I was a little bit surprised to see a rather credulous headline for Mark Gonzales' story about Jake Eder in the Sun-Times: "White Sox GM Chris Getz says pitching prospect Jake Eder is close to the majors."
Getz wasn't the White Sox GM who traded Jake Burger for Eder -- and even the White Sox GM at the time didn't make that trade -- but Getz was the guy in charge of his initial assignment in the White Sox farm system, so he's understandably going to champion a prospect. Getz says Eder "is not far off," and "He's going to find it. It's a matter of time."
However, Eder's Arizona Fall League game log paints a picture of a guy who can't be in the strike zone for that long, whether it's because he's unable to, or because he gets hit when he stays there.
And when you read the entirety of the story, Gonzales finds way to introduce counterpoints or skepticism into the record. He cites the issues throwing strikes, which necessitated the White Sox cutting short Eder's season in Birmingham for work in what Gonzales calls the White Sox's "non-ballyhooed" Arizona pitch lab.
He also takes a moment to Remember a Guy:
A veteran major-league scout who saw Eder’s start against Peoria observed that he needed to refine his delivery and said his control struggles mirror those of former major-league left-hander Shawn Estes, who won 19 games but walked a National League-high 100 in 201 innings in 1997 and was saddled with control issues throughout most of his 13 major-league seasons.
The scout added that Eder might be better-suited as a middle-inning reliever unless he curbs his wildness soon.
These are valid reasons for concern, but to find middle ground, there's also a little bit of a risk in overstating them at this point. Given that the start of Eder's pro career was interrupted by Tommy John surgery, it's worth waiting until he's a full season removed from the procedure before issuing a verdict, even if you have your hunches. He's far from alone in the farm system -- Peyton Pallette is another example -- which either means it's a mundane obstacle, or the White Sox aren't very good at tackling it.
Baseball America indulged itself in some stat-line scouting -- or analytical data scouting -- in order to harvest some under-the-radar progress and prospects during the 2023 season.
In an installment of the Roboscout series featuring lesser-known low-minors hitters, Javier Mogollon's excellent season in the Dominican Summer League earned wider appreciation:
The White Sox signed the 17-year old shortstop from Venezuela on account of his short, balanced righty hitting stroke and plus running ability. The White Sox played Mogollon at second base more frequently than shortstop because of his below-average arm. His bat, however, plays plenty at the keystone. He produced double-digit home runs and steals to post the highest RoboCast score among all DSL prospects. Mogollon pairs plus contact rates and the seventh-highest barrel rate among 17-year-olds in the DSL with at least 100 plate appearances. He has a knack for optimizing his hard contact to the pull side at launch angles where they’ll do the most damage. He led all 17-year-olds in the DSL in homers (10) and posted a 98th percentile OPS among all DSL hitters.
Meanwhile, Adam Hackenberg finished the 2023 season having made one of the biggest jumps in average exit velocity among all minor league hitters, with a gain of 6.2 mph. Granted, he had the second-lowest 2022 average exit velocity on the list at 80.4 mph, so he really had nowhere to go but up. He gets points for being a true catcher, so he doesn't have that much further to go in order to be a viable option behind the plate.
Arizona Fall League update
The good: Bryan Ramos became the first White Sox hitting prospect to wrestle the strike zone into his favor, drawing five walks against two strikeouts over the past week. Jordan Leasure continues to look overqualified for the AFL (not an easy thing for any pitcher without MLB experience), and Fraser Ellard's strikeout rate is climbing.
The not good: Just about everything else when you compare the lines to last week's, but every game seemingly brings a fresh hell upon Adisyn Coffey.
| Date | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | Pit/Str |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 17/10 |
| Oct. 10 | 0.1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 29/10 |
| Oct. 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 16/10 |
| Oct. 19 | 1.1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 42/21 |
| Oct. 25 | 0.1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 22/7 |
| Total | 4 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 33.75 ERA |
As for the others:
Colson Montgomery: 15-for-63, 3 HR, 2 3B, 1 2B, 2 BB, 20 K, .238/.269/.460
Bryan Ramos: 16-for-60, 2 HR, 2 2B, 7 BB, 13 K, .267/.343/.400
Jacob Burke: 17-for-74, 0 HR, 3 2B, 7 BB, 26 K, 5/5 SB, .230/.326/.351
Jake Eder: 12.1 IP, 13 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 HR, 8 BB, 14 K
Josimar Cousin: 9.2 IP, 19 H, 13 R, 12 ER, 4 HR, 4 BB, 5 K
Jordan Leasure: 7.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 HR, 2 BB, 13 K
Fraser Ellard: 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 HR, 1 BB, 10 K
