The White Sox farm system had nowhere to go but up in 2022, unless somebody had the charity to call it 29th.
OK, even then, it could've gone nowhere, but they indeed charted some real improvement. Colson Montgomery developed into a consensus top-50 prospect, with Oscar Colás and/or Bryan Ramos worthy of top-100 consideration, even if they didn't place everywhere.
Yet despite some strong showings on the top end, the overall system movement was minimal.
In his write-up of the White Sox's top 26 prospects, Eric Longenhagen said "this system remains extremely shallow, one of the thinnest in all of baseball." Keith Law ranked the White Sox system 28th out of 30 due to "a lot of two steps forward, three steps back." Kiley McDaniel was a bit more generous by putting them 25th, but said only four prospects look better than a role player.
Those invested in success from the White Sox system might beg to differ a little bit, but even with rose-colored glasses, there's basically a line of demarcation after about 10 or so names. The in group has performance, age and/or pedigree on their side, and the out group has to make up lost ground, or establish their presence.
The dearth of pitching is the biggest problem, although maybe the system might look a little better had Davis Martin stopped in between "non-prospect" and "no longer a prospect." Alas, he lost his eligibility after throwing 63 mostly successful innings for the White Sox in 2022. The Sox did attempt to tackle this problem head-on by taking pitchers with their top three selections in the draft, but two of them weren't yet available to make pro-ball debuts. Two of them will appear in most top-10 lists, but they're not going to represent real depth until actually seeing them in regular action.
That's a piss-poor preamble for Prospect Week, but we can only work with what we're given. Over the next several days,. I'll be categorizing dozens of White Sox prospects into several groups that will allow hopefully allow me to touch upon everybody of potential relevance to the team's immediate plans. Posts will include:
- The new additions (draft picks, international signings)
- Those coming off unimpeachable seasons
- Those working through injuries
- Those with time to develop
- Those with potentially fatal flaws
This approach allowed me to put Martin on the edge of the radar, even if he was referenced in a write-up about Jason Bilous:
While we’re talking about guys like McClure and Bilous, I just want to mention Davis Martin, who pitched well enough in a late-season promotion to Birmingham after an uneven performance with the Dash. He seems like another guy Charlotte would clobber thanks to home-run rate problems at lower levels, but since the Sox’s pitching ranks are so thin, he stands a chance of standing out.
After establishing this year's radar, the week will culminate with my top 10 White Sox prospects list, which will be exclusive to those who support Sox Machine on Patreon. If you haven't yet signed up, you can do so here, or at the link just below this paragraph.
