OF Prospects - Who will Rebound in 2020?

[Chicago White Sox 5,819]

Alright, we’ve got four outfielders that will be in AAA & AA next year that are consensus top 15 prospects but are also coming off disappointing seasons.  Which of these four, if any, is most likely to rebound in 2020 and present themselves as a major league OF option going forward?

[Chicago White Sox 5,819]

My vote right now is for Basabe.  I think injuries, especially the hamate one, basically resulted in a lost season for him last year.  If he’s healthy, I’m expecting a nice rebound in 2020 and moving from Regions Park to the IL juiced ball / BB&T will help make that more evident.

[Tnetennba 1,480]

Really hoping Adolfo stays healthy and shows he's a legit option for RF. 

[Chicago White Sox 5,819]

43 minutes ago, SouthWallace said:

Really hoping Adolfo stays healthy and shows he's a legit option for RF. 

That would be the dream.  He has far & away the most upside of the four, but has lost so much development time.  He needs a full season of at-bats to demonstrate continued improvement in his plate discipline.  Plus seeing him in the field would be nice as his arm was plus plus before the TJS and it’s impossible to say where it stand today.

[Timmy U 314]

Early reports this spring look positive for Rutherford.  That would be huge because no Sox left-handed hitters ever seem to develop.

[EloyJenkins 833]

5 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

Early reports this spring look positive for Rutherford.  That would be huge because no Sox left-handed hitters ever seem to develop.

Unless he develops some launch angle power, I just don't see it with him though unfortunately

[SoxBlanco 870]

Luis Gonzalez. Book it. 

[Timmy U 314]

26 minutes ago, EloyJenkins said:

Unless he develops some launch angle power, I just don't see it with him though unfortunately

What they're saying is that he's put on a lot of muscle and he's hitting with more power in BP.  But that's just BP, so who knows?

[SoCalChiSox 365]

34 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

Early reports this spring look positive for Rutherford.  That would be huge because no Sox left-handed hitters ever seem to develop.

I loved the report on Blake at SSHP....while it's only BP it still looks like he had good launch angle and was killing the ball.

Very encouraging.

[YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! 1,452]

all four of them

[KnightsOnMintSt 181]

Luis Gonzalez is a guy that I am looking forward to watching this year. I think he'll have a big 2020.

[Donaldo 21]

5 hours ago, SouthWallace said:

Really hoping Adolfo stays healthy and shows he's a legit option for RF. 

I agree, but I'm not counting on it.  For some reason with some players, once the injury bug bites, it keeps on biting... look at Burger.  It sucks and it's not fair, but that's life.

I follow the minor leagues regularly, and I panic whenever his name isn't in the box score.

3 hours ago, YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! said:

all four of them

Amen to that.

[ChiSoxJon 261]

4 hours ago, YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! said:

all four of them

Wish I could have voted for all 4

I'm an optimistic guy but each guy has significant reason to believe in a big '20

Adolfo- Finally healthy, strong offseason
Rutherford- Strong offseason, gained muscle, looks good in early ST
Basabe- Entering the season healthy
Gonzalez- Struggled at the beginning of all new levels throughout his career, has to adjust to BIR

Wild we have all 4 of these lottery tickets behind Mazara who I'm also excited for

Let's Go Sox

[ChiSoxJon 261]

Just now, ChiSoxJon said:

Wish I could have voted for all 4

I'm an optimistic guy but each guy has significant reason to believe in a big '20

Adolfo- Finally healthy, strong offseason
Rutherford- Strong offseason, gained muscle, looks good in early ST
Basabe- Entering the season healthy
Gonzalez- Struggled at the beginning of all new levels throughout his career, has to adjust to BIR

Wild we have all 4 of these lottery tickets behind Mazara who I'm also excited for

Let's Go Sox

Best of luck to Steele Walker as well, good kid

[Jack Parkman 2,896]

Only Adolfo and Basabe have a RF arm, so if anyone rebounds I hope it's one of them. I hope they all rebound so some of these guys can be trade bait, however I really don't believe in any of them. 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Jack Parkman

[Cashman 77]

17 hours ago, KnightsOnMintSt said:

Luis Gonzalez is a guy that I am looking forward to watching this year. I think he'll have a big 2020.

He will be 25yrs old in September. We are kinda past the prospect stage and headed into the realm of 4A player.

[mqr 2,482]

Basabe is going to rebound big. 90% sure his struggles were hamate related. 

[ChiSoxJon 261]

42 minutes ago, mqr said:

Basabe is going to rebound big. 90% sure his struggles were hamate related. 

5 tool guy, he may have the highest ceiling of any of the 4

[oldsox 234]

6 hours ago, ChiSoxJon said:

5 tool guy, he may have the highest ceiling of any of the 4

Sure, Jon.  That's why BoSox gave him up as the third player in the trade.  5 Tool.

[Chicago White Sox 5,819]

24 minutes ago, oldsox said:

Sure, Jon.  That's why BoSox gave him up as the third player in the trade.  5 Tool.

What tool is missing?  Hit tool?

[oldsox 234]

Yes.

[CyAcosta41 46]

13 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

What tool is missing?  Hit tool?

While unlikely, if Basabe were to get close to his ceiling, he'd absolutely be a 5-tool player. Sin duda, dude.

But the minor leagues are littered with a metric ton of outstanding athletes who max out in AAA (or AAAA) precisely because the promise of getting close to the "hit tool" ceiling never materializes for them. In fairness, it's often said that hitting high-end pitching is the hardest thing to do in all of sports.

Some of my favorite Sox 'spects and young major leaguers over the years were these POTENTIAL 5-tool players because you could dream on what they'd become IF (the elusive "IF") they put it all together. I'm thinking of guys like Buddy Bradford, Johnny ("The Jet") Jeter, Ken Henderson, and, more recently, good old Brian Anderson.

This is undoubtedly the year we see what we have with Basabe. I'm more interested in Basabe (as a potential 5-tool guy) and Adolfo for the extreme upside in power (and that gun of his) than I am in Rutherford or Gonzalez. The latter two could put it all together, but their ceiling is likely journeymen or 4th OF'ers (asterisk goes to Rutherford if the newly added muscle and a possible launch angle change unlocks any power). Nothing wrong with their profiles, but all teams have guys like this. You can find them in virtually any trade. I want to know more about the loud tools of Basabe and Adolfo before I give up on them. And, for both, this is probably the year they have to actually show something.

Good discussion, guys! White Sox baseball 2020 coming up soon! Praise the Lord (of your choice)!

[CWSpalehoseCWS 622]

I went with Adolfo. He has the most upside out of all of them IMO and it would be great to see a power bat threat emerge as depth this season to use as trade bait or act as a possible replacement for Mazara in 2021 should he fail to take the next step this season. I think Basabe has 4th OF all over him right now, he just needs to develop the ability to hit right-handed pitching.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside 2,184]

On 2/16/2020 at 5:35 PM, ChiSoxJon said:

Wish I could have voted for all 4

I'm an optimistic guy but each guy has significant reason to believe in a big '20

Adolfo- Finally healthy, strong offseason
Rutherford- Strong offseason, gained muscle, looks good in early ST
Basabe- Entering the season healthy
Gonzalez- Struggled at the beginning of all new levels throughout his career, has to adjust to BIR

Wild we have all 4 of these lottery tickets behind Mazara who I'm also excited for

Let's Go Sox

I agree if there's a "none of the above" there should be an "all of the above" choice too.

[Chicago White Sox 5,819]

This question actually came up on the Sox Machine podcast this week and Jim Callis said he’d go with Micker or Basabe and ultimately chose Adolfo due to the higher ceiling.  Also, his view was that LuGo is just a guy and wasn’t overly high on Rutherford given his complete lack of power (he cited Madrigal having more doubles last year than Blake had total XBHs).