The Chicago White Sox find a way to disappoint their fans almost every single game. They are the first team to 50 losses and there seems to be no end in sight to all of the losing. But, there is a bright side to the White Sox organization, their farm system. Most fans know how good most of the teams in the system are, but now some of the individual players are starting to get national recognition by winning player of the week awards.
In the Southern League, where the Birmingham Barons play, Edgar Quero, the White Sox 4th ranked prospect, earned the Souther League Player of the Week award, which is extremely well deserved.
Quero has been on a hot streak like no other. Over the last few weeks he has raised his batting average almost .60 points and has been hitting the ball out of the park. He already has topped most of his power numbers from last season already, and it’s only June.
There is a reason that Quero is regarded as one of the best catching prospects and one of the top-100 prospects in all of baseball. Since he just turned 21, it is unlikely he gets a call the major leagues this year, but there is a strong chance that we see him at some point next year. He and Korey Lee can form one of the better catching tandems in the league.
Quero was not the only player to win a minor league player of the week award, as down in Winston Salem, Riley Gowens won that award for his league.
While Gowens is not as much of a household name as Quero might be, fans will need to learn his name, as he has pitched very well this season in High-A. He seems to be the forgotten member of the Aaron Bummer trade, but he might be the one with the most potential.
A local kid, Gowens was picked in the 9th round out of Illinois. This season, he has a very good 3.9 ERA and an even more impressive .94 WHIP. In 55 innings, he has 63 strikeouts. He is a prospect on the rise and he likely will enter the White Sox top-30 list at the midseason update.
He is currently blocked by the absolutely stacked rotation in AA Birmingham, but as some of the arms get promoted, like Drew Thorpe, Gowens likely will be one of the main candidates to continue the excellence in Birmingham.
The White Sox have some very extremely talented pitchers throughout all of the levels in the minor leagues and it will be very interesting to see how they perform as they start to get promoted to higher levels. Gowens will be a fun arm to monitor, as he could be in AA by the end of the year and push for the majors at some point next year.
