South Side Sox Prospect Vote: Round 5

Congratulations, Alec Hansen!

With 64% of the vote (232 of 363 ballots), Hansen is South Side Sox’s No. 4 prospect for 2018. Jake Burger edged Zack Collins out for fourth place by the slimmest of margins — a single vote.

Next up is another position player prospect, starting his first full season in the White Sox system.

South Side Sox Top White Sox Prospects for 2018

1. Eloy Jimenez — 70% (Kopech 16%, Robert 11%, Hansen 2%, Cease 1%)
2. Michael Kopech — 75% (Robert 18%, Hansen 4%, Cease 2%, Dunning 1%)
3. Luis Robert — 63% (Hansen 24%, Cease 8%, Dunning 4%, Collins 1%)
4. Alec Hansen — 64% (Cease 25%, Dunning 6%, Burger 2%, Collins 2%)

Here are your choices for the fifth round of voting:

Jake Burger, 3B

2018 Age: 22

2017 High Level: Kannapolis (A)

Overall 2017 stats: 51 games ▪️ 5 HR ▪️ 29 RBI ▪️ 14 BB ▪️ 30 K ▪️ .263/.336/.412

The No. 11 overall pick for the White Sox in 2017, Burger hit Kannapolis and flashed some power and a decent eye. Getting some early reps with the big club at the dawn of Cactus League play, Burger ruptured his Achilles running out a ground ball and will miss the 2018 season. Which is a shame, as Burger in 2018 was attempting to improve his conditioning while retaining all of the power that made him a slugger the Chisox couldn’t pass on last summer. For a power hitter, Burger doesn’t miss the ball very often. His relatively poor conditioning entering the pros made Burger a presumptive future first baseman or DH, but he has demonstrated some nimbleness at the hot corner. To his credit, it’s easy to imagine a clubhouse leadership role for Burger given his friend-to-all personality.

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Dylan Cease, SP

2018 Age: 22

2017 High Level: Kannapolis (A)

Overall 2017 stats: 22 starts ▪️ 93 ¹⁄₃ IP ▪️ 3.28 ERA ▪️ 126 K ▪️ 44 BB ▪️ 1.27 WHIP

Dylan Cease came to the White Sox along with Eloy Jimenez in the Jose Quintana trade and impressed during his Cactus League audition in 2018. Cease had Tommy John surgery in high school and got a slow start in his professional career, throwing just 24 innings in 2015, more than a year after he was drafted. In 2016, Cease threw 44 ²⁄₃ innings in the Northwest League, with 66 Ks and a 2.22 ERA. Last year he was dominant in low-A ball before being shut down with arm soreness. Cease will be in high-A Winston-Salem’s rotation to begin 2018, with advancement to Birmingham in the offing.

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Zack Collins, C

2018 Age: 23

2017 High Level: Birmingham (AA)

Overall 2017 stats: 113 games ▪️ 19 HR ▪️ 53 RBI ▪️ 87 BB ▪️ 129 K ▪️ .224/.370/.445

Zack Collins his been a mixed bag as a pro. The White Sox picked him No. 10 overall in 2016 almost exclusively due to his massive bat at the University of Miami. At Winston-Salem after the draft, Collins hit .258/.418/.467 with six homers, but carried a high 25.5 K%. There were doubts about his ability to catch at the major league level going into the draft, and Collins did little to alleviate those with his first pro games. In 2017, acquitted himself better behind the plate but struggled offensively, spending much of the season hovering at the Mendoza Line. The White Sox still believe he will be a major league catcher, assigning him to Birmingham to begin his second full minor league season, but questions still linger on both the offensive and defensive sides.

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Dane Dunning, SP

2018 Age: 23

2017 High Level: Winston-Salem (A+)

Overall 2017 stats: 26 starts ▪️ 144 IP ▪️ 2.94 ERA ▪️ 168 K ▪️ 38 BB ▪️ 1.15 WHIP

Dunning arrived in the White Sox system in 2017 as the third piece — yes, third, along with Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez — of the Adam Eaton trade with the Washington Nationals. In 2016, his first year in pro ball, Dunning dominated A-ball with a 2.02 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 33 ²⁄₃ innings. In 2017, Dunning quickly moved to Winston-Salem and had a 3.51 ERA and continued to show strikeout stuff with good control. Dunning has a low-90s fastball with sink and a mid-80s slider. As larry said in his writeup on Dunning, the White Sox were hot on the righthander’s trail in the 2016 draft, but Washington plucked him first; Chicago GM Rick Hahn may well have made it a priority to get Dunning in any potential trade with the Nats. Dunning opens the 2018 season back at Winston-Salem but is on the fast track for Birmingham.

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Blake Rutherford, CF

2018 Age: 21

2017 High Level: Kannapolis (A)

Overall 2017 stats: 101 games ▪️ 2 HR ▪️ 35 RBI ▪️ 38 BB ▪️ 76 K ▪️ .260/.326/.348

It was a bit of a surprise that Rick Hahn got Rutherford from the New York Yankees as part of the Tommy Kahnle trade last summer, as a Top 100 prospect at the time. It may be another case of Rick getting his man, as the White Sox were said to be hot on Rutherford’s tail for the 2016 draft. Rutherford has struggled in A ball but is still younger than the average player at the level. Chicago anticipates seeing bigger power out of the center fielder, perhaps a 20-25 homer level, but overall he earns solid marks for all five tools. Behind Luis Robert in center, Rutherford could possibly move over to right in a future White Sox outfield, as he has the arm to pull the move off.

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