Camelback Ranch is going to be plenty crowded next month. The White Sox are carrying a full 40-man roster at the moment, and on top of that, they invited a whopping 27 non-roster players to spring training on Wednesday. For some context, the White Sox only had 20 NRIs last year.
That's a surprising surge considering the Sox aren't auditioning all that many 25-man roster spots this time around. The Charlotte roster has needs, though, and eight of the 27 players were previously outrighted from the 40-man roster but didn't find any takers.
(Dylan Covey could make it nine. He cleared waivers this week, but he can opt for free agency since he's now been outrighted twice, so he might be considering his options.)
Of the 20 players the White Sox invited last year, six ended up appearing in MLB games, and only two of them traveled the classic prospect route.
- 2019: Evan Marshall, Ryan Goins, Matt Skole, Charlie Tilson, Zack Collins, Danny Mendick
- 2018: Chris Beck, Rob Scahill, Chris Volstad, Alfredo Gonzalez, Skole, Michael Kopech
- 2017: Anthony Swarzak, David Holmberg, Aaron Bummer, Jace Fry, Nicky Delmonico, Geovany Soto, Cody Asche
- 2016: Tim Anderson, Tyler Danish, Carson Fulmer, Jason Coats, Matt Purke, Hector Sanchez, Omar Narvaez
- 2015: Soto, Beck, Carlos Rodon, Scott Carroll, Micah Johnson
- 2014: Zach Putnam, Chris Bassitt, Scott Snodgress, Andy Wilkins
- 2013: Erik Johnson, Marcus Semien, Jake Petricka, Ramon Troncoso, David Purcey, Bryan Anderson
- 2012: Brian Bruney, Leyson Septimo, Eric Stults, Hector Gimenez, Ray Olmedo, Jordan Danks, Brian Omogrosso
- 2011: Bruney, Donny Lucy, Jeff Gray (and his journal), Josh Kinney, Shane Lindsay, Dallas McPherson
- 2010: Donny, Erick Threets
With so many MLB-caliber acquisitions this winter, the hope is that the White Sox are done with the days of reaching for the Tilsons of the world to fill out lineups. That said, it's always worth acknowledging all the names this time of year, because as Marshall shows, sometimes the low-profile guys actually pay dividends.
Baby's first spring, pitchers
Johnson might've had a chance to impress from minor-league camp last year, but he ended up missing all of spring training with a lat strain that shelved him for the first half of the season. That hurt both him and me, a guy who predicted that he'd make a multi-level jump into the White Sox bullpen in 2019.
He still sits in the same position, but he's joined by Heuer. The White Sox converted their sixth-round pick from the 2018 draft into a full-time reliever last year to terrific returns. He posted a 2.39 ERA over 67 innings between Winston-Salem and Birmingham, striking out 65 batters to 15 walks and allowing zero homers. The K rate took a hit (27% to 19%) after the jump to Birmingham, and his five unearned runs there don't show up in his ERA, so he has some room to improve at Double-A before pressing forward.
Stiever probably elevated his stock more than anybody last year, and stands a good chance at leap-frogging over guys like Dane Dunning and Jimmy Lambert on the depth chart assuming he's not the next one to fall victim to an arm injury. I still want to spell Hunter Schryver "Hyntyr Schryvyr." He was one of numerous pitchers to get clubbed around Charlotte last year. He's lefty, so yaneverknow.
Baby's first spring, hitters
Vaughn might be below Sheets on the organizational ladder, but he's a bigger part of their grand plans, so it's incumbent on Sheets to prove that he's more than filler. He had a decent year in Birmingham (.267/.345/.414), which was enough to stand out against the disappointment across the outfield, but Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal showed that loud offensive performances are indeed possible at Regions Field.
The White Sox have a whopping five catchers on the 40-man roster, so Perez is the only extra one they need to open camp. He was Madrigal before Madrigal in terms of making contact in absurd quantity, but he hasn't been able to pair it with anything else of note.
Right-handed pitching depth
Starting with the guys who were previously on the 40-man roster, Burr is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery in June, while Guerrero is a more polished version of Thyago Vieira.
Regarding the newcomers, Anderson showed enough at Triple-A with the Phillies to earn looks in each of the last three seasons ... but he's also been clobbered in each of those three seasons. He generated some excitement last spring by turning his slider into a cutter last year, but then he was unsuccessful in Lehigh Valley's rotation and the Phillies bullpen before an injury ended his season in June.
After eight professional seasons, Lail will finally pitch for an organization that isn't the Yankees. New York drafted him in the 18th round way back in 2012, and Lail made 187 appearances (112 starts) over five levels, culminating in one glorious appearance in the majors during an August doubleheader ... only to be dumped from the 40-man roster two days later. Lasting success in Triple-A has eluded him.
McRae, 26, got a chance to pitch in a lot of garbage-time appearances during the Pirates' second-half implosion last year, but he couldn't take advantage of the opportunity to distinguish himself in the bullpen. Then again, he hadn't really distinguished himself as a starter at Triple-A, either.
Mitchell! has the most MLB experience of anybody in this category, with a 5.15 ERA over 64 appearances (20 starts) and 171 innings. Most of those came with the Yankees, but the Padres needed 11 starts from him in 2018 despite walking more batters (43) than he struck out (38) over 73 innings. He also gave up 12 homers. He had a miserable time in the PCL last year, as did most pitchers. The White Sox might want to see if he's still got that low-90s cutter.
Left-handed pitching depth
We're familiar with Detwiler (who did what he could last year), Frare and Medeiros (both of whom did not). Tomshaw, who turned 31 last month, has spent the last two years filling rotation spots in Birmingham and Charlotte as needed.
We're a little less familiar with Lindgren, a former second-round pick of the Yankees who made seven appearances for them in 2015. He surfaced in the White Sox organization last year after missing three full seasons due to two Tommy John surgeries. After a lengthy ramp-up period, Lindgren finished the season with 12 decent appearances for Winston-Salem. He was well older than the competition at 26, but that wasn't the point.
Mejia is the only new guy. You might remember him from the Minnesota rotation a couple years ago, but he pitched out of the bullpen for the Twins, Angels and Cardinals last year. He's 26 until late June.
Organizational players
Congratulations to Skole, the first three-time NRI in the years I've been doing this. Delmonico and Palka are also back, attempting to rediscover past glories.
Cuthbert and Romine are familiar figures on AL Central benches with the Royals and Tigers, respectively. Cuthbert impressed as an unheralded fill-in for Mike Moustakas back in 2016, and he's homered against the Sox more than any other team, but he's disappointed in each of the last three seasons. Romine, 34, has carved out a classic journeyman utility infielder career, making 581 appearances over nine seasons despite a career line of .235/.291/.301.
Seeing Brugman on this list rang some bells, and it's probably because 1) he spells his name like a real Nix, and 2) he was one of three Oakland A's to hit their first career homer over three James Shields innings against the White Sox back in 2017. Matt Olson and Franklin Barreto were the other two, and they've had a little more success than Brugman since. It's not for a lack of minor-league production, because Brugman slugged .601 with 23 homers over 78 games for the Tacoma Rainiers last year. It says something about the Triple-A hitting environment that the Mariners weren't inspired to call him up in September.
Show something
Gonzalez gets his second look in spring training as he enters his third season of being stuck in an outfield logjam. Despite being a lefty with a decent idea of the strike zone, he couldn't get his OPS out of the 600s over the course of a full season in Birmingham. Although Steele Walker was removed from the equation, he's still contending with Luis Basabe and Blake Rutherford, and Micker Adolfo might also be ready to reclaim outfield reps.
Assuming the White Sox don't strike another minor-league contract extension, Madrigal will enter spring training as the subject of the last service-time debate, God willing. He's the best use of reps at second base from Day One, but Danny Mendick offers at least the veneer of credibility after his respectable September if the Sox want to slow-play it. Unlike other cases with Robert and Eloy Jiménez, Madrigal lacks the power that makes one's production stand out in small samples. That said, if Madrigal shows up in the Best Shape of His Life and hoists one or two over the fence at Camelback Ranch, that's a subplot I want to see the Sox have to negotiate.
