The White Sox have not gotten off to a good start to the season, as they are 6-22 and one of the worst teams in the major leagues. However, throughout the minor leagues, there are many exciting prospects playing well for the White Sox affiliates, which is always going to get White Sox fans excited. Most of the talent is in AA and the lower minors, so here are some of the players performing well on the Winston-Salem Dash, the high A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Riley Gowens is a player that White Sox should start to familiarize themselves with, as since coming over in the Aaron Bummer trade, he has done nothing but impress.
So far in four starts, Gowens has pitched 20.1 innings, striking out 23 batters. He has only walked eight batters thus far, so that is a decent ratio to start the year. He also has a fantastic .98 WHIP, which shows that his 3.98 is likely to improve as the season goes on.
If he continues to pitch well, he could get promoted to AA this season once some of the arms in their rotation get promoted to AAA or to the majors. Since he is 24 and was selected out of college, he could be on a fast track to the major leagues. To this point, he is the most promising prospect from the Aaron Bummer trade.
Noah Schultz is also off to a decent start, as he has a 4.50 ERA over four starts, but his underlying stats are much more impressive. In just 16 innings, he has struck out an insane 27 batters, which is good for an eye popping 15 k/9. He has also only walked 5 batters, which is a great walk to strikeout ratio.
While his ERA is a bit inflated, he has a fantastic .94 WHIP and batters are only hitting .179 against him. As the season goes on the ERA will even out, as the other stats show that it is likely a bit of bad luck to this point. He is the best pitching prospect in the White Sox system, so he is a fun arm to watch every five days.
The most notable hitter in the lineup is Jacob Gonzalez, the White Sox first round pick from last year’s draft. So far, he is hitting .247 with a very solid .356 OBP. While these numbers aren’t eye popping, it is a significant improvement from last year, as he had to make some adjustments in the offseason, which seem to be paying off so far.
Gonzalez has also added one homerun and four RBIs to this point on the season. While those aren’t overly impressive, one stat specifically sticks out. So far, he has walked 12 times, while only striking out 9. I know it’s early, but anytime you are at more walks than strikeouts, that is a fantastic sign. The bat should continue to come around as the season progresses and you should see him in AA before the end of the year.
The Dash are an exciting team as they have some top prospects in the White Sox system. They will be fun to monitor as the season goes on, as some of the new draft picks in this year’s draft could make it to Winston-Salem before the year is over.
