2018 MiLB White Sox news and notes

[southsider2k5]

Charlotte Knights 15 mins · JUST ANNOUNCED: Mark Grudzielanek will return to the Knights as manager in 2018. He will be joined by Steve McCatty (pitching coach), Andy Tomberlin (hitting coach), Garey Ingram (coach), James Kruk (athletic trainer), and Shawn Powell (strength and condition coach). Photo: L.Wolff Photography

 

READ MORE: http://bit.ly/Grudzielanek2018

[southsider2k5]

Winston-Salem Dash‏Verified account @WSDashBaseball 15m15 minutes ago We will also have two coaches this year: + Matt Zaleski, who pitched in W-S for parts of four seasons, will be the team's pitching coach + Guillermo Quiroz, who played 148 games in the MLB, will serve as an assistant coach. FULL DETAILS: https://www.milb.com/dash/news/former-mlb-star-vizquel-headlines-2018-field-staff/c-264754328 …://https://www.milb.com/dash/news/form...f/c-264754328 …

 

 

[southsider2k5]

NBC Sports Chicago‏Verified account @NBCSChicago 23m23 minutes ago Minor league infielder and Lincoln-Way East alum Dean Anna tweets he's signing with hometown White Sox: http://bit.ly/2n5a39v

 

 

[GenericUserName]

Has anyone heard of one of our international signings named Camilo Quinteiro? I was looking through the White Sox transaction page and I saw his name but it didn't sound familiar at all. His MLB.com page says he is a 20 year old SS, but I can't find any other information about this guy existing. There is a SS/2B from Cuba named Camilo Quintero (so a one letter difference) who is about the right age and played on the same national teams as Luis Robert when the were younger, so I'm wondering if we signed him as a favor to Robert. I would actually be pretty happy if we did that because a lot of the guys from those teams are now highly regarded prospects, but I can't find anything on Quintero after 2014, so I don't know if he developed or stopped playing. He was also on the same team as Victor Mesa Jr., who is probably one of the last two elite prospects left in Cuba along with Yoelkis Cespedes.

[ChiSoxJon]

Has anyone heard of one of our international signings named Camilo Quinteiro? I was looking through the White Sox transaction page and I saw his name but it didn't sound familiar at all. His MLB.com page says he is a 20 year old SS, but I can't find any other information about this guy existing. There is a SS/2B from Cuba named Camilo Quintero (so a one letter difference) who is about the right age and played on the same national teams as Luis Robert when the were younger, so I'm wondering if we signed him as a favor to Robert. I would actually be pretty happy if we did that because a lot of the guys from those teams are now highly regarded prospects, but I can't find anything on Quintero after 2014, so I don't know if he developed or stopped playing. He was also on the same team as Victor Mesa Jr., who is probably one of the last two elite prospects left in Cuba along with Yoelkis Cespedes.

Seems as if the one the Sox signed is Dominican

[GenericUserName]

Seems as if the one the Sox signed is Dominican

I saw that on his page, but I literally can't find anything else on him. I was thinking if this is the Cuban guy, the city in the DR could just be where he established residency to qualify for free agency.

[NorthSideSox72]

I saw that on his page, but I literally can't find anything else on him. I was thinking if this is the Cuban guy, the city in the DR could just be where he established residency to qualify for free agency.

The Sox sign a bunch of young Latin player into the DSL every year - most of the DSL rosters are filled with players you didn't hear about signing because they didn't get notable bonuses. This is probably one of those guys.

 

[southsider2k5]

The Sox sign a bunch of young Latin player into the DSL every year - most of the DSL rosters are filled with players you didn't hear about signing because they didn't get notable bonuses. This is probably one of those guys.

 

Yeah, I would guess there are a ton of guys in their Dominican camp that we have no idea about yet.

[GenericUserName]

Yeah, I would guess there are a ton of guys in their Dominican camp that we have no idea about yet.

Thats the thing though, I have a running list of every roster in the organization including the DSL teams with everyone from Hector Acosta to Pablo Yanes covered, and I know that signings often don't play until the following year, but this guy had no information on him. With Sydney Pimentel and Jefferson Mendoza, both guys that signed for under $300k so not super well known, you could still find reports of their signing and things like pictures of them, small scouting reports, and general background. Camilo doesn't have any of that; he wasn't even listed on the baseball america international signing tracker.

[southsider2k5]

Thats the thing though, I have a running list of every roster in the organization including the DSL teams with everyone from Hector Acosta to Pablo Yanes covered, and I know that signings often don't play until the following year, but this guy had no information on him. With Sydney Pimentel and Jefferson Mendoza, both guys that signed for under $300k so not super well known, you could still find reports of their signing and things like pictures of them, small scouting reports, and general background. Camilo doesn't have any of that; he wasn't even listed on the baseball america international signing tracker.

 

There are guys that fall more into the 5000 to 10000 range that never get reported. The next DSL will start, and they will just be there.

[CWSpalehoseCWS]

Dylan Cease told me at SoxFest he is dabbling with a 2-seam fastball in his repertoire. Still prefers the 4-seam, but will throw an occasional 2-seamer into the mix. Good to see he (or the Sox) are trying to get him another option other than the straight heat.

[Balta1701]

Random former white sox farmhand note: apparently Micah Johnson is an artist.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

On the latest FanGraphs Audio w/ Kylie McDaniel, he and Carson talked a lot about Carson Fulmer, and a bit about Zack Collins.

 

On Fulmer, they basically said he could become a valuable Cody Allen type bullpen arm, who would be considered a failed pick in his 2015 draft year, but because of the recent trend towards 2 IP power relievers, he would be actually be valued pretty well if he were thrown in to this upcoming draft with this current skillset/projection. So they basically said he went from top pick, to somewhat of a disappointing pick, back to a good pick if he ends up as that Cody Allen/Andrew Miller type 2-inning specialist.

 

They discussed Collins when McDaniel was talking about how the "hit tool" is really a combination of bat control + pitch recognition. So not every 50 hit tool guy is the same because that guy may have 70 pitch recog but only 30 bat control. Or the inverse. They basically said it's very very rare to have a player with BOTH of those things rated highly because typically when you're good at one of them, you don't have to be good at the other to find success. Their extreme example of Vlad Guerrero who had amazing 80 grade bat control, but his pitch recognition sucked, but that's only because it didn't MATTER if he swung at balls, because he would hit them anyway, so he didn't HAVE to master the strikezone. So therefor his hit tool was still very good and he hit for great averages. They said Vlad is EVEN MORE rare because he had the raw power tool to translate contact w/ bad pitches in to power. Most players who had great bat control but bad pitch recognition (Starlin Marte) don't translate that in to a lot of HR because the pitches they make contact with are not even strikes, thus hard to make hard contact on, so they get bloop singles vs. home runs.

 

This related to Collins because his example of the opposite of Starlin Marte was Collins, because he has likely a 70 or 80 grade pitch recognition, but not very good bat control. But this plays better with good power because it means when he swings, he's swinging at mainly strikes, and if all his contact are on strikes, then a higher % of those will be able to be translated to HR via his 60 or 70 raw power.

[Chicago White Sox]

On the latest FanGraphs Audio w/ Kylie McDaniel, he and Carson talked a lot about Carson Fulmer, and a bit about Zack Collins.

 

On Fulmer, they basically said he could become a valuable Cody Allen type bullpen arm, who would be considered a failed pick in his 2015 draft year, but because of the recent trend towards 2 IP power relievers, he would be actually be valued pretty well if he were thrown in to this upcoming draft with this current skillset/projection. So they basically said he went from top pick, to somewhat of a disappointing pick, back to a good pick if he ends up as that Cody Allen/Andrew Miller type 2-inning specialist.

 

They discussed Collins when McDaniel was talking about how the "hit tool" is really a combination of bat control + pitch recognition. So not every 50 hit tool guy is the same because that guy may have 70 pitch recog but only 30 bat control. Or the inverse. They basically said it's very very rare to have a player with BOTH of those things rated highly because typically when you're good at one of them, you don't have to be good at the other to find success. Their extreme example of Vlad Guerrero who had amazing 80 grade bat control, but his pitch recognition sucked, but that's only because it didn't MATTER if he swung at balls, because he would hit them anyway, so he didn't HAVE to master the strikezone. So therefor his hit tool was still very good and he hit for great averages. They said Vlad is EVEN MORE rare because he had the raw power tool to translate contact w/ bad pitches in to power. Most players who had great bat control but bad pitch recognition (Starlin Marte) don't translate that in to a lot of HR because the pitches they make contact with are not even strikes, thus hard to make hard contact on, so they get bloop singles vs. home runs.

 

This related to Collins because his example of the opposite of Starlin Marte was Collins, because he has likely a 70 or 80 grade pitch recognition, but not very good bat control. But this plays better with good power because it means when he swings, he's swinging at mainly strikes, and if all his contact are on strikes, then a higher % of those will be able to be translated to HR via his 60 or 70 raw power.

On Fulmer, I’ve already accepted the fact that he’ll be a multi-inning reliever and I’m ok with that. Obviously you’d like to get something more out of such a high draft pick, but I really won’t complain as long as he can fill that type of role for us. The scary part is we all just assume that can & will happen but until they actually move him to relief you really don’t know. I don’t imagine he’s long for our rotation this year, so hopefully we’ll find out soon enough.

 

As for Collins, I’m going to say I’d rather have a player with elite pitch recognition & poor bat control than the opposite this early in their career. There is still plenty of time for Collins to work on his hitch and have at least average bat control. If that can happen, he can still be a very useful offensive player at a minimum. And I’m fairly optimistic he’ll be able to make enough adjustments to get there. I think too many prospect experts panicked on him a bit early and failed to acknowledge that he’s a catcher and oftentimes the offensive development lag behind while they focus on the defensive of the game.

 

 

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

As for Collins, I’m going to say I’d rather have a player with elite pitch recognition & poor bat control than the opposite this early in their career. There is still plenty of time for Collins to work on his hitch and have at least average bat control. If that can happen, he can still be a very useful offensive player at a minimum. And I’m fairly optimistic he’ll be able to make enough adjustments to get there. I think too many prospect experts panicked on him a bit early and failed to acknowledge that he’s a catcher and oftentimes the offensive development lag behind while they focus on the defensive of the game.

 

McDaniel actually said he would rather a player start with good bat control, and have to improve his pitch recognition because he feels like bat control is innate and is just a skill you're born with, versus pitch recognition that can be improved with repetition and discipline. BUT if the skills are already set in stone, he'd rather have a player that is heavy on pitch recognition because it will force more pitches in the zone, where bat control is less important.

[GenericUserName]

If anyone was wondering what we did with our remaining international money, we have signed 5 guys since the beginning of February that I think are all international amateurs.

 

Jose Rodriguez SS 16 years old

 

Johnabiell Laureano CF 17 years old

 

Francisco Benitez RHP 17 years old

 

Luis Rodriguez RHP 17 years old

 

Jesus Rondon RHP 18 years old

[Y2Jimmy0]

If anyone was wondering what we did with our remaining international money, we have signed 5 guys since the beginning of February that I think are all international amateurs.

 

Jose Rodriguez SS 16 years old

 

Johnabiell Laureano CF 17 years old

 

Francisco Benitez RHP 17 years old

 

Luis Rodriguez RHP 17 years old

 

Jesus Rondon RHP 18 years old

 

 

Interesting. White Sox only had $500K remaining.

[bmags]

If anyone was wondering what we did with our remaining international money, we have signed 5 guys since the beginning of February that I think are all international amateurs.

 

Jose Rodriguez SS 16 years old

 

Johnabiell Laureano CF 17 years old

 

Francisco Benitez RHP 17 years old

 

Luis Rodriguez RHP 17 years old

 

Jesus Rondon RHP 18 years old

 

How'd you figure this out? edit: nvm looks like you scoured our transactions, pretty cool.

 

Maybe I can get a question on these guys in a badler chat sometime.

[GenericUserName]

How'd you figure this out? edit: nvm looks like you scoured our transactions, pretty cool.

 

Maybe I can get a question on these guys in a badler chat sometime.

That would be awesome to see if he knows anything about them. Also maybe ask about Camilo Quinteiro who is older but I still can't find any info on besides that we signed him back in September.

 

I highly doubt any of these guys amount to anything, but I like keeping tabs on who we got in the lower levels of the system.

[bmags]

That would be awesome to see if he knows anything about them. Also maybe ask about Camilo Quinteiro who is older but I still can't find any info on besides that we signed him back in September.

 

I highly doubt any of these guys amount to anything, but I like keeping tabs on who we got in the lower levels of the system.

 

Even stuff like if they came from a showcase. Sox are linked to one guy for 2018 from a recent VZ showcase, 16 year old SS.

 

J2 is going to be too much fun so will be interesting if there are any stories, like maybe a guy that tried out as a position player but sox signed them as a pitcher.

[southsider2k5]

Even stuff like if they came from a showcase. Sox are linked to one guy for 2018 from a recent VZ showcase, 16 year old SS.

 

J2 is going to be too much fun so will be interesting if there are any stories, like maybe a guy that tried out as a position player but sox signed them as a pitcher.

 

The Sox are still under the caps for July 2, 2018, so the fun will be limited.

[bmags]

The Sox are still under the caps for July 2, 2018, so the fun will be limited.

 

Yeah that's a typo, meant to say "isn't going to be too much fun"

[southsider2k5]

If anyone was wondering what we did with our remaining international money, we have signed 5 guys since the beginning of February that I think are all international amateurs.

 

Jose Rodriguez SS 16 years old

 

Johnabiell Laureano CF 17 years old

 

Francisco Benitez RHP 17 years old

 

Luis Rodriguez RHP 17 years old

 

Jesus Rondon RHP 18 years old

 

The pitching is interesting. Typically the pitching is the hardest to project at the younger ages, and is the most prone to later breakouts. I do like the Sox scouring the kids looking for some overlooked bargains as only one of them is 16.

 

Also interesting is that the latter two are Venezuelan, which is getting harder and harder to get a good read on with the meltdown of the country.

[southsider2k5]

Yeah that's a typo, meant to say "isn't going to be too much fun"

 

[southsider2k5]

FutureSox‏ @FutureSox 1h1 hour ago The #WhiteSox released 1B KJ Woods. Last with Kannapolis in 2016, did not play in 2017, was on DL.