Early Promotions?

[Chicago White Sox]

So we’re about 10 or so games into the season and figured it would be fun to speculate who might receive early promotions (i.e. before league all-star games).  For this exercise, I’m excluding guys that are clearly non-prospects as well as the AAA guys.  Here are my top 10 choices based on likelihood:

1. Luis Robert, CF (A+ to AA) - If he keeps this up, he’ll get a promotion by early May
2. Steele Walker, OF (A to A+) - I think he moves up at the same time Robert does
3. Taylor Varnell, LHP (A to A+) - Almost 24 years old and has been dominant
4. Kade McClure, RHP (A to A+) - Should get a bump after a few more good starts
5. Bennett Sousa, LHP (A to A+) - Just turned 24 years old and has been dominant
6. Nick Madrigal, 2B (A+ to AA) - He’ll need to show more but I think that happens
7. Konnor Pilkington, LHP (A to A+) - Has been stellar but less need to push forward
8. Alec Hansen, RHP (A+ to AA) - Will happen eventually but seem to be moving slowly with him
9. Zach Thompson, RHP (AA to AAA) - Only a AAA roster crunch preventing this from happening
10. Benardo Flores, LHP (AA to AAA) - Already has 15 solid AA starts under his belt 

What do you guys think?  Who do you think receives early promotions?  Would love to see others’ lists.

[GreenSox]

Great to see a lot of pitchers on that list.  Pilkington's a college guy, and I prefer them not linger in low A once they demonstrate that they can command that league.

Edited April 15, 2019 by GreenSox

[Chicago White Sox]

3 minutes ago, GreenSox said:

Great to see a lot of pitchers on that list.  Pilkington's a college guy, and I prefer them not linger in low A once they demonstrate that they can command that league.

I’m really hoping they promote all of Pilkington, Varnell, & McClure pretty early.  The Dash’s rotation is for the most part garbage and I think all three guys I mentioned will be ready for the challenge in a few weeks.

[SoxBlanco]

29 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

So we’re about 10 or so games into the season and figured it would be fun to speculate who might receive early promotions (i.e. before league all-star games).  For this exercise, I’m excluding guys that are clearly non-prospects as well as the AAA guys.  Here are my top 10 choices based on likelihood:

1. Luis Robert, CF (A+ to AA) - If he keeps this up, he’ll get a promotion by early May
2. Steele Walker, OF (A to A+) - I think he moves up at the same time Robert does
3. Taylor Varnell, LHP (A to A+) - Almost 24 years old and has been dominant
4. Kade McClure, RHP (A to A+) - Should get a bump after a few more good starts
5. Bennett Sousa, LHP (A to A+) - Just turned 24 years old and has been dominant
6. Nick Madrigal, 2B (A+ to AA) - He’ll need to show more but I think that happens
7. Konnor Pilkington, LHP (A to A+) - Has been stellar but less need to push forward
8. Alec Hansen, RHP (A+ to AA) - Will happen eventually but seem to be moving slowly with him
9. Zach Thompson, RHP (AA to AAA) - Only a AAA roster crunch preventing this from happening
10. Benardo Flores, LHP (AA to AAA) - Already has 15 solid AA starts under his belt 

What do you guys think?  Who do you think receives early promotions?  Would love to see others’ lists.

Do you think Booker moves up to AAA when Robert gets promoted?

[Chicago White Sox]

4 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

Do you think Booker moves up to AAA when Robert gets promoted?

I do but was kind of on the fence of whether I consider him an actual prospect or not.  He probably warrants a spot all things considered.

[SoxBlanco]

1 minute ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I do but was kind of on the fence of whether I consider him an actual prospect or not.  He probably warrants a spot all things considered.

Yeah, he's an interesting player. I keep expecting him to fade, and he just keeps producing. I suppose he did fade a little last year after moving up to AA, so we'll see if he can sustain the nice year he is having so far. I think he has an outside shot at becoming a 4th outfielder at the big league level.

[KnightsOnMintSt]

I’m guessing that we’ll see Booker get promoted to Charlotte soon, and when that happens, we’ll see Robert get promoted to Birmingham.

I’m not sure when it’s supposed to happened, but we should he expecting Basabe back soon. And when that happens, that is another outfielder in Birmingham.

[Chicago White Sox]

Just now, SoxBlanco said:

Yeah, he's an interesting player. I keep expecting him to fade, and he just keeps producing. I suppose he did fade a little last year after moving up to AA, so we'll see if he can sustain the nice year he is having so far. I think he has an outside shot at becoming a 4th outfielder at the big league level.

I was going to say, he has a semi decent chance of becoming a 4th OF at some point in the majors.  The problem for him will be opportunity.  He’s got to make his claim for a job before Robert, Basabe, & Gonzalez all hit the majors.  And even if he jumps past them, there are a variety of AAAA types in front of him at the moment with Cordell, Tilson, & Delmonico plus Palka & Engel still in the OF picture.  It’s going to be an uphill battle for him, but he’s definitely got some talent and is younger than the other AAAA types.

[Chicago White Sox]

3 minutes ago, KnightsOnMintSt said:

I’m guessing that we’ll see Booker get promoted to Charlotte soon, and when that happens, we’ll see Robert get promoted to Birmingham.

I’m not sure when it’s supposed to happened, but we should he expecting Basabe back soon. And when that happens, that is another outfielder in Birmingham.

Yeah, that’s going to be somewhat of a problem IMO.  I really don’t like having five guys that should be starting 90%+ of games rotating between four spots.  Not the end of the world, but far from ideal.

[SoxBlanco]

1 minute ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Yeah, that’s going to be somewhat of a problem IMO.  I really don’t like having five guys that should be starting 90%+ of games rotating between four spots.  Not the end of the world, but far from ideal.

Another option is to send Basabe to Charlotte when he's healthy. I've touched on this before, but would they consider moving Robert straight to AAA?

[Bob Sacamano]

2 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

Another option is to send Basabe to Charlotte when he's healthy. I've touched on this before, but would they consider moving Robert straight to AAA?

It's more likely Robert would go from AA to MLB than A to AAA. Better talent is in AA than AAA. I would rather he gets a good bulk of time in AA. AAA rosters have a bunch of depth type of guys for when the MLB team has injuries.

Edited April 15, 2019 by soxfan2014

[Chicago White Sox]

Just now, SoxBlanco said:

Another option is to send Basabe to Charlotte when he's healthy. I've touched on this before, but would they consider moving Robert straight to AAA?

Had Basabe not gotten injured, I think that would have been a possibility.  My guess is they give him some time in AA before a promotion to AAA after the all-star beak.  As for Robert, I think AA is an important milestone for all prospects and would like to see him get a couple months there even if he dominates.  If anything, I wouldn’t be against sending Rutherford down to High A for a short period of time if continues to really struggle.  He’s still young enough for such an assignment and we’re not facing an option game like we are with Adolfo.

[bmags]

I feel like only Robert will be promoted before the draft. Then it will just be a bunch of draft promotions.

[ChiSoxJon]

7 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

So we’re about 10 or so games into the season and figured it would be fun to speculate who might receive early promotions (i.e. before league all-star games).  For this exercise, I’m excluding guys that are clearly non-prospects as well as the AAA guys.  Here are my top 10 choices based on likelihood:

1. Luis Robert, CF (A+ to AA) - If he keeps this up, he’ll get a promotion by early May
2. Steele Walker, OF (A to A+) - I think he moves up at the same time Robert does
3. Taylor Varnell, LHP (A to A+) - Almost 24 years old and has been dominant
4. Kade McClure, RHP (A to A+) - Should get a bump after a few more good starts
5. Bennett Sousa, LHP (A to A+) - Just turned 24 years old and has been dominant
6. Nick Madrigal, 2B (A+ to AA) - He’ll need to show more but I think that happens
7. Konnor Pilkington, LHP (A to A+) - Has been stellar but less need to push forward
8. Alec Hansen, RHP (A+ to AA) - Will happen eventually but seem to be moving slowly with him
9. Zach Thompson, RHP (AA to AAA) - Only a AAA roster crunch preventing this from happening
10. Benardo Flores, LHP (AA to AAA) - Already has 15 solid AA starts under his belt 

What do you guys think?  Who do you think receives early promotions?  Would love to see others’ lists.

Hard to argue with any of these really

Dion't forget Booker to AAA soon hopefully

[SoxAce]

Andrew Perez is a guy who should be promoted soon as well.

[Jose Abreu]

I'm with you on McClure but you totally jinxed him. 5 earned runs in the first inning...

[Chicago White Sox]

11 minutes ago, Jose Abreu said:

I'm with you on McClure but you totally jinxed him. 5 earned runs in the first inning...

Yes I did...lol.

[zisk]

All Bernardo Flores does is pitch. If he was a high draft pick, he'd be in the majors now. Keep an eye on Codi  Heur.

[raBBit]

Nice post CWS.

They have so many decent or strong performing college draftee arms in A/A+. 

1&2) I think Walker to W-S, Robert to BHAM and Booker to Charlotte should happen by the end of the month or whenever Basabe returns.  Pretty much explains itself given the prospects and performances of those mentioned and others.

3) Varnell is kind of interesting given how bad his college #s were and he only got 5k in signed as a senior. I'll write off his success in the AZL as a 23-year-old but 22/2 K/BB in 17 innings is incredible even if SSS. Sox said he was going to be a reliever at draft time but he's started every appearance in the org. I think he could get overlooked ultimately but there is a lot of trash on the W-S staff.

4) I think McClure is an example of making players "earn" their promotions. That's kind of a newer trend since Getz joined the org but he should be in W-S soon given that roto is a bunch of non-factors.

5) Sousa could be behind Perez in the promotion line with them both being lefty relievers with success against younger competition. I think Sox like Perez more.

6) The Sox are moving Moncada prematurely to 3B for this guy so I'd imagine Madrigal is the one prospect the Sox really push forward compared to the rest. Sox 40 man decisions these next few offseasons will be difficult so Sox may be hesitant to push guys up through the system but Madrgial would be the one exception IMO.

7) Pilkington has good numbers but I've seen some bad scouting reports on his stuff. I would say with a 3rd rounder who was a Friday night starter at a big program that we should push him up quick but he's surprisingly young. He wouldve been one of the youngest people in his high school class if my math is right. 

? Hansen - who knows

10) Flores was great in AA last year and is picking up where he left off. I feel that the HR-unfriendly Regions Fields is kind to a guy who gets by on pitch-ability and Sox might prefer him to stay in Bham to work. He's definitely earned consideration though.  

[chitownsportsfan]

Great stuff @raBBit

[raBBit]

5 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Great stuff @raBBit

My guy. Hope all is well up there. At least some of us should be privy to good baseball. 

[zisk]

Should Luis Robert skip AA and go straight to Charlotte? He'd probably face better off speed stuff in AAA and that's the last thing before MLB.

Add Madrigal to the list as well.

Edited April 19, 2019 by zisk
add content

[raBBit]

2 hours ago, zisk said:

Should Luis Robert skip AA and go straight to Charlotte? He'd probably face better off speed stuff in AAA and that's the last thing before MLB.

Add Madrigal to the list as well.

Someone else said it and I totally agree - it's very possible Sox are very conservative with Robert to avoid any service time attention next April. If the Sox pull up Robert to Bham in May, and he continues to dominating, people will expect him AAA by the end of the year. Then when he puts on a show in ST next year the Sox will be the evil team holding him back like with Eloy. Robert seems unlikely to do one of these extensions everyone else is doing because he got his signing bonus when he came stateside so Sox would want to hold him back for the 7th year of control.

I think Sox would like to have Robert split time between A+/AA but we'll see how long they can keep him in W-S if he keeps this up. 

[Bob Sacamano]

8 minutes ago, raBBit said:

Someone else said it and I totally agree - it's very possible Sox are very conservative with Robert to avoid any service time attention next April. If the Sox pull up Robert to Bham in May, and he continues to dominating, people will expect him AAA by the end of the year. Then when he puts on a show in ST next year the Sox will be the evil team holding him back like with Eloy. Robert seems unlikely to do one of these extensions everyone else is doing because he got his signing bonus when he came stateside so Sox would want to hold him back for the 7th year of control.

I think Sox would like to have Robert split time between A+/AA but we'll see how long they can keep him in W-S if he keeps this up. 

I've seen this statement about Moncada on here. And I'm not entirely sure why or how it would impact it much? Anyone care to explain?

[Jose Abreu]

22 minutes ago, soxfan2014 said:

I've seen this statement about Moncada on here. And I'm not entirely sure why or how it would impact it much? Anyone care to explain?

Players are signing these extensions right now because of the financial security they provide. A lot of these players have families (either back home, if they're originally from elsewhere, here in the states, or both) who are depending on them, so signing long-term deals now is very reassuring. Robert/Moncada and others who signed monster bonuses right off the bat don't really face this issue because they already have more than enough money to provide for both themselves and others, so they have more incentive to just play and see how much their value can increase. 

So to raBBit's point, the Sox are gonna want to play the service time game to guarantee 7 years of Robert since he's unlikely to agree to an extension. 

Edited April 19, 2019 by Jose Abreu