royoung

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 02:07 PM) Brian Bilek ‏@BrianBilek_ 28m28 minutes ago Fulmer (10th pick) the 4th highest from the '15 draft and Anderson (17th pick) is the 2nd highest from '13 draft. Fulmer was actually taken 8th, but the point still stands. Sox have taken (what seems like) the best available player in the first round of the past three drafts (13' Anderson, 14' Rodon, 15' Fulmer).

Solid. MLB.com also had both in the top 50. I'd imagine Spencer Adams and Trey Michalczewski would be in the 100-150 range for most publications as well.

So much for Dickerson to the Sox. Unless the Rox plan on flipping McGee for more, I don't understand this move at all for them.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 10:56 AM) And because it's funny, Adams routinely out dueled Kolek. How many times did they face off? http://www.chicagonow.com/future-sox/2015/...-straight-time/ At least four times. Beat him three straight times at one point.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 10:51 AM) Adams was as high as 96 in the AZL in 2014. In 2015 he hit an endurance wall, and also was taking on new mechanical changes form his coaches, which resulted in decreased velocity. But I also heard reports he was still getting to 94 at least in 2015. He needs to add some muscle I think. I knew he was touching 94 early in 2015, but didn't know he was at 96 in 2014. He is definitely athletic and if you squint and imagine him with more bulk and a refined, repeatable delivery, frontline starter isn't out of the question. Obviously quite a bit of projection to have him #1 in the system. But I guess it's no more outlandish than having Alfaro at #12...

Spencer Adams at #1 is surprising to me. Fangraphs called him a"developing frontline starter" and "can reach up to 97" on his FB. The most optimistic projection I've seen on him previously was a solid #3 and when I saw him pitch in August he sat 89-90 and touched 91. However, I will say though that scouts told me he looked much sharper earlier in the year. Adams more than tripled his innings from 2014 to 2015 so I wouldn't be surprised if he was hitting a wall in August. Still, I am not sure I've ever heard of him hitting 97...

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 09:25 AM) I don't know what his 2 hole numbers have been but that's where I'd put him tentatively: Eaton Fowler Abreu Frazier Melky Lawrie LaRoche Navila Saladino top of the lineup is a career OBP of .355 and .363 in front of career slugging % of .540 and .463.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 09:09 AM) I'm all for Fowler because OBP. That's a lacking area on this team. Fowler does strike out some but he'd be a solid addition if we could and I'd imagine it wouldn't be a big deal. 3-4 years $36-48 million? Agreed. At this point, I could see Fowler accepting a 3/40ish type of deal and that is not a huge investment for the upgrade he would provide. If you take Fowler's stats from last season and put him on the White Sox, he would of ranked 2nd on the team in home runs (17), 3rd on the team in OBP (.346), and far and away the leader in walks (84). His OBP was a tick below Abreu's, who was at .347 last year and he had 26 more walks than Eaton, who led the Sox in that category in 2015.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 08:42 AM) So that means the Cubs would have to make two trades to fit him in. Seems unlikely, especially if someone moves on him soon. Is it legal for the Cubs to sign him, negating the QO, then deal him?

Jon HeymanVerified account ‏@JonHeyman 1h1 hour ago sources: Orioles were a 3rd team in on cespedes Friday. (unsure if there were more). Like nats, O's had 5-yr bid on table. Ouch, not even in the top three according to Heyman.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 12:59 PM) I'm still highly intrigued by Yadiel Hernandez. He's got a career .449 OBP over in Cuba, OBP over .500 last year. That obviously won't translate over here to that extent, but as a frame of reference, Abreu had a career .456 OBP. Abreu also took a ton of intential walks which boosted that number. Looks like he might be a solid #2 and it would allow Melky to drop to balance out the lineup. Agreed. I saw some video and he looks solid. Doesn't seem like he will hit for much power but possibly plus plate discipline and good average. The only issue is his showcase isn't until February 23rd so he will likely miss most, if not all, of ST.

Fulmer not being in the top 101 is a joke unless you are convinced his delivery will lead to debilitating injuries. As NorthSide said, his floor is a great closer.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 09:18 AM) That Keon Barnum pick is looking so bad. I remember it being ridiculed the moment it was announced.

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 4m4 minutes ago Some in game sense Dickerson will be OFer #Rockies trade. Will require less of return than Blackmon. #Rays involved, as @TBTimes_Rays said. Why would Rockies trade Dickerson and why would he fetch less than Blackmon? Dickerson is younger, under club control for longer, and is a better hitter. Am I missing something here? EDIT: I see he was injured most of last year. Still, if he stays healthy, he was on a monstrous pace.

Has anyone been to New Zealand? Planning an outdoorsy trip there in April with my sister for three weeks. Tentatively planning on hitting Tongariro, Tai Poutini, Kepler Track, Milford Sound, and Fiordland.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 02:58 PM) Thanks for the great work as usual. If you had to only pick one, which Sox prospect do you think increases his stock the most in 2016? Micker Adolfo. If he stays healthy and begins to tap into his raw power...he will be on everyone's top 100 prospect lists.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 03:56 PM) Has anyone in the Chicago media confirmed the White Sox are interested in Cespedes? Levine for sure.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 10:01 AM) Anderson still has a large strike out rate to overcome, as well as his defense (while it sounds much improved, he still has work to do). He has improved the K rate every year and it was only 20.7% K/PA in 2015. I was more concerned when it was at 25.9% in Kannapolis.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 10:01 AM) Anderson still has a large strike out rate to overcome, as well as his defense (while it sounds much improved, he still has work to do). Agreed. But scary to think how well he preformed in Birmingham while working on those things. His OBP, for example, jumped from .337 in 64 games before the All-Star break to .363 the rest of the season. That is the type of improvement that is very encouraging to see.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 09:39 AM) Did Adams crack any top 2s? Guessing not "Jonathan Mayo ‏@JonathanMayo 3m3 minutes ago Jonathan Mayo Retweeted Joey Castro He has considerable ceiling. Maybe a No. 3 starter when all is said and done? Jonathan Mayo added, Joey Castro @JoeyBats5 @JonathanMayo What kind of celing does Spencer Adams have? #WhiteSox" Talking about Spencer Adams...

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 09:39 AM) Did Adams crack any top 2s? Guessing not No, I think he was the unanimous #3.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 09:26 AM) With the Sox history of developing pitching versus hitting, and the distance that Anderson has between his current ability and his potential versus where Fulmer is at, I would put Fulmer first on my list too, but it wouldn't be by much. Anderson is far from a finished product, but he did just hit .312/.350/.429 in AA. I would actually put him and Fulmer's Major League ETA's the same, mid-season/September of 2016. So while Fulmer might be the safer prospect because he has the higher floor, I think Anderson's ceiling just barely puts him ahead in terms of rankings.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 09:07 AM) Great list. Minor complaints are that I think Robinson Leyer and Nick Delmonico should be in the top 30. Jim Callis ‏@jimcallisMLB 6m6 minutes ago I still would argue Fulmer > Anderson. @whitesox I'll put this here for argument sake. I tend to agree because I think Fulmer's ceiling is higher than Anderson's. We had several writers vote that way and I think with Anderson/Fulmer it is a 1a and 1b situation. Personally, I voted Fulmer #1 in the mid-season list but the way Anderson finished his season (.310/.363/.445 in the second half) and he continued positive reports about his defense won me over. I like Robin Leyer as a potential 7th/8th inning guy, but he's likely not a potential closer like Tago or Goldberg and the bottom of our list was more competitive with several Latin American signings making their debut. Delmonico just didn't hit enough (.238/.313/.386) for a 23 year-old 3B in AA for him to find a place on the list. He has shown power previously though and he would have to dramatically improve his slugging percentage to be considered a prospect IMO.

Four players (Solorzano, Feliz, Perez, and Rodriguez) on this list were J2 signings under Marco Paddy. Keep an eye on those guys, they were tough to rank but a lot more potential than usually shows up on the bottom-half of these rankings.

Adams finishes his 2015 with a 2.99 ERA between 19 starts for the Kannapolis Intimidators and 5 starts for the Winston-Salem Dash. He struck out 96 batters to just 18 walks over 129.1 innings pitched. Adams is the consensus #3 prospect in the White Sox system across several prospect lists pre-season 2016.