Each month the White Sox announce minor-league all-stars and organizational accolades, and April is especially crowded. Zack Collins awoke from an early-season slumber to grab the Southern League Player of the Week while a trio of comrades snagged organizational accolades.
Earning Player of the Week Honors, @zackcollins0 reached base safely 16 times in six games for the @BhamBarons, posting a league-high on-base percentage (.571) and OPS (1.333) among all qualified hitters. He is the @whitesox no. 9 prospect. pic.twitter.com/WfdX1C0kZj
— The Southern League (@SLeagueBaseball) April 30, 2018
Despite early struggles that carried over from last season’s growing pains, Collins appears to be hitting the sweet spot. The left-handed backstop batted .406 over the last seven days reaching base 16 times with a pedestrian (for him) .571 on-base percentage and 1.333 OPS. He’s still pulling himself up from beneath the mendoza-line with a .206 batting average.
.@WSDashBaseball OF Luis Alexander Basabe & @BhamBarons C Seby Zavala have been named the Chicago White Sox Minor League co-Players of the Month for April, & @KnightsBaseball RHP Michael Kopech has been named Pitcher of the Month as voted by a panel of Chicago-area media members. pic.twitter.com/sNpMlG1g0f
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 1, 2018
The White Sox also heaped praise on a trio of prospects that any Sox-fan would be happy to see doing well.
Seby Zavala, who stands to challenge Collins for playing-time at Double-A, was a 12th-round pick in 2015 and boosted his standing with the organization with a blistering start to the 2018-season. Zavala is batted .315 with six home runs and 19 runs-batted-in in April. He also strung together an 11-game hitting streak with three home runs in the first three games to start the season. Zavala is currently ranked as the No. 21 prospect in the organization and may find himself climbing that list very quickly.
Another prospect experiencing a rosy first-month of the new season is Luis Alexander Basabe. After a tumultuous introduction in 2017 after being traded from the Red Sox, Basabe erupted in April with a .313 batting average, seven doubles, three triples and 17 RBI. He has flashed his speed/power combination with four home runs and 16 runs scored to pair with his .400 OBP. Basabe leads the Carolina Leauge in slugging (.614), total bases (51) and tied for the lead in extra-base hits (14).
Rounding out the crowd of White-Sox studs worth recognizing is Michael Kopech. Despite closing April winless, Kopech dealt 21 innings of deafening noise to the tune of a 2.14 earned run average. His fastball hovered around 100 mph in each of his outings and boasts the third-best strikeouts-per-nine-innings-pitched (12.4), something that is likely to improve. Calls for Kopech to be promoted from Triple-A have reached a shrill pitch and the Sox could boost him to the bigs anytime without risking a year of control. The primary concern is whether his full menu of pitches is ready for a big-league lineup and how his innings-load shapes up. He is still only 22 years old and the damage that can be done with a premature promotion is something to be avoided.
