SoCalChiSox

Yep...these are the core positional pieces.

I know Bowden is a clown, but in his recently published Top 50 prospects, he has Braden at #21 overall with the highest hit tool grade I have seen for Braden so far at 55. I thought that was generally supposed to be his weakness with the high K rate as FG has it at 40 and Pipeline at 50, so it was nice to see the 55. Here is the writeup: 21. Braden Montgomery, OF, Chicago White Sox (Double A) Age: 22 Bats: B Throws: R Height: 6-2 Weight: 220 Scouting Grades: HIT: 55 PWR: 60 RUN: 50 ARM: 65 FLD: 50 Montgomery is a complete player who will contribute with the bat and the glove. In the outfield, Montgomery is a sound defender with a right fielder’s arm. (He was a two-way player early in his college career.) Offensively, he’s going to hit for power and can steal a base, having fully recovered from the broken ankle he suffered during the 2024 NCAA Super Regionals. The switch-hitter has a great work ethic and feel for the game, as well as special leadership qualities. He was one of the headliners along with catcher Kyle Teel in the package the White Sox received for Garrett Crochet in the offseason trade with the Red Sox. He’s on a quick path to the majors and should arrive early next year. For more, see https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6587372/2025/09/03/top-mlb-prospects-rankings-griffin-wetherholt-mcgonigle/

Nice win

Really excited about young positional talent. The number of players historically that can play a solid SS and plausibly hit 40 bombs in a year is probably very, very small. IMO, this lineup will be ferocious when Bonemer is at 3B and Braden in RF.

It's par for the course for Cristobal. Thankfully, he built a roster strong enough to overcome his caveman tendencies, at least this time. They will still end up losing a couple games to inferior opponents this year just as we usually do.

Thank God we survived Mario trying to throw it away by being overly conservative. He's a great recruiter but awful game day coach. Thankfully, the Canes DL ate Notre Dame's OL alive on the last drive. Go Canes! Hit. Stick. Bust Dick!

Good job Canes....keep pounding the Irish...we should be ahead by more than 7. Keep it up. One more half

Braden 1-4, 2B and 0 Ks.

That's encouraging especially only 1 BB. Unfortunately, Schultz struggled.

Yep....and he's continued to play well after the deadline so hopefully his value is rising a bit. They have very little salary on the books. Pick up the option, try again to get something meaningful in the trade market by offering to contribute some cash, if there's no buyers, start him at CF again. I read somewhere Getz talked about being willing to spend some money next year. If they are going to start making even small increases to the budget, then we actually have a reasonable chance to be decent if Schultz looks more like last year in ST. A couple decent signings plus Schultz and Braden at some point, with Robert still in center actually makes for an exciting team.

Braden with another double

I'm assuming they will be showcasing Korey Lee a couple times a week in the last month for C starved teams in the offseason trade market

Montgomery is a mega savage. To have two catchers with OPS above .800 (or even around .800) is insane. FG absolutely loves Teel. 1.3 WAR in only like 50 games...positive offense and defense. Vargas is also showing encouraging improvement. His WRC+ is now right at league average even with his big droughts during the season and his xwoba suggests he should probably be a little better than average. If Baldwin can learn to play a competent CF he could be good. Just need Meidroth to consistently hit some doubles to keep the defense honest. If he can get back to being a .360+ OBP, he can still be a 2-2.5 WAR player. Braden being added at some point next year also should be great. I'm excited.

Bonemer promotion is overdue.....finally.

That's a very encouraging start. Good to see he's missing bats and not walking people. Solid.

240/310/550 would be fine. I'm getting to the point where I'm gonna be pissed if his ISO is south of .300 for any extended period...lol.

Narrator: "Alas...it was not to be."

Colson the savage! Dude should be batting cleanup every game

He almost certainly will be with the Sox at some point next year as a backup IFer. He's not a starting position player but he should be on the roster fairly soon.

Colson bomb!

Nice job Colson!

Braden with another double.

Reward him by giving him a taste of High A.

A positive Lip Man post Im framing this. Hagen Smith will pitch three or four complete games with ZERO walks before I see this again.

I'd be shocked if Braden was in Chicago in May. He needs to maintain his performance for more than a month and when his BABIP normalizes. He also needs to get that K rate down and then he'll need some time in AAA. He could definitely be in Chicago by this time next year though. There's alot to be excited about, but he still needs time.