White Sox Weekly Minor League Update: Week 17

Charlotte Knights

Eloy Jimenez: .500 BA, 2 HR, 4 R, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K ***MVP of the Week***

Seby Zavala: 3-for-8, 1 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K - returned from DL

Michael Kopech: 5 IP, 4.32 FIP, 7.20 K/9, 0.00 BB/9

Jordan Stephens: 2 2⁄3 IP, 6.69 FIP, 0.00 K/9, 10.12 BB/9

Carson Fulmer: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 5.19 FIP, 16.87 K/9, 16.87 BB/9

Spencer Adams: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 10.82 FIP, 3.37 K/9, 10.12 BB/9

Jordan Guerrero: 11 IP, 5.69 FIP, 3.27 K/9, 5.73 BB/9

Ian Hamilton: 2 IP, -0.18 FIP, 22.50 K/9, 4.50 BB/9

Rick Hahn took international free agent money that he cannot use and bought another prospect. By age, Caleb Frare does not look to be a real prospect, at the age of 25, after being drafted out of high school in 2012. However, because of injury, Frare missed all of the 2013 and 2014 seasons, and is on his third year of development as a new pitcher.

Since he is a left-handed reliever at this stage of development, most people would expect him to be a LOOGY. But in Frare’s case, in every season and level, he has pitched against more righties, and has done just as well against righties compared to lefties — sometimes better. This season in AA, Frare had a 0.52 ERA, .167 batting average against, and no home runs allowed in 17 ¹⁄₃ innings against lefties. He also had a 0.68 ERA, .167 batting average against, and one home run allowed against righties. He may become a LOOGY in the majors, but at least his splits are similar enough to dream of more. In some years, Frare actually was better against righthanders.

Frare has also limited hard contact. His line drive percentage in 2018 is only 18.5%, and 20% of his fly balls were in the infield. Though the pull percentage is a tick more than a comfort level, at 40.4%, even more hits went to the opposite field (42.6%). That usually indicates weaker contact. He had his lowest BB/9 at 3.09 since 2015 during his 2018 stint with the Yankees AA team; that’s still high, so there are command concerns. But with what is basically a free prospect, Hahn found a potential MLB bullpen piece.

---

Birmingham Barons

Joel Booker: .250 BA, 5 R, 2 RBI, 5 BB, 6 K, 1 SB

Luis Basabe: .360 BA, 1 HR, 5 R, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 5 K

Alex Call: .476 BA, 2 HR, 4 R, 8 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K ***CO-MVP of the Week***

Zack Collins .350 BA, 1 HR, 4 R, 5 RBI, 5 BB, 6 K

Alec Hansen: 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, 9.45 FIP, 13.50 K/9, 27.00 BB/9

Bernardo Flores: 6 ²⁄₃ IP, 4.80 FIP, 6.75 K/9, 2.70 BB/9

Dylan Cease: 7 IP, 0.45 FIP, 15.43 K/9, 1.29 BB/9 ***CO-MVP of the Week***

Matt Foster: 5 IP, 3.85 FIP, 12.60 K/9, 1.80 BB/9

Hahn also added a higher profile prospect name in Kodi Medeiros, for basically, half of Jake Peter and cash. Medeiros is a former first round pick who has fallen out of favor among scouts eyes, to the point most expect him to be a bullpen arm. But let’s look at him as a starter first since that is what he probably will be for the rest of this year and next.

So far this season, Medeiros has only gone six-plus innings five times in his 20 appearances, so that is not a great start. He does have some control issues, with a 3.92 BB/9, but he has been able to keep his ERA low at 3.14 because of a 75.9% left-on-base percentage. However, the xFIP at 4.06 is more representative of Medeiros’ season.

Medeiros also has a home run problem; his HR/9 and home run per fly ball have almost doubled compared to last year. What is surprising about those home runs is that it does not seem like Medeiros is allowing a lot of hard contact. Hitters are squaring up the ball, at an unhealthy rate of 30.9% of the balls hit into the center of the diamond. However, most hits are going to the opposite field, at 35.5%. His ground ball rate is less than 50%, and he is allowing more fly balls (33.5%) but is also allowing a career-high number of infield flies (21.1%).

As the lefty reliever option, Medeiros is projecting to be much more successful. He has a 2.93 ERA, .160 batting average against, and two home runs allowed against left-handed hitters. He has a 3.22 ERA, .261 batting average against, and seven home runs allowed against right-handed batters.

No matter what, the best thing about this trade is it just shows how deep the Chicago White Sox farm system is, as he fell from the 13th-best Milwaukee Brewers prospect to the 19th- best on the Sox, per MLB Pipeline.

---

Winston-Salem Dash

Luis Gonzalez: .346 BA, 2 HR, 3 R, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 SB ***MVP of the Week***

Laz Rivera: .167 BA, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 6 K

Gavin Sheets: .192 BA, 1 R, 2 RBI, 5 BB, 8 K

Ti’Quan Forbes: .172 BA, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K

Blake Rutherford: .345 BA, 3 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K

Blake Battenfield: 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, 5.46 FIP, 6.75 K/9, 3.38 BB/9

Tyler Johnson: 4 IP, 1.90 FIP, 13.50 K/9, 4.50 BB/9

Lincoln Henzman: 3 IP, 1.40 FIP, 9.00 K/9, 0.00 BB/9

Ian Clarkin: 3 ²⁄₃ IP, 2.58 FIP, 7.36 K/9, 2.45 BB/9

Lincoln Henzman’s tenure with Winston-Salem does not look good, if you look at the raw numbers. He has a 4.50 ERA, has a low K/9 (5.63) and has more than doubled his BB/9 from Low-A, to 2.25. However, the player development staff did not do Henzman any favors after his promotion. He advanced quickly through his innings limit in Kannapolis, and is now restricted to a maximum of three innings a game. However, Henzman was put into a relief role to open up his tenure in A+.

A starter cannot become a reliever overnight, or even in a week, because preparing to start a game is much different than preparing to enter in relief. In his first five innings pitched as a reliever, Henzman had a 4.60 FIP and did not strike out a single batter. He also had a batting average allowed at .429, with a BB/9 at 3.60. In his last 11 innings pitched as a starter, Henzman has a 3.31 FIP, with a K/9 at 8.18. Starting, he has a .233 batting average against with a 1.64 BB/9, and in his last time out, he threw three perfect innings. With an expanded innings limit, Henzman is a candidate to skyrocket up the prospect rankings next season.

---

Kannapolis Intimidators

Ian Dawkins: .348 BA, 7 R, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 1 K ***C0-MVP of the Week***

Evan Skoug: .125 BA, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K

Luis Curbelo: .316 BA, 1 HR, 3 R, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K

Nick Madrigal: .267 BA, 1 R, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K

Justin Yurchak: .500 BA, 3 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K ***C0-MVP of the Week***

Andrew Perez: 2 2⁄3 IP, 3.48 FIP, 10.12 K/9, 6.75 BB/9

Bennett Sousa: 2 2⁄3 IP, 4.23 FIP, 14.73 K/9, 2.45 BB/9

---

Great Falls Voyagers

Lenyn Sosa: .333 BA, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K

Logan Sowers: .250 BA, 1 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 SB

Romy Gonzalez: .286 BA, 1 HR, 4 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 2 SB

Gunnar Troutwine: .500 BA, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 0 K

Steele Walker: .231 BA, 2 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

Ramon Beltre: .313 BA, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, 0 BB, 4 K ***MVP of the Week***

Jason Bilous: 1 ²⁄₃ IP, 9.62 FIP, 16.20 K/9, 27.00 BB/9

Konnor Pilkington: 3 IP, 5.93 FIP, 6.00 K/9, 6.00 BB/9

Davis Martin: 2 IP, 2.22 FIP, 9.00 K/9, 0 BB/9

Jonathan Stiever: 2 IP, 4.22 FIP, 13.50 K/9, 9.00 BB/9

Codi Heuer: 3 IP, 4.22 FIP, 9.00 K/9, 6.00 BB/9

---

AZL White Sox

Bryce Bush: .455 BA, 3 R, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K ***MVP of the Week***

Kelvin Maldonado: .200 BA, 0 BB, 6 K

Harvin Mendoza: .375 BA, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K

Luis Mieses: .211 BA, 3 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K

Cabera Weaver: .167 BA, 5 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 SB

Hunter Kiel: 3 IP, 2.88 FIP, 24.00 K/9, 12.00 BB/9

---

DSL White Sox

Jefferson Mendoza: .118 BA, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K

Jose Rodriguez: .000 BA, 0 BB, 0 K

Harold Diaz: .250 BA, 5 R, 2 RBI, 5 BB, 2 K ***MVP of the Week***

Francisco Benitez: 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, 10.81 FIP, 15.43 K/9, 11.57 BB/9

Luis Rodriguez: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 7.91 FIP, 15.43 K/9, 8.31 BB/9

Wilber Perez: 2 IP, 2.02 FIP, 13.50 K/9, 4.50 BB/9