Top 10 SP Prospects

[Chicago White Sox]

Seeing that the OF post generated some good discussion, I thought we could do a similar exercise with our other major depth area which is starting pitching.

Below are my rankings:

01) Kopech

02) Hansen

03) Cease

04) Dunning

05) Stephens

06) Guerrero

07) Puckett

08) Adams

09) Lambert

10) Flores

 

 

 

 

[TheTruth05]

Does anyone know when Puckett is due back?

[Dam8610]

1) Kopech

2) Cease

3) Hansen

4) Dunning

5) Stephens

6) Clarkin

7) Adams

? Henzman

9) Guerrero

10) Puckett

Edited May 9, 2018 by Dam8610
Somehow forgot about Clarkin

[Chicago White Sox]

27 minutes ago, Dam8610 said:

1) Kopech

2) Cease

3) Hansen

4) Dunning

5) Stephens

6) Adams

7) Henzman

? Guerrero

9) Puckett

10) McClure

McClure & Henzman didn’t make my top 10 list, but I’d have them both over Clarkin.  I wasn’t a huge fan of his coming into the year and Ian hasn’t done much change my view on him.

[credezcrew24]

Just a friendly reminder that in November the Sox thought enough about Clarkin's prospects to protect him from the Rule 5 draft while leaving Guerrero exposed

[Chicago White Sox]

3 hours ago, credezcrew24 said:

Just a friendly reminder that in November the Sox thought enough about Clarkin's prospects to protect him from the Rule 5 draft while leaving Guerrero exposed

I didn’t understand it then, I don’t understand now.  Guerrero is only eight months older than Clarkin and has had infinitely better results.  Clarkin may have a few more ticks on the fastball, but I’d argue that the difference in stuff isn’t that significant.  Clarkin is still living off his first round hype and is a clear tier below Guerrero IMO.

[credezcrew24]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I didn’t understand it then, I don’t understand now.  Guerrero is only eight months older than Clarkin and has had infinitely better results.  Clarkin may have a few more ticks on the fastball, but I’d argue that the difference in stuff isn’t that significant.  Clarkin is still living off his first round hype and is a clear tier below Guerrero IMO.

Guerrero not being added to the 40 man turned out to be a great move despite common forum opinion since he wasn't picked. Guerrero has almost twice as many innings as Clarkin and is in his third season at AA in a pitchers park and still hasn't shown improvement at the level. Clearly the Sox think the potential of a healthy Clarkin who is in his first season in AA is more valuable than a healthy Guerrero. Why do you think Guerrero is a clear tier above Clarkin?

[KrankinSox]

Brady Singer would look great at about the 4th or 5th spot on this list

[mac9001]

1A) Kopech

1B) Hansen

3) Cease

4) Dunning

5) Stephens

6) Guerrero

7) Henzman

08) Adams

9) Puckett

10) Clarkin

Flores/Lambert/McClure not far behind

I don't think the gap between Kopech and Hansen is that wide. I still have some doubts on Kopech's and Cease's command at the big league level. Clarkin is hanging on by a thread. 

[Chicago White Sox]

1 hour ago, credezcrew24 said:

Guerrero not being added to the 40 man turned out to be a great move despite common forum opinion since he wasn't picked. Guerrero has almost twice as many innings as Clarkin and is in his third season at AA in a pitchers park and still hasn't shown improvement at the level. Clearly the Sox think the potential of a healthy Clarkin who is in his first season in AA is more valuable than a healthy Guerrero. Why do you think Guerrero is a clear tier above Clarkin?

Wow, plenty of bullshit with this post.  Guerrero was significantly better in 2017  vs. 2016, so I’m not sure what numbers you are looking at.  The fact that he has much more experience than Clarkin is not somehow a negative no matter how you try to spin it.  He’s only 8 months older than Ian & earned his promotion to AA because he was both healthy & productive.  And the reason I think Guerrero is a tier above Clarkin is because he’s actually had a K rate above 7 per 9 inning since low A.  What has Clarkin done in his career to warrant any optism?  Poor health, average numbers, & ordinary stuff.  Again, if he wasn’t a former 1st round pick he’d just be some guy no one gave a fuck about.

[credezcrew24]

16 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Wow, plenty of bullshit with this post.  Guerrero was significantly better in 2017  vs. 2016, so I’m not sure what numbers you are looking at.  The fact that he has much more experience than Clarkin is not somehow a negative no matter how you try to spin it.  He’s only 8 months older than Ian & earned his promotion to AA because he was both healthy & productive.  And the reason I think Guerrero is a tier above Clarkin is because he’s actually had a K rate above 7 per 9 inning since low A.  What has Clarkin done in his career to warrant any optism?  Poor health, average numbers, & ordinary stuff.  Again, if he wasn’t a former 1st round pick he’d just be some guy no one gave a fuck about.

You're so sensitive. The career rates are similar in ERA, similar in K/BB, similar in WHIP, similar in HR/9, similar in K/9. The fact is Guerrero has had 308.2 innings at AA in a pitchers park and has done nothing. Clarkin has just 31.2 and has also done nothing.

The major difference is that the White Sox who know a whole lot more about their players and the industry think that Clarkin is SIGNIFICANTLY more valuable.

No bullshit here other than the capitalization of SIGNIFICANTLY because I love to trigger forum fairies.

Just for extra credit how about you look at Kenny's great success in that 2012 draft where Guerrero was picked in the 15th round.

[SoxAce]

Clarkin has a damn good breaking ball when he actually locates/trust it. Wish he went back to his old delivery, but just couldn't stay healthy with it. He is still an enigma to me. Should be missing more ABs. As far as better prospect, stuff, etc. it's definitely Clarkin. But obviously he isn't the same guy in H.S. who was compared to Kershaw when he was drafted (similar to Giolito and his legendary H.S. days). 

[Chicago White Sox]

6 hours ago, credezcrew24 said:

You're so sensitive. The career rates are similar in ERA, similar in K/BB, similar in WHIP, similar in HR/9, similar in K/9. The fact is Guerrero has had 308.2 innings at AA in a pitchers park and has done nothing. Clarkin has just 31.2 and has also done nothing.

The major difference is that the White Sox who know a whole lot more about their players and the industry think that Clarkin is SIGNIFICANTLY more valuable.

No bullshit here other than the capitalization of SIGNIFICANTLY because I love to trigger forum fairies.

Just for extra credit how about you look at Kenny's great success in that 2012 draft where Guerrero was picked in the 15th round.

Lol...this shit is great.  Let’s start at the beginning.  You’re comparing career minor league numbers despite the fact that Guerrero has spent over half his innings in AA whereas Clarkin has spent just 10%.  In what world do you think that is a logical comparison?  Despite that, Guerrero has a career K/9 of 8.3 vs Clarkin’s 7.1.  How are those K rates similar and how does park size explain the difference?  Even if the other career stats you presented are somewhat similar, you again fail to acknowledge the huge difference in level of competition that makes Guerrero’s numbers far more impressive.  I see no argument for how Guerrero hasn’t been the statically better pitcher and it’s not really close IMO.

And no one is arguing the White Sox didn’t value Clarkin over Guerrero this offseason, in fact that that is the crux of the argument.  So what is your point exactly?  Am I to believe teams have never had misevaluations on players before?  Didn’t you just cite the 2012 draft as a robust example of poor player evaluation by our front office?  Not sure why you threw that nugget in there, but I guess it helps my argument.  And I don’t think Guerrero is a stud prospect by any means.  I simply think Clarkin is overhyped and still living off those pre draft Kershaw comps.  Unfortunately the prospect that warranted those comparisons is long gone.