South Side Sox Top Prospect No. 91: Álvaro Agüero

Álvaro Agüero
Center Fielder
6´0´´
160 pounds
Age: 20
2022 High Level Arizona (Rookie)
Age relative to high level -0.7 years
SSS rank among all center fielders in the system 7
Overall 2022 regular season stats 47 games ⚾️ 7 HR ⚾️ 19 RBI ⚾️ .212/.264/.382 ⚾️ 12-of-15 SB ⚾️ 10 BB ⚾️ 66 K

All the way back in December 2019, Dominican native Álvaro Agüero was signed to a minor league deal with the White Sox and international scouting director Marco Paddy. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic layoff, Agüero couldn’t get into his first action until 2021.

While perhaps his pitch-recognition skills need work, Agüero’s ability to run the bases seemed just fine. In 52 games for the DSL Sox spanning 192 plate appearances, he slashed a respectable .246/.302/.383 with 12 doubles, three triples, two homers, 17 RBIs, 11 walks (5.7%), 55 strikeouts (28.6%) and 92 wRC+. Because pitchers typically have the most rudimentary control at this level, a 5.6% walk rate was actually quite low. What wasn’t low, however, was Agüero’s 88% stolen base rate, as he swiped 22 bases in 25 attempts.

A promotion to the ACL in 2022, where he was just younger than league average, presented familiar challenges for Agüero, who is still having contact issues, and still having trouble converting his speed into hits. Because Agüero hits fly balls at a higher rate than grounders, you would think that the speedster really needs to hit more worm-burners to better take advantage of his speed going forward. However, Agüero has shown that he is capable of giving the ball a ride when he does make solid contact. Despite his young age, as a hitter, Agüero may be at a crossroads.

The Baseball Cube confirms Agüero’s extraordinary speed and sneaky power:

Agüero’s Baseball Cube player ratings
Speed 98
Runs 92
Durability 88
Power 68
XBH 67
Hitting 41
RBIs 36
Contact 21
Team Winning Percentage .441

Given he will be just older than ACL average in 2023, there is no reason to anticipate immediate promotion for Agüero. If he is showing well in informal back fields games and gets off to a quick start when ACL play gets rolling, he stands a good chance to see Kannapolis before the year expires.

2023 South Side Sox Top 104 White Sox Prospects

91. Álvaro Agüero, CF
92. Ben Norman, RF
93. Erick Bello, RHRP
94. Adisyn Coffey, RHRP
95. Arnold Prado, RF
96. Alsander Womack, 2B
97. Johan Domínguez, RHSP
98. Evan Skoug, C
99. Noah Owen, RHSP
100. Javier Mora, 2B
101. Will Kincanon, RHRP
102. Yohemy Nolasco, RHSP
103. Billy Seidl, RHRP
104. José Rodulfo, RHRP