Chicago White Sox

They said Hill is ticketed for AAA?

People are sleeping way too hard on Thorpe. Honestly, if the 4 seamer comes back with a couple extra ticks (which happens fairly often after TJS), kid will be a key part of this rotation moving forward.

It was generally rated the best changeup in minor league baseball.

I don’t think mid season transformations for minor league pitchers are all that rare. Mechanical & repertoire changes can suddenly click for a young arm and immediately unlock better results. Guys can change their hitter strategies (i.e attack the zone more) or their pitch sequencing and get better results. These guys are literally developing in real time and should get better as the season progress. IMO, using full season production to project go forward expectations is way too simplistic.

Two questions for you: 1) Where does McDougal’s ball percentage of 37% rate amongst AA pitchers? 2) In your projection model, how much weighting are you putting on his AA results specifically, his broader 2025 season, and prior seasons?

Yeah, if you have his BB/9 rate doubling from the 2.75/9 he just posted as a 22 year old in AA last year then I can see why you are pessimistic. That being said, not sure how you got to that 5.25 figure without over-indexing on his earlier minor league production, which seems crazy in this age of player development and when talking about a prospect who was aggressively moved through the system since coming back from TJS.

I am very high on Burke. He was phenomenal to end 2024 and then started off this past year very poorly before rebounding as the season progressed. The reality is some repertoire changes negatively impacted his slider and he’s been working on addressing over the off-seaon. If he can get that pitch back on track, I see a kid with ability to be a legit #3 SP. Periera is backup OF in the above construct and one who would primarily play against LHP until he can demonstrate the ability to do more than that. Not sure why he’s drawing your attention here as he’s simply a role player. And FWIW, if he’s not healthy, I think Hill gets the spot ahead of Kelenic to start the season. Finally, I assume that Benintendi and Quero split the DH role and that Andrew plays LF when Hayes needs a day off. If he fails to produce in such role, then I think he’s a potential DFA by the 2H of the season.

Braden will be up at some point, but they want him to work on his chase first. To me, he’s more of a 2H reinforcement and hopefully the guy who eventually pushes Benintendi off this roster once and for all.

Building off my previous post, here is my 5/1 roster projection: Lineup: B. Baldwin, RF (S) K. Teel, CA (L) M. Vargas, 3B (R) C. Montgomery, SS (L) M. Murakami, 1B (L) Hayes, LF (R) E. Quero, DH (S) S. Antonacci, 2B (L) Acuna, CF (R) Bench: IF: C. Meidroth (R) IF: L. Sosa (R) OF: E. Pereira (R) OF: A. Benintendi (L) Rotation: S. Smith (R) S. Burke (R) T. McDougal (R) A. Kay (L) D. Martin (R) or E. Fedde (R) Bullpen: CL: S. Dominguez (R) SU: Taylor (R) SU: Leasure (R) MR: S. Newcomb (L) MR: M. Vasil (R) MR: C. Murphy (L) MR: J. Hicks (R) LR: J. Paez (R) IMO, that’s a team that could surprise this year, especially if one of Hagen Smith or Schultz can grab the #5 in the rotation by June or so.

He throws that hard? I had no idea

Regardless of how this OD roster shakes out, I think we should be prepared for Antonacci & McDougal to be in the major league mix as early as 4/16 to 5/1. The addition of McDougal in particular shouldn’t be overlooked as he immediately could change the complexion of the rotation. A young trio of Shane Smith, Burke, & McDougal would be quite exciting and possibly very good. I think the ability for this team to compete if far more possible than some are letting on.

Fully agree with all of this. Chase needs to live up to his AAA hype and fast or could be relegated to reserve infielder status once Antonacci is ready. That being said, Chase was dealing with several injuries last year and it certainly impacted his performance as the season progressed. I expect improvement in terms of both impacting the ball and getting on base next year. His BB rate has significant room for growth and that getting closer to 12% is what will make or break him.

I don’t know in what world Crochet was bringing back Roman Anthony.

It’s not really that crazy when you consider his injury history and the fact that he had one year of SP experience

At what position was he one of the worst at? SS? Chase only had 3 errors at 2B. Meanwhile Sosa had 10 at 2B. Defensively there is no comparison here.

Thanks. Isn’t Borucki on a minor league deal? Feels like if all else is equal, you start the season with Gilbert as your second lefty with Borucki & Eisert waiting in Charlotte. What about Murphy? Given Getz went out and acquired for an actual prospect, feels like they must have plans for him although maybe they want him to start to start in Charlotte and build up some innings.

What are your thoughts on how this bullpen shakes out? I haven’t been able to watch a ton of games, so would love to who has looked good or bad. I assume the battles are mostly down to the 2nd lefty spot and likely one Rule 5 guy spot.

This is a very silly statement.

You continue to make this same argument that ignores everything but power when it comes to the 2B spot. Both Chase & Antonacci are going to get on base at a significantly higher clip and will provide positive defensive value. The overall value equation is likely higher with both of them, especially against RHP where Sosa is simply league average. I don’t your willing to acknowledge how bad Sosa was defensively last head, with 2B being a real challenge for him.

Murray has options and should start the season in AAA. But he’s another guy who can offer some of the RH power off the bench that does Sosa does, but with much more defensive versatility and value.

The thing is Kelenic is on a minor league deal and can simply go to AAA. Forcing him onto the OD roster is not actually protecting him. IMO, I want him down in AAA for a month or two and see how he hits. Call him up when you believe his chances of success are higher and when he’ll have access to regular at-bats. As for the makeup the bench, if you assume CF is Acuna, LF is Benintendi, and DH is Quero (I think him and Andrew split the DH role), that leaves four spots without requiring us carrying a third catcher. Additionally, there are four players without options in Sosa, Mead, Pereira, & Lee plus you have Hill on a two way contract. All the bubble guys are RH hitters and it seems incredibly unlikely we rock a fully RH bench and don’t have at least one more guy to rotate in who bats LF. And while Hill can play a hell of a CF, he gives you no platoon advantage at the spot when paired with Acuna. The same applies for Pereira but without the plus glove there. Given how good of a hitter Baldwin is and his ability to play CF, I just can’t see an argument for not keeping him on this roster from an optimization standpoint. From a protection standpoint, I don’t see a need to protect Hill at all as I think he’d clear waivers and is more of an insurance policy anyways if the young kids don’t work out and/or get hurt. If you keep Sosa (which we will), I don’t see how Mead even gets access to playing time. He’s simply too redundant so putting him on the OD roster won’t help his value. The same applies to Lee but at least there another team’s backup catcher could get injured in May and make him tradable. I do think we should keep Periera given our question marks in the OF, but you can do that while also rostering both Sosa & Baldwin and one of Mead or Lee. I just don’t see the roster crunch that requires Baldwin starting in AAA and that’s before any injuries happen and make this entire debate pointless.

I definitely believe the CF part. I am far more skeptical of the top of the order part. I think he’s clearly in the 8 or 9 hole until he demonstrates some ability to hit MLB pitching and get on base at a reasonable level. Until then, I fully expect Chase & Teel to be our #1 & #2 hitters.

Why though? Who would keep over him?

Has anyone but Levine said the above, especially the top of the order part?

The Sox aren’t uprooting Meidroth yet. The Sox absolutely love the kid and his power (while firmly below average) was compromised last season due to a variety of health issues. That being said, I do think that if Chase isn’t a 100+ wRC+ guy by June, then Antonacci has a real chance of taking the 2B job and pushing Chase to a reserve infielder role. I still love both players and think they are the type of role players a good org like the Dodgers have in the 8 to 11 range of their positional group.