MLB Pipeline gave a full update to its prospect rankings and the White Sox are still doing well in that area.
Luis Robert leads the way as the No. 5 overall prospect in baseball. The Cuban outfielder added another highlight to his resume on Friday with a Little League home run for Triple-A Charlotte.
Michael Kopech (No. 18) and Dylan Cease (No. 25) remain highly ranked. Neither has reached the 50 innings that would have them graduate from lists like this. Unless Cease gets an injury like Kopech suffered last season with the White Sox, he should hit that number before the end of the season.
Andrew Vaughn snuck between the two pitchers at No. 23 overall. The third overall pick in June’s draft is hitting .273/.400/.438 in 20 games with Single-A Kannapolis. Vaughn also checks in as the top rated first base prospect in baseball.
Nick Madrigal, last year’s White Sox first-round pick taken with the fourth pick, comes in at No. 43 in the rankings. Madrigal didn’t set the world on fire in 49 games with Single-A Winston-Salem to start the year, but is hitting .358/.417/.480 in 38 games with Double-A Birmingham. Everything seems on track for the infielder whose extra base hit total (28) is more than twice his strikeout total (11) this season.
That’s five top 50 prospects for the White Sox. The Rays are the only other team in Pipeline’s rankings that can make that claim. Pipeline also gave out point totals to top 100 prospects (100 points for the top prospect and one point for the No. 100 prospect) and the White Sox came out second, two points behind the Rays, in that ranking.
Throw that on top of a young White Sox core that features Eloy Jimenez (who was the No. 3 overall prospect entering this season), Yoan Moncada (the top ranked prospect in baseball in 2016) and Lucas Giolito (the No. 3 ranked prospect in 2016) and it’s clear why there is optimism about the White Sox future.
Pipeline also re-ranked the top 30 lists for each team. After the big five that cracked the top 50 overall list, Dane Dunning, Steele Walker, Jonathan Stiever, Luis Alexander Basabe and Blake Rutherford rounded out the top 10 for the White Sox. Of that group. Walker and Stiever made big jumps forward. Walker, a second-round pick last year, is hitting .284/.360/.448 between Kannapolis and Winston-Salem.
Stiever was the biggest mover. He was 27 in the preseason list, but has been on fire in A ball this year. The 22-year-old was a fifth-round pick out of Indiana last year. He got promoted from Kannapolis to Winston-Salem after 14 starts and has been dominant with the Dash.
Stiever has had a quality start in all seven starts with the Dash. He has a 2.20 ERA with 51 strikeouts against just eight walks in 45 innings. His fastball sits in the mid 90s and has peaked at 98 and Pipeline also gives his curveball a positive review.
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