2018 MiLB White Sox news and notes

[southsider2k5]

48 minutes ago, ptatc said:

You mean the whole KW insisting on Singer was a ruse? No, I find that hard to believe that a FO would leak false information.

There were a lot of people who bit on this one. 

[GenericUserName]

The Sox picking Bohm if Madrigal were taken at 3 and there being a split in the room over Singer are not mutually exclusive. They said Madrigal was the highest on the board of guys they thought would be available and maybe they didn't think Bohm would be available but he would be higher if they thought he was. It could also be that whoever the "more decorated" member was liked Bohm more than Singer while the rest of the room had Bohm and Madrigal close enough that it swung to Bohm if it came down it. 

[ptatc]

26 minutes ago, GenericUserName said:

The Sox picking Bohm if Madrigal were taken at 3 and there being a split in the room over Singer are not mutually exclusive. They said Madrigal was the highest on the board of guys they thought would be available and maybe they didn't think Bohm would be available but he would be higher if they thought he was. It could also be that whoever the "more decorated" member was liked Bohm more than Singer while the rest of the room had Bohm and Madrigal close enough that it swung to Bohm if it came down it. 

It possible. However, the rumor implication was that the FO was deciding between Madrigal and Singer. KW made to look the bad guy who was sticking to Singer while everyone else wanted Madrigal. It wasall leaked to disinform the teams picking around them, to disguise their true intentions.

[GenericUserName]

2 minutes ago, ptatc said:

It possible. However, the rumor implication was that the FO was deciding between Madrigal and Singer. KW made to look the bad guy who was sticking to Singer while everyone else wanted Madrigal. It wasall leaked to disinform the teams picking around them, to disguise their true intentions.

Potentially. Personally I think it was true and that the FO was generally pretty honest this time because we didn't really have to be deceitful picking where we were and being honest for once helps throw off teams in the future. If a team only ever leaks fake information then pretty quickly teams will know whatever they hear on the team is incorrect and that they can count on the opposite of what the team said. To be able to keep using misinformation effectively at some point you have to be honest. 

[Jose Abreu]

4 hours ago, GGajewski18 said:

Just listened to Garfien's podcast, some interesting tidbits.

If Madrigal was taken 1-3, Sox were going to take Alec Bohm.

 Garrett Guest (Midwest Cross Checker) was adamant in taking Steele Walker in the second round.

Real high on Lency Delgado.  70 arm. 70 power. Will start at SS, but most likely go to 3B as he grows.

 Highlighted the pitchers in rounds 12-15 as huge power arms that with mechanical changes they can be real solid.

 

Thanks for posting this, as I never have the time/patience to listen to podcasts. That's all interesting stuff. 

[Chicago White Sox]

3 minutes ago, GenericUserName said:

Potentially. Personally I think it was true and that the FO was generally pretty honest this time because we didn't really have to be deceitful picking where we were and being honest for once helps throw off teams in the future. If a team only ever leaks fake information then pretty quickly teams will know whatever they hear on the team is incorrect and that they can count on the opposite of what the team said. To be able to keep using misinformation effectively at some point you have to be honest. 

I mean, what part of it do you think is true?  That KW simply preferred Singer?  The Fangraphs seemed pretty convinced that KW was going to use his power to supersede the pick.  They even said it was pretty much a certainty we were picking him the 15 minutes before we took Madrigal.  I honestly don’t get why you & a few others are so passionately defending these guys.  I’m sure they’re fed a ton of bad information, that’s just the nature of the beast when it comes to rumor mongering.

[GenericUserName]

1 minute ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I mean, what part of it do you think is true?  That KW simply preferred Singer?  The Fangraphs seemed pretty convinced that KW was going to use his power to supersede the pick.  They even said it was pretty much a certainty we were picking him the 15 minutes before we took Madrigal.  I honestly don’t get why you & a few others are so passionately defending these guys.  I’m sure they’re fed a ton of bad information, that’s just the nature of the beast when it comes to rumor mongering.

I believe that KW wanted Singer while the rest of the room wanted Madrigal. Fangraphs guys thought KW would win out because he is the more senior guy. I don't think they ever said they had information that KW would definitely win, just that that is what they thought would happen. To me when Hostetler was talking on the podcast about defending and fighting for his scouts because they do this year round made it sound like he was basically saying they followed the guys for a long time and all thought one thing while the other side just came in at the end. That seems to fit with the narrative. So basically from everything I heard from the interviews with Hostetler and Hahn and what the Fangraphs guys said, the split between KW and everyone else existed and the fangraphs guys just got who they thought would win that fight wrong. 

[fathom]

9 minutes ago, Jose Abreu said:

Thanks for posting this, as I never have the time/patience to listen to podcasts. That's all interesting stuff. 

Hostetler even said that if the lineup pans out in the future with Eloy, Collins and Robert, then Madrigal's lack of perceived power won't matter.

[fathom]

2 minutes ago, GenericUserName said:

I believe that KW wanted Singer while the rest of the room wanted Madrigal. Fangraphs guys thought KW would win out because he is the more senior guy. I don't think they ever said they had information that KW would definitely win, just that that is what they thought would happen. To me when Hostetler was talking on the podcast about defending and fighting for his scouts because they do this year round made it sound like he was basically saying they followed the guys for a long time and all thought one thing while the other side just came in at the end. That seems to fit with the narrative. So basically from everything I heard from the interviews with Hostetler and Hahn and what the Fangraphs guys said, the split between KW and everyone else existed and the fangraphs guys just got who they thought would win that fight wrong. 

Hostetler admitted there were people in the room that might have had other available players higher than Madrigal, but they were able to finally come to a consensus.

[GenericUserName]

Just now, fathom said:

Hostetler admitted there were people in the room that might have had other available players higher than Madrigal, but they were able to finally come to a consensus.

Yeah, I think that consensus remark was around the same time as the scouts one and that really made it seem like it was not a member of the scouting department that was the major dissenting opinion. 

[fathom]

Also Hostetler made a point that I did as soon as Madrigal got hurt.  The wrist injury zapped his power this year. I'm optimistic he showed more power this year before the injury.

[fathom]

Also kudos to Chuck, as he's been the MVP of the rebuild so far. He's had 3 straight days of podcasts. His podcast last week with Hostetler was simply awesome.  No doubt in my mind Chuck has been pushing to get Sox minor league games on the channel formerly known as Comcast Sports.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Just now, fathom said:

Also kudos to Chuck, as he's been the MVP of the rebuild so far. He's had 3 straight days of podcasts. His podcast last week with Hostetler was simply awesome.  No doubt in my mind Chuck has been pushing to get Sox minor league games on the channel formerly known as Comcast Sports.

You might be right, and the Sox would be smart to market the minor league team as much as possible. Sell the hope.

[oldsox]

Jose Rodriguez got off to a great start at DSL.

[ptatc]

10 hours ago, fathom said:

Also Hostetler made a point that I did as soon as Madrigal got hurt.  The wrist injury zapped his power this year. I'm optimistic he showed more power this year before the injury.

That could be true except that he actually had his best power year in 2018. He had only one fewer HRs and more triples in 36 fewer games. 

His Slugging% were 2016: .456, 2017: .532, 2018: .536.

I think it was a great pick and he has the potential to be an outstanding player in the MLB. But with his swing I don't think he is going to hit for much power.

The example of the video where he "had the weird practice swing" showed it. The only reason he hit that HR was because they were winning 12-1 and he basically swung stright up at a really high launch angle to elevate it enough to hit it out.

[Dam8610]

11 minutes ago, ptatc said:

That could be true except that he actually had his best power year in 2018. He had only one fewer HRs and more triples in 36 fewer games. 

His Slugging% were 2016: .456, 2017: .532, 2018: .536.

I think it was a great pick and he has the potential to be an outstanding player in the MLB. But with his swing I don't think he is going to hit for much power.

The example of the video where he "had the weird practice swing" showed it. The only reason he hit that HR was because they were winning 12-1 and he basically swung stright up at a really high launch angle to elevate it enough to hit it out.

How could you view that as a negative? To me, that shows incredible bat control and an ability to successfully make adjustments on the fly. That, to me, indicated a near ML ready hitting approach.

[ptatc]

14 minutes ago, Dam8610 said:

How could you view that as a negative? To me, that shows incredible bat control and an ability to successfully make adjustments on the fly. That, to me, indicated a near ML ready hitting approach.

I view it as a negative for his HR production not as a pure hitter. He isn't going to use that swing except if the are really far ahead or behind. His typical swing isn't going to generate HR power.

I agree he's he has the potential to be a really good pure hitter that bat control is a good sign for that.

Edited June 8, 2018 by ptatc

[GenericUserName]

27 minutes ago, ptatc said:

That could be true except that he actually had his best power year in 2018. He had only one fewer HRs and more triples in 36 fewer games. 

His Slugging% were 2016: .456, 2017: .532, 2018: .536.

I think it was a great pick and he has the potential to be an outstanding player in the MLB. But with his swing I don't think he is going to hit for much power.

The example of the video where he "had the weird practice swing" showed it. The only reason he hit that HR was because they were winning 12-1 and he basically swung stright up at a really high launch angle to elevate it enough to hit it out.

He had his best power numbers this year but most of it came before the injuries. I believe he had 2 homeruns in the 6 games he played before getting injured. That's like the epitome of SSS, but it could be something that we look back on as an indication that he had added more power and we just missed it. 

[Dam8610]

2 minutes ago, ptatc said:

I view it as a negative for his power production not as a pure hitter. He isn't going to use that swing except if the are really far ahead or behind. His typical swing isn't going to generate HR power.

I agree he's he has the potential to be a really good pure hitter that bat control is a good sign for that.

Why wouldn't he use that swing in, say, a LIPS situation where no one is on and the team is down by 1, or a tie game? I just think the whole "won't hit for power" thing is overblown in the juiced ball era and for a guy whose tools suggest he'll have a well above average BABIP profile and will take extra bases on hits with his speed. It's not hard to project a .150+ ISO on him given his tools, and if he has that and develops the way his tools suggest he should, he'll be a force to be reckoned with for a long time.

[ptatc]

1 hour ago, Dam8610 said:

Why wouldn't he use that swing in, say, a LIPS situation where no one is on and the team is down by 1, or a tie game? I just think the whole "won't hit for power" thing is overblown in the juiced ball era and for a guy whose tools suggest he'll have a well above average BABIP profile and will take extra bases on hits with his speed. It's not hard to project a .150+ ISO on him given his tools, and if he has that and develops the way his tools suggest he should, he'll be a force to be reckoned with for a long time.

I agree with the extra bases and doubles power. I just think we are going to hear a lot of people complain about his lack of HRs once he gets to the MLB. I don't think it's an issue with everything else he can do. but to expect that he will hit 15-20 HRs is unrealistic. It's not his game.

[southsider2k5]

12 hours ago, ptatc said:

It possible. However, the rumor implication was that the FO was deciding between Madrigal and Singer. KW made to look the bad guy who was sticking to Singer while everyone else wanted Madrigal. It wasall leaked to disinform the teams picking around them, to disguise their true intentions.

Knowing how the Sox operate with trying to throw teams off of their scent in recent years, this is the Occam's Razor of the thread.

[Dam8610]

20 minutes ago, ptatc said:

I agree with the extra bases and doubles power. I just think we are going to hear a lot of people complain about his lack of HRs once he gets to the MLB. I don't think it's an issue with everything else he can do. but to expect that he will hit 15-20 HRs is unrealistic. It's not his game.

I just disagree with the last part, especially in the juiced ball era. If he's making contact with the ball in about 80-85% of his plate appearances, he's bound to run into a few. 15 HR in 600 PA (which is easily achievable as a 1 or 2 hitter in a healthy season) works out to 1 per 40 AB. That doesn't seem unreasonable to me, especially because I think he has more power than he showed this year because of the wrist injury and recovering from it.

[ptatc]

34 minutes ago, Dam8610 said:

I just disagree with the last part, especially in the juiced ball era. If he's making contact with the ball in about 80-85% of his plate appearances, he's bound to run into a few. 15 HR in 600 PA (which is easily achievable as a 1 or 2 hitter in a healthy season) works out to 1 per 40 AB. That doesn't seem unreasonable to me, especially because I think he has more power than he showed this year because of the wrist injury and recovering from it.

That's fair for a disagreement.  I just don't see it with his swing and approach.

[turnin' two]

1 hour ago, ptatc said:

I agree with the extra bases and doubles power. I just think we are going to hear a lot of people complain about his lack of HRs once he gets to the MLB. I don't think it's an issue with everything else he can do. but to expect that he will hit 15-20 HRs is unrealistic. It's not his game.

Personally, I don't even really care if he hits 5-10 hrs.  He seems like a guy that will get hits, walk, have a good OBP and could even be a guy that hits 40 or so doubles.  In my opinion, that is extremely valuable.  If he could consistently put up years like Jean Segura did last year, (.300/.349/.486 -- 30 2B, 11 HR, 22 SB), that would be incredible.  He may even be able to do that with more BB and fewer Ks.  

[ptatc]

33 minutes ago, turnin' two said:

Personally, I don't even really care if he hits 5-10 hrs.  He seems like a guy that will get hits, walk, have a good OBP and could even be a guy that hits 40 or so doubles.  In my opinion, that is extremely valuable.  If he could consistently put up years like Jean Segura did last year, (.300/.349/.486 -- 30 2B, 11 HR, 22 SB), that would be incredible.  He may even be able to do that with more BB and fewer Ks.  

I agree with you. However, with the focus on HRs I think many fans will be bash him in the future for it.