in the scouting reports from that T30 list that are just factually incorrect. Stale data in most cases. The T100 list is interesting, but I find the MLB Pipeline top thirty Sox lists to be lacking in research, and I don't put much stock in them.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 25, 2017 -> 09:08 AM) Good news on Curbelo, but we've been remarking on how well Lenyn Sosa has played, any idea how that will impact him? It seems like a rehab assignment for Curbelo, so I don't think the effect - if any - will be substantial. I'd expect that Curbelo will play just a few games in AZL, then move up to Great Falls or possibly Kannapolis to finish the season. That's just my guess though.

Here's the weekly run-down of transactions, team performances, trade results and news stories from around the White Sox farm. There are a few transactions in particular that you may want to look at, involving first assignments for the last few 2017 draftees and some prospects going on rehab assignments.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 20, 2017 -> 12:43 PM) New Kingsman 2 trailer. Holy F Have you seen the Kingsman/Archer mashup trailer? Or is that the one you meant? Because the mashup was pretty great.

The Sox now have likely the best farm in all of baseball. But the previous iterations of development of minor leaguers provides a note of caution. Regardless, the system is so much better now than any time in the recent past. A look at the juxtaposition.

Here's the report on what to expect from the two players being called up to the majors. You may have heard of one of them.

Detailed write-up on the three prospects acquired via FutureSox.

Forgot to post this late last night. Here is the FutureSox write-up of the trade, focusing on the three prospects acquired. Reports, videos, etc.

QUOTE (bjm676 @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 11:21 AM) Is Rymer Liriano a thing now? He was a thing coming into the season - the question was about his recovery from being face burgered with a pitch and the lost development time (didn't play in 2016). He opened the season ice cold (.552 OPS in his first 48 games), then suddenly turned it on and has been on fire (1.000 OPS in his next 28 games). Was FS' #30 prospect in January.

Get caught up on a very busy week down on the farm in the weekly News and Notes article on FutureSox. Big trade, small trade, injury updates, releases, promotions, in-person reports from AZL, and more.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 16, 2017 -> 12:49 PM) Good piece and great speed getting it live. I've referred to this about 5 times already. Y2Jimmy0 getting it done!

Here's an in-depth on Yeyson Yrizarri. We got the White Sox to provide some comments to us that we put in here, and there are embedded videos too. Enjoy.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 15, 2017 -> 02:59 PM) Theoretically yes, but only on guys $250k and under. So basically would have been impossible to spend it all. 300k, not 250k But otherwise correct. Only so many 100-300k guys worth getting.

A little later in the day than usual, but here is the Top White Sox Prospect Report for the past week. Enjoy! These will be based on the NEW list when that comes out, around the first week of August.

Y'all know the trade. Get to know a little more about the prospects here.

QUOTE (2005thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 11, 2017 -> 01:07 PM) Most likely send Telvin Nash to AA to make 1B open. Speaking of Dickman, he's been cursed since moving out of the 9 hole. What does opening 1B do to help OF slots?

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 11, 2017 -> 01:00 PM) I agree with you, was thinking Zevala would be pushed. But, if I'm sox, I value the progress of Call over a Booker/Schnurbusch. Call certainly more important than those two, yes. But that doesn't mean you just bury those two either, they're not org guys (at least not yet).

Defensive stats for catchers are iffy, but looking at Collins (who people now think has a good shot to stick at C) and Zavala's numbers this year... --Innings caught are basically identical --Both have 9 PB --Collins 6 errors, Zavala 3 --Range factor 7.53 for Collins, 9.49 for Zavala --Collins split around Hansen: 0% (1/1 SB/ATT) with catching Hansen, 41.1% (50/85) while catching everyone else --Zavala split around Hansen: 7.1% (26/28 SB/ATT) while catching Hansen, 30.2% (30/43) while catching everyone else Not sure why runners are going on Collins more often in general, seems sort of odd. Might be a function of the levels. Leaving Hansen out, Collins is throwing runners out more effectively so far, though I really don't know how much of that is the pitchers on the two teams they were mostly with. The rest of the defensive numbers seem to lean towards Zavala. Neither are great defensive catchers, but both in different ways show the ability to stick at the position. Collins has been lauded for his arm, and so far that's justified. Side note, the other catchers this year who have caught Hansen (Nolan, Rodriguez); 14/14 SB/ATT with Hansen pitching. That means total for Hansen, it's 41 SB in 43 attempts against him. Hansen has major problems with the running game. Again though, with catchers, eye test is key. I think Zavala can be an average defensive catcher in the majors overall. Not at all saying he's on par with Collins as an overall prospect, just using him as a point of reference for the defensive stats in A-ball.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 11, 2017 -> 12:40 PM) Poor Call though. This story will be interesting. He's just about at the end of his rehab. Where do you put him? Back in Winston-Salem? That OF is Basabe, Fisher and Booker (plus Lassiter as 4OF). Those are all guys you don't bench at this point, but none are ready for BHAM. Normally you could rotate 4 outfielders through DH, except Collins and Zavala are there splitting C and DH. You don't bench them either, and I don't see either being ready for BHAM. Kannapolis OF is crowded too, already rotating 4 prospects through the three slots plus DH (Adolfo, Gonzalez, Rodriguez, Schnurbusch). So what to do with Call? I think maybe you end up sending one of the catchers to Birmingham, even though I don't think either are really ready. Zavala may be more so, but Collins of course is the much better prospect. That frees up DH and it becomes a 4 OF rotation in Winston-Salem.