Whenever Marco Paddy discusses a player the White Sox just signed, you have to guard against his quotes telling you what a player might be able to do, versus any likelihood of that player meeting his ceiling.
Sometimes it leads to assessments like this one about Elijah Tatis:
“I think he’s going to be a pleasant surprise to a lot of people,” White Sox special assistant Marco Paddy said during a conference call with reporters last week. “He’s very polished. Very polished defensively. … When you get a young player that repeats his swing with no problem and has the ability to handle the bat real well, obviously, right away, you get excited about it.
“He’s very polished defensively. He can really play some shortstop right now. He’s not as tall as his brother, but he’s very athletic. And he’s got a chance to be a pretty good player.”
Tatis hit .140/.210/.179 over three seasons in the White Sox organization, striking out in 77 of his 163 stateside plate appearances.
But then you realize that Tatis signed in the same class as Cristian Mena and Wiflred Veras, and both have them have turned out to be the pleasant surprise that Tatis wasn't, at least through A-ball.
That's why volume shooting is rewarded in this market, and with all that in mind, Paddy talked to White Sox reporters about some of the higher-profile signings in this year's class.
He came through with tidy summaries of Luis Reyes ...
"He's a power arm that has three pitches," Paddy said. "He's got a power fastball, a slider and a changeup. He's got a clean arm, good mechanics and good size (6-foot-2, 185 pounds). He's a kid that had a lot of experience with Perfect Game in the States, has a lot of competition behind him.
"I've seen him pitch and being able to adjust. Even though he was a younger kid, he was able to adjust to older competition extremely well. We're pleased with the fact we were able to sign this guy (Monday)."
... Abraham Nuñez Jr. ...
“He’s got speed, he’s got power,” said Paddy. “But the one unique thing about Abraham is he has a feel for the strike zone. He knows how to adjust to pitches. He can recognize the breaking ball and he’s a guy who sprays the ball all over the field. He’s very aggressive. He played in various tournaments here in the Dominican where he did extremely well. Once again, he’s a kid that knows the game, knows how to play the game and his dad was his trainer. Obviously that helped him out a lot.”
... and Juan Uribe Jr.:
“There’s no question about his hitting ability,” Paddy said. “He inherited that from his dad. He handles the bat extremely well.”
PERTINENT: White Sox announce seven international signings
The White Sox still have close to $3 million in unused money, or $2.4 million if you treat the reported signing of Venezuelan catcher Angelo Hernández as a given at $500,000 (Paddy said Venezuela's delegation in the White Sox's signing class is coming once physicals are complete).
Even then, the White Sox will have some money unspent, and it seems like Paddy is leaving it for a player who isn't yet available. The Sox did this last year, landing 20-year-old Cuban Loidel Chapellí Jr. in May.
Speaking of Paddy, Chapellí, et al., the new signing class means it was time for me to update the tracker of international signings since Paddy took over in 2012. I've updated the spreadsheet, and all the player blurbs for players to have seen professional action, and it's exclusive to Patreon supporters.
PERTINENT: A record of White Sox international signings during the Marco Paddy era
And you can listen to James Fox and Mike Rankin break down the international signing class on the latest episode of the FutureSox Podcast.
