This Month in White Sox Minor League Baseball

Today was the Arizona Fall League Championship game between the Phoenix Desert Dogs and Peoria Javelinas, for whom White Sox prospects play.  The Javelinas won 5-4.  AFL batting champion Brent Morel had a good game, going 2-4.  Jordan Danks continued his struggles with pitches inside, grounding out to the right side on such pitches three times.  He did draw a walk, finishing 0-4.  But C.J. "Stumpy" Retherford was the hero.  He drove in Morel on a fielder's choice for the first Javelinas run and then hit an absolute bomb to left field in the 8th to give them a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

RHP Sergio Santos, the recently converted SS, made an appearance.  As expected, the control was spotty - one of his strikeouts also hit the batter - and the results were rather typical (1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K) but he flashed a very nice slider and the fastball velocity looked very good.

In other news:

• Video from the AFL, including Retherford, Morel and Danks.
• The White Sox added five to the 40 man roster, thus protecting these players from next month's Rule 5 Draft.  Phil Rogers' favorite OF Stefan Gartrell was added; with the outfield situation uncertain at this point, he was a reasonable use of space, though he strikes me as an AAAA player at best.  RHP Brandon Hynick, who came over in the Contreras trade, was also protected.  Of all the adds, he was the likeliest to actually be picked considering he is the closest to major league ready.  Raw RHP Sergio Santos is another reasonable addition.  His potential is tremendous and, as he's new to pitching, you don't know when things may click.  RHP Santo Luis will be 26 next season and it will be his first time above A ball.  I suppose he does have a nice strikeout rate.  SouthSideSox had been hearing that RHP Brian Omogrosso tore his labrum so, if that's the case, I'm not sure why he was protected since another team couldn't stash him on the DL all year.  Perhaps he's healthier than that or perhaps the White Sox see this as an irrelevant move since they have plenty of roster room and they can put him on the DL all year and, if so, would be able to get another option year.
• Potentially notable non-additions are 2006 waste of a first round pick Kyle McCulloch and John Shelby.  But I wouldn't be too concerned.
• Minor league free agency began.  Notable filings: Ehren Wassermann, David Cook and Fernando Hernandez.  But I wouldn't be too concerned.
  
• Lists season is in full swing.  BP's Kevin Goldstein published his. No real surprises on it, as one could expect an analyst who favors tools to rank Jared Mitchell and Trayce Thompson higher than most.
• You can keep track of all the White Sox players in winter ball here.  Not much has changed since last post: Jon Link still walking too many and Clevelan Santeliz is still striking out many.  Jhonny Nunez has begun playing for Licey in the Dominican Winter League so he's another to watch.

This will probably be the last front page update post until March.  Check out the right sidebar for the Minor League Update fanpost, which will probably be around in one form or another for most/all of the offseason.  And you can follow me on Twitter @SouthSidelarry.