The White Sox's hitting coach changes won't be limited to Jose Castro and Chris Johnson.
Besides shedding their hitting coach and reassigning the assistant hitting coach, Chris Getz will also be looking for a new system hitting coordinator. The guy who previously held that position, Andy Barkett, told Ian Eskridge at White Sox Daily that the organization let him go.
It's a loss in the sense that Barkett was very accessible to writers and fans, and often shared updates and video of prospects of note at the lowest minor-league levels, which I always appreciated. I also don't doubt that Barkett was saddled with the sizable task of updating the White Sox's overall approach to hitting, and there might be only so much he could've possibly accomplished over the course of a few years. He said the White Sox lacked much in the way of modern structure on the hitting side when it came to biomechanics, and whoever takes over his position will inherit "a nice little sports car that's ready to hop in and drive."
While it's fair to acknowledge the gap the coordinator and his coaches were expected to close, the problem with the White Sox being so far behind is that it's pretty much impossible to measure meaningful progress without meaningful major-league results. Barkett might've helped the Sox make massive strides in their infrastructure, yet they could still be years behind where they need to be in order to offset their unwillingness to buy top talent. Just like a rebuilding manager might not be able to oversee the fruits of the losing, this might be a multi-stage job
For instance, Barkett cited Lenyn Sosa, Carlos Pérez and Romy González as some of his favorite transformation stories, and indeed they became far more threatening hitters in the high minors, which was a pleasant surprise. But most teams can boast similar success stories in their farm system, while overshadowing those guys with young, productive big-league hitters. Meanwhile, the White Sox got the worst rookie production in baseball thanks to the negative contributions from the hitters.
A lot of that was Oscar Colás, and when Eskridge asked Barkett about him in particular, Barkett says he didn't endorse the idea of making Colás Plan A for right field on the 26-man roster Opening Day.
"Oscar is a very talented young player with very little experience. At the end of the day, being a major league hitter is something that's, like, holistic. You just can't get there because you can hit a ball 450 feet and you have all this exit velocity and so forth. There's so much more to it than that.
"And the 'so much more to it' component you learn through at-bats, you learn through failure, you learn through growth, and you learn through falling on your face in the minor leagues and picking yourself back up and grinding through 140-game seasons and the ups and downs and ebbs and flows of that, and that's where major-league hitters are developed.
"Oscar really didn't have that luxury. Last year, he was able to go through a season and in his first year in the United States, and get that type of experience, which was great. But then obviously now, we were in a situation as an organization -- or they were in a situation as an organization -- where they needed help immediately in the big leagues, and his talent level, they thought they could give him a shot and he would be able to contribute.
"I think collectively, if you were to ask all of us in the minor leagues, I don't think we thought he was ready just yet. He needed another year in the minor leagues to play and learn and fail, and learn about pitch selection and learn about pitch metrics and learn about developing a game plan and approach every day to the pitcher and to the team that you're facing, and I think he probably learned all those lessons this year."
Rick Hahn appeared to be convinced of Colás as early as the GM meetings last November, so perhaps there was no way for dissenters to get him to stop cutting that corner. But Colás is merely the most grotesque example of hitters showing up to Chicago and needing months, if not years, before figuring out a major-league approach that will even keep them afloat.
If the White Sox want to avoid another rebuild that takes an entire presidential administration, they can either 1) become major players in the free-agent market or 2) do what they can to shorten the learning curves for their best hitting prospects. Consdering Jerry Reinsdorf stopped at $75 million the last time around, you're free to laugh 1) out of room. The Sox are making a run at 2), with the hope that they clearly see the next step.
Arizona Fall League Update
Colson Montogmery: 3-for-18 with zero walks and three strikeouts.
Bryan Ramos: 5-for-20 with a double, zero walks and three strikeouts
Jacob Burke: 2-for-15 with a double, three walks, an HBP, eight strikeouts and a stolen base. Half of his strikeouts came during an 0-for-5 showing Saturday.
Jake Eder: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K in one start.
Fraser Ellard: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K over two games.
Jordan Leasure: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K over two games.
Adisyn Coffey: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K in one appearance.
Josimar Cousin: 2 IP, 5 H,4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K in one game.
