Sox notes: from BA

[LDF]

Year-End Awards

 

Best Player: It was a relatively quiet year for switch-hitting slugger Joe Borchard, who had been runner-up to Josh Phelps for Southern League MVP in 2001.

 

Borchard missed most of April after suffering a hairline fracture in his right foot during spring training and then spent a full season with Triple-A Charlotte, where he hit .272-20-59 in 438 at-bats. He did not cut down his strikeouts (139) as the White Sox had hoped, but continued to show an ability to rise to the occasion.

 

He put an exclamation point on his potential by delivering a homer in his second at-bat with the Sox and then circling the bases on an inside-the-park homer at Kauffman Stadium. It’s possible the Sox will move Carlos Lee to open a spot for Borchard in 2003.

 

Best Pitcher: A first-round pick in 2001 from the Chicago suburbs, Kris Honel is adjusting quite nicely to life outside the frozen climes. In his first full year as a pro, the 19-year-old compiled a 2.78 ERA and struck out 160 in 158 innings, all but five with Class A Kannapolis. Honel throws in the low 90s with terrific feel for a knuckle-curve, which acts like a slider.

 

He’s extremely polished for a pitcher who played a limited schedule as a high schooler and could be knocking on the door of Comiskey Park by late 2004.

 

Keep An Eye On: Talk about a good break. The White Sox appeared to have lost Joe Valentine when they left him unprotected after he had 22 saves between two Class A teams in 2001, but got him back when Detroit decided it couldn’t carry two Rule 5 pitchers on its big league staff.

 

Valentine, 23, responded by tying Edwin Almonte’s Southern League record with 36 saves, helping Double-A Birmingham go 72-0 in games it led after seven innings. Unlike Almonte, he’s a power pitcher who throws in the mid-90s. He held hitters to a .173 average and allowed only one homer in 59 innings.

 

 

 

Chi-Lites

 

 

Catcher Miguel Olivo, named MVP of the Southern League playoffs after hitting four homers and driving in nine runs in nine games, homered off Andy Pettitte in his first big league at-bat.

 

 

The Sox were encouraged by the performances of righthanders Jon Adkins and Felix Diaz, who were acquired in trades. Adkins, who came from the Athletics for Ray Durham, went 4-2, 3.69 in 46 innings at Triple-A Charlotte. Diaz, one of two pitchers acquired from the Giants for Kenny Lofton, went 4-0, 3.48 in 31 innings with Birmingham.

[Chisoxfn]

Another Good article. Thanks LDF.

 

One thing I want the Sox to do is watch Honel carefully because he's thrown a ton of innings at such a young age and I don't want to see him getting hurt.