NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (staxx @ Jul 10, 2015 -> 09:38 AM) Heidenreich having a great season... Do we have anything with him there? The Sox thought they did. Then they traded him. Then they re-signed him. He's at a level and age where he should be dominating, given his resume. The key is if he can do anything in AA.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 10, 2015 -> 09:34 AM) Remember when Braulio Ortiz was a top 20 prospect on mlb.com last year? Yeah that was a joke lol. He is awful Results have been, so far this year, but the ranking was about tools. Specifically, he's got a big mid to upper 90s fastball with movement. It's a beast. Sadly, command is lacking and nothing else in his arsenal seems to work well. Adam Lopez was in that T20 for like a year as well, even after he was hurt. The MLB.com / MLB Pipeline top prospect lists have historically been the worst, in my view, among national pubs.

Albers pitched (and got shelled) last night, which makes his callup less likely (but not impossible). Tyler Saladino, on the other hand, didn't play - so my money is on him at this point. If you want to know more about Saladino, here is his profile.

Take a look at Carlos Sanchez' career path vs Leury Garcia. Pretty similar in terms of age per level, with Leury getting to A and A+ slightly faster but Sanchez to AA and AAA faster. Then note that Sanchez did substantially better offensively at all levels. I'm not sure Leury was promoted so quickly it was damaging, at least not until the MLB jump. That all said, I think the Rangers and Sox treated him as a utility guy because that was his ceiling anyway.

He was patently awful last year in the majors at the plate - like, the worst bat in the majors with that many PAs. And frankly I thought his defense, while passable at multiple positions, wasn't great at any of them. I'd much rather see Saladino up.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 11:28 AM) one key question is...which teams are going to need strong 2nd halves to wind up in the playoffs? None of the three teams who completed first halves (BHAM, W-S, KAN) won a division, so any of them have to win the 2nd half in their division to go to the post-season. As it happens, two of those are already in first place, with Kanny being in 2nd in theirs. Great Falls and AZL don't play halves, and they are both in first place, though I'm not sure if AZL has an actual playoff anyway. Charlotte is still in contention for their first half with a few games left.

We wrap up our week of interviews with the broadest piece of the bunch. Similar to the interviews in Kannapolis featured their pitching coach (Jose Bautista), this one features a hitting coach (Charlie Poe). There are also interviews of four prospects with the Winston-Salem Dash: Trey Michalczewski, Jake Peter, Adam Engel and Andre Wheeler. Give it a read! We hope you've enjoyed all these interviews. They are some of the harder things to do with all the transcription, but it is also unique content you just don't see elsewhere. Will, Daniel and Brian worked hard on these.

The question is simply, how much (if any) has his defense improved at Charlotte? I've pulled multiple reports and watched a few games on MiLB.tv, and I do think there is some improvement there. But the reports are mixed. With defense you need a large sample to work with, and if I add it all up, it looks like small moves. His footwork, both fielding and throwing, still needs improvement - but that is teachable. And please, please, please - stop suggesting OF or 3B for Micah. He doesn't have the arm for either, plus he's had two procedures on his elbow that could be related to throwing. Also, if he's struggled this much at 2B, it would at best take a couple years to get even acceptable at any other position. Oh and, he struggles quite a bit with popups and body placement - put that in the OF? That would not go well. He's 2B or bust. Sanchez doesn't appear to have the bat speed for MLB, which scares me because that (probably) can't be fixed. So I am all for giving Micah another look, assuming there is at least some positive movement defensively.

QUOTE (SnB @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 09:51 AM) My wife and I just bought a brand new Subaru Outback. There are like 5 in inventory in all of Chicago. If you don't pay a bit of a premium for those, it's a 3-4 month wait. I've been on the subaru bandwagon forever, god damn hipsters. First car for me was a 1986 Subaru GL-10 sedan. Loved that thing. Loved it to death in fact, haha. That car went 180k miles, 5 accidents, two teenagers learning to drive on it. The fascia and add-on parts, interior stuff, was all falling aprt - but that engine would start no matter what and it was nice and quick. One of our two cars is now a 2011 Forester. I'm definitely a Subaru fan. Excited they are finally working on some hybrids, plug ins and alternate types like that, which they've been behind on.

Chrysler products, Jeep included, have had some prolific quality issues for years now, I just can't bring myself to consider them in any car shopping. Maybe now a few years after the buyout they'll start seeing improvement, not sure of that though. Also, for whatever reason, Chrysler products always have the worst sightlines. Tight windows and blind spots extra-large. Which is all too bad because I've driven Cherokee vehicles of different types before, usually as rentals, and I want to like them. I mostly do, but for the two major issues I mentioned earlier.

Recap posted. Lots of good pitching, but you really need to see the link to Louie Lechich's catch that came in at #7 on the SC T10 plays last night.

Leyer 14 straight scoreless innings.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 11:53 AM) Junior Guerra absolutely mowing them down in AAA. Has to be in our starting rotation before the end of the year, let's see what he's got. I like him too, but more as a reliever given his pitch set.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 11:44 AM) Is that generally a sign of anything in particular in terms of whether the system is talented? When I see a MiLB team has a winning record, I always think about the Chris Curleys of the world rather than the Tim Andersons, etc. Can be either, but usually you need both to have a strong team. Also factored in is league usage, especially in rookie ball. The White Sox tend to pile up college and more mature players in Great Falls for example (though not as strictly as before), while only some other PIO teams do the same, so that team tends to do well.

Brian (raBBit) interviewed White Sox pitching prospect Matt Ball for the site. Ball is definitely a guy to watch, and you can get to know him better in this piece. He's also a great follow on Twitter if you are on there, he's one of the funnier player accounts in the system. Here it is.

Recap posted Sorry for the delay, but you should read it - it's amazing how many of the affiliates are in or near first place right now. Haven't seen this in a long, long time.

Leury Garcia? I'd much rather have Saladino if you want a flex guy, or Johnson for 2B. Garcia is a last resort in my eyes.

Alston confirms to Future Sox directly, he's going to ASU and not signing. That leaves just King and Hickman as questions.

So this article has interviews with two pitching prospects (Thad Lowry, Connor Walsh) that are quite good, but the unique piece is the interview with Jose Bautista. He's the PC for Kannapolis, and he was unuually honest in his answers on some things. It's a really important look into how things go in A-ball, in player development. Give it a read!

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 12:03 PM) I think that was a typo on Twitter, I am seeing Anderson at 12 on the actual list. Surprisingly, he is ahead of JP Crawford. I can see the list now, he's at 22.

The White Sox hosted another "Blogger Call", to talk with Alvarez, Austin, DeMichele and Montas. Turned out our Quinarvy was the only one who made it, so we got exclusive access. Montas wasn't able to make it so we'll post his Q&A seperately when we get his answers (they were sent over via email). Here's the article with the interviews for those three. Interviews will be a theme this week at FS by the way. Look for more in the next few days.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Jul 4, 2015 -> 04:58 PM) anybody know when Jacob May will play again? Last report said August.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 3, 2015 -> 02:57 PM) With how bleak the catcher spot is, please go the full 450k for Hickman. I hope they get him too, but remember this is a high school catcher we're talking about. Would be shocked if he reached the majors in less than 4-5 years, if ever. Won't be helping any time soon.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 3, 2015 -> 02:44 PM) If they didn't have a plan to go a bit over though, wouldn't they have given him the extra $100,000? It doesn't really make any sense to sit on that $$. They can offer Hickman or one of the other guys over $400,000 I doubt they pocket the 100k+. They may or may not go into that 5% range, though I sure as heck hope they do since it is probably the difference maker here. At worst, I bet they grab one of the other two who might sign for less. But it probably takes that full 450k or so to get Mike Hickman.

That's slot value. What to do with remaining pool and potential overage? Read about the scenarios here, including possibility of grabbing one more significant prospect. Draft Tracker also updated.