A little over the week ago, we talked about the White Sox' less-than-convincing response to Jerry Reinsdorf's alleged "second place is the best place" comment relayed by former Marlins team president David Samson.
The reaction from the club stood out to me more than the quote, because it showed no ability to read a room, and I didn't feel all that great about the source. About Samson, I wrote:
Samson was part of a Marlins front office that was equal parts villainous and dysfunctional, and has spent his post-baseball career living his best life. He’s kinda credible because he walked among front office types, but he also seems to like the attention from being the heel.
Sure enough, if the White Sox ignored it or attacked the messenger instead responding with a bumper sticker they once saw ("second place is the first loser"), they wouldn't have had to wait long for reinforcement. When Daniel Hudson became the first player to use MLB's paternity list in the postseason, Samson showed up again to commandeer the conversation.
Twitter responded with a ratio, but that probably was the point. Any engagement might look like good engagement when you're planning on launching a podcast called "Nothing Personal." It just came out on Monday.
Fortunately, the story isn't just "people give reaction guy was asking for." Jeff Passan, whose reporting on Hudson's recovery from two Tommy John surgeries was the best part of his book "The Arm," wrote a fantastic article about Hudson's 48 hours traveling between the postseason and the hospital.
The whole thing is worth reading, but Sara Hudson delivered the best quote of them all:
Throughout the night, the broadcast team never misses an opportunity to bring up Hudson's absence. It becomes such a recurring theme that Craig Hanks, a friend of Hudson's, sends him a text proposing a new drinking game: "Every time they say Daniel Hudson take a drink ... I might die." When Sanchez loses his no-hit bid, Hudson turns into an especially important talking point. This would have been his time to pitch, the broadcast notes, his save to secure.
"All this time I thought I'd married Rodney," Sara says, "and it turns out I married Rivera."
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When it comes to formulating top prospect lists, I don't yet have a firm idea of what to do with Matthew Thompson and Andrew Dalquist. The Sox hadn't used big-money draft slots on prep pitchers in five years, perhaps because the last ones they invested in (Spencer Adams, Tyler Danish) never gained velocity from their high school days. Velocity has also been an issue with some of their college picks, which might further explain why they've avoided spending seven figures on players whose futures rely on such gains.
If the White Sox fare just as poorly with Thompson and Dalquist, it won't be from making the same mistakes. The Sox limited them to a combined total of five innings in the Arizona Rookie League, as most of their pro career to date has been focused on building strength.
James Fegan laid out where the second- and third-round picks currently stand:
General manager Rick Hahn placed the primary emphasis of their time in Glendale on their exposure to a professional-level conditioning program for the first time. Both Thompson and Dalquist have touted the value of one-on-one time with strength coaches — a significant upgrade from even an elite high school athletic program like Dalquist’s Redondo Union.
Thompson said he’s absorbing the information from heat maps provided by the team en masse for the first time, and pondering how he’s essentially unhittable if he gets ahead in the count, but a bit more vulnerable than he used to be when he tries to blaze his way back from 3-1 with fastballs.
Dalquist practiced tunneling his four-seamer and his curveball in high school, but admitted a pitch sequencing meeting he and his new roommate both attended got him really thinking through that concept for the first time. Both have also noted that while the tight spin of their curveballs froze most high school hitters on sight, that’s not going to work anymore.
With only instructional league reporting and a few Arizona League looks, where they rank in the farm system relies mainly on their draft-day profiles. Glass half full, this is the time for projectable athleticism. The White Sox farm system thins out after the top tier of Luis Robert, Michael Kopech, Nick Madrigal and Andrew Vaughn, there's plenty of room for a faith-based ranking if you can summon it.
