Mark Gonzales twittered this morning that Bynum would be looking to pursue opportunities in Japan. With versatility an important aspect of the 2010 White Sox, there’s a chance that Bynum could have seen a shot if Omar Vizquel and Jayson Nix were to get hurt or underperform.

Bynum, 29, is a .259 career hitter in the majors.

Best prospect
Tyler Flowers
2009 in review: Flowers came over in the Javier Vazquez trade and quickly showed why. He tore it up right out of the gate for AA Birmingham. He hit for average (.302), power (.548 slugging) and got on base (.445 OBP). Tyler was promoted to AAA Charlotte and performed well enough there to earn a September call-up to the big league club.

What he needs to improve: His defense. There are concerns that Flowers can’t stick at catcher, but the White Sox don’t seem to believe that. Neither do Southern League managers, who voted him best defensive catcher in the league. Still, most scouting reports say he is adequate at best behind the dish. Flowers should have the bat to stick in the Majors, but obviously his value is much larger if he can play catcher competently.

What to expect in 2010: Flowers will be on the roster bubble in spring training. When Ramon Castro re-signed it became clear that Flowers was not going to backup A.J. Pierzynski. Flowers could still take part in this rotating DH thing the Sox seem bent on trying. Odds are the logjam of veteran bench acquisitions means Flowers starts the year in AAA and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. He can play everyday, get more time at catcher and come up if/when there is an injury or another Wilson Betemit type failure from one of the bench players.

What makes a successful season: Flowers earns his way onto the big league club and digs himself a permanent place on the team. We’ll see him in Chicago, and probably before September this time, but the role is unknown. Flowers may have to force the Sox to make room for him.

Breakout candidates
Miguel Gonzalez
2009 in review: Gonzalez burst onto the scene last year with a strong showing in his American debut. The Venezuelan did well in the Dominican Summer League in 2008 and it translated to the Appalachian League in ‘09. Gonzalez showed defensive ability, a cannon for an arm, good contact skills, a good walk rate and some power.

What he needs to improve: As good as he already is defensively, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. He had 10 errors and eight passed balls in 40 games at catcher last year. Compared to the other two on this list, though, he is easily the best behind the plate.

What to expect in 2010: Gonzalez will start the season in Kannapolis. How he handles that will be very telling. At just 19 years old, if he handles himself out of the gate the Sox have someone special. A failure initially wouldn’t be the end of the world as long as he bounces back in the second half either back down in rookie ball or still in Kannapolis.

What makes a successful season: Gonzalez duplicates his Bristol numbers in Kannapolis. This may be unrealistic, but is certainly not out of the question. A season like that would make him of the best prospects in the system and one of the best catching prospects in the game.

Josh Phegley
2009 in review: Phegley was drafted 38th overall in the ‘09 draft out of Indiana. After signing for $858,600 he reported to low-A Kannapolis in late June. In just over 200 plate appearances he hit only .224, but hit nine home runs and struck out less than 20% of the time. The power came as a bit of a surprise. In only a couple months of action it’s hard to take too much from these numbers.

What he needs to improve: Similar to Flowers, defense is the main concern. Director of Amateur Scouting Doug Laumann is extremely confident that Phegley will stick at the position. If not defense, Phegley will have to bring that average up and draw more walks, both of which he should be able to do.

What to expect in 2010: Phegley will probably start in Winston-Salem. The Sox tend to be aggressive with high college draft picks. His average should bounce back (he had a .234 BABIP last season) and decent power numbers should remain.

What makes a successful season: If all goes well Phegley has a good chance to earn a promotion to Birmingham in the middle of the year. This coupled with good or at least improved defensive reports from people not in the White Sox front office would be ideal.

Other notables
A year ago Cole Armstrong and Donny Lucy looked like they would be viable options for 2010 backup catcher, but both had poor 2009 seasons. Armstrong was removed from the 40-man roster and Lucy got demoted to AA. Logan Johnson seems like the only other catcher that looks remotely like a prospect and that’s pushing it. C.J. Retherford is going to catch in spring training in a move that could greatly add to his flexibility and value. We’ll have more on him in our middle infield preview.

Overall, the White Sox have three good catching prospects making it one of the deeper positions in the system at one of the hardest to find talent. Flowers is ready to contribute soon while Phegley and Gonzalez have the talent to be solid Major Leaguers.

Note: catchers not included

1. Jared Mitchell, OF

-5 runs for Jared Mitchell in a small sample size (34 games) doesn’t sound great, but you have to remember that he didn’t play centre field in college and so the adjustment may take some time. The scouting reports are very positive as Mitchell’s speed allows him to cover a lot of ground and get to balls that other centre fielders could only dream of reaching. Kannapolis manager Ernie Young was quoted as saying “He takes control in center field like he’s been playing professionally for a while.”

2. Dayan Viciedo, 3B/1B

Much has been made of Dayan Viciedo’s poor defensive ability, but as you can see, TotalZone likes him and had him pegged as a +4 run fielder over 130 games. It is expected that Viciedo will make the transition to first base this year, likely starting at Charlotte, and he certainly made his fair share of errors last year, but TZ indicates he may have had a future at 3B. The scouts disagree citing his lack of range and concentration as his main flaws.

3. Jordan Danks, OF

Jordan Danks’ defensive performances have been something of a mixed bag going by TotalZone. For the year he was a -2 run defender in centre field and a -1 run defender in left field. Last year he was a +2 run defender in CF, which would make him a fairly neutral defender (+0 runs) career in CF (107 games). The scouting reports are more positive however with Baseball America saying “he the range and instincts to play center field.” He may never be the gold glover that some people seem to expect, but he should prove a very capable defensive outfielder.

4. Brent Morel, 3B

Brent Morel is a case of stats and scouting coming together perfectly to form the same conclusion on a player. Morel’s TotalZone at 3B this year was an impressive +9 runs (128 games). The scouting reports indicate that Morel has good agility and quickness at the position with a plus arm. I’m still not convinced that Morel has the power that you would typically want from your third baseman but his defensive ability should make up for any shortcoming that he may have with the bat.

5. Trayce Thompson, OF

As with Jared Mitchell, there isn’t anywhere near enough data to draw any real conclusions on Trayce Thompson’s defensive ability but to stop people from asking about him, I decided to just include him. Thompson’s TotalZone in 31 games playing centre was +2 (+9.7 per 150). The scouting reports state that Thompson has the range to play centre with the arm to play right. As he fills out I’d expect Trayce to make the gradual shift to RF, but for now he should be a very adequate CF.

6. C.J. Retherford, 2B

Retherford moved from third base to second base last year and he held his own considering it was a new position to him, however, the -2 TZ that Retherford posted at 2B was a lot worse than what he managed at 3B over the previous two years, where he ranked as a +13 run defender. I don’t mind the shift in position though as I see him as a future utility man meaning that defensive flexibility is a must for him, there is even talk that he will see time at catcher during spring training. The scouting reports indicate that Retherford is an average defensive 2B, who doesn’t have the range to play SS, which sounds pretty accurate to me.

7. John Shelby, OF

John Shelby fell out of favour with most message boarders this past year due to his lack of offense, but his defense in the outfield has gotten progressively better since he made the transition in ’07 according to TotalZone. In ’07 Shelby was a -10 run defender, in ’08 a +4 run defender and in ’09 a +15 run defender. The scouting reports aren’t quite as complimentary, however, as they indicate that Shelby is more of a league average defender.

8. Christian Marrero, 1B/OF

Christian, the lesser-hyped Marrero brother, has steadily produced since being drafted in 2005 and is starting to force himself onto the prospect radar. Marrero hasn’t yet found a defensive home as he has split his time between RF, LF and 1B, but if this year is anything to go by, the outfield looks like his better position. In 84 games playing the outfield his TotalZone was an impressive +10 runs as compared to his -7 runs playing 36 games at 1B. There don’t seem to be many scouting reports floating around on Marrero’s defensive ability, but I have heard that he has the arm to play RF and Buddy Bell reportedly likes him a lot.

9. Stefan Gartrell, OF

Prior to this year Gartrell’s TotalZone numbers were pretty good, with him coming in at +17 runs between 06 and 08. This year, however, his TotalZone was a terrible -15 runs in right field (107 games). This poor performance last year is likely due to random fluctuation caused by a small sample size and deferring to his career average should give us a better idea of his defensive ability. The scouting reports paint him as an average defender at best.

10. Eduardo Escobar, SS

Eduardo Escobar has drawn rave reviews for his defensive ability from scouts and it’s just as well because he doesn’t project to be much more than a contact hitter with the bat. Scouts cite Escobar’s good range, excellent hands and a solid arm as his main strengths. TotalZone agrees with the scouts as Escobar scores well by this metric. Last year he was a +7 run defender at short and for his career he is +17 runs above average at SS (194 games). Escobar has drawn comparisons to both Omar Vizquel and Ozzie Guillen. While I wouldn’t expect him to be anywhere near as good defensively as Vizquel, he is that type of player (all glove, no bat).

Cabrera is a big stuff, zero control (and I mean zero control) guy. Walking 5.2 batters per nine innings in his Major League career has rendered him an afterthought, but he signed a minor league contract so there’s nothing to lose. Cabrera has a career 5.10 ERA in parts of six seasons. If Sox pitching coach Don Cooper can wave his magic wand and “fix” Cabrera it could be a great move. I’m not going to hold my breath though.

As for the rest of the invites there are four other new additions: RHP Greg Aquino, LHP Erick Threets, infielder Freddie Bynum and outfielder Jason Botts. All four have Major League experience, but are long shots to make the 25-man roster. Outfielder Josh Kroeger and RHP Ryan Braun were re-signed and also received invites.

From the minor league side of things, catchers Donny Lucy, Miguel Gonzalez and Josh Phegley were among the NRIs because of the need for a lot of catchers early in camp. Joining them are lefty Charlie Leesman, infielders Brent Morel and C.J. Retherford (who also will get some time at catcher) and outfielders Jordan Danks and Jared Mitchell. Leesman’s invite could be worth following because he was only in Kannapolis last season, but is a lefty with good velocity. If nothing else it shows that the Sox likely rate Leesman higher than most of the prospect-rating public.

Players put time in the Winter Leagues for various reasons – getting in reps after an injury-shortened season, face time for the home crowd, getting the attention of other major league teams, or trying out some new pitches or tweaks to the swing are just a few possible motives. The Sox have over 20 players in the organization that are on rosters for teams among the four winter baseball venues – Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic – that started play in October, and are finishing up this week. We will focus our update on players who are likely or definite for the major league roster in 2010, and prospects who are getting in significant time down south.

Liga De Beisbol Dominicano

There are a number of Sox minor leaguers playing in the DR this winter. Reliever Jhonny Nunez, who was acquired from the Yankees in the Swisher deal last off-season, is among the crowd likely to vie for the final bullpen slot in Spring Training. He has struck out 11 batters and allowed a .235 average against him in 9.1 innings, to go with a nice 1.29 WHIP but a disappointing 4.82 ERA. The lack of innings makes those numbers fuzzy, but the strikeout total is nice. Another relief pitching prospect, 25-year-old Santo Luis (High-A Winston-Salem last season), has put up solid core numbers (1.15 WHIP, .159 AvgA, 3.46 ERA), but his peripherals (8 BB vs 4 K in 13 IP) leave something to be desired.

The Sox were high enough on the potential of outfielder Stefan Gartrell that they recently added him to the 40-man roster, protecting him from the Rule V draft. But so far, his numbers aren’t looking like those of a top-flight prospect: in limited action, he’s hitting .208 with a .240 OBP and just one walk against nine strikeouts, though two of his five hits are home runs. Another member of the 40-man roster playing on the island is catcher Cole Armstrong, who remains a potential candidate for backup catching duties behind AJ Pierzynski (unless the Sox sign a veteran, or decide to promote uber-prospect Tyler Flowers despite the lack of playing time). Cole is hitting .278 with a .339 OBP in 54 AB, but without any power numbers, as shown by a .319 slugging percentage. Recent signee, outfielder Alejandro De Aza, who the Sox see competing for the final bench spot in spring training, has been less than impressive, posting a .123/.219/.228/.447 line and 15 strikeouts in 57 at bats.

Liga Besibol Venezuela Profesional

Venezuela is another popular destination for Sox players this offseason. Probable fifth starter Freddy Garcia made a show-the-flag appearance, pitching just three innings of 1-run baseball, walking none and striking out three. Clevelan Santeliz (AA Birmingham this past season), a hard-throwing right-hander who the Sox seem to like, has struck out 27 batters in 24.1 innings of work, to go with a 2.92 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and a scant .193 average against him. He’s also managed to keep his walk rate under control, issing 10 free passes in those 24+ innings, which is an improvement for him. Miguel Socolovich (23 years old, finished at AA Birmingham in 2009) has been just as impressive, posting a 2.87 ERA, .193 AvgA, and a skinny 0.96 WHIP, striking out 17 batters in 15.2 IP.

Looking at position players, 20-year-old prospect Eduardo Escobar, considered highly for his glove at shortstop, has posted a respectable .269 average in limited action (26 at bats), and 3 of his 7 hits have been for extra bases. Outfielder Josh Kroeger (minor league free agent, can sign anywhere), who impressed manager Ozzie Guillen in Spring Training last year and spent 2009 in Charlotte, has been piling on the offense: a .289/.386/.478/.864 line including 4 homeruns among his 19 extra-base hits in 159 at bats, and adding in a 9-for-10 rate in stolen base attempts for good measure.

Liga Mexicana del Pacifico

The Sox have just a couple players in the organization who are seeing time in the Mexican League this winter. Jesus Avila, a 21 year old middle infielder who repeated with Great Falls (Rookie league) last year, is playing for his home town Caneros de los Mochis, but not having much success – his .095 average, .130 OBP and .190 OPS in 21 at bats are worst on his team, and he’s made three errors in just 13 games.

The other name is more familiar to Sox fans – Ehren Wassermann. After a solid 2007 rookie campaign, this side-arming right-hander struggled in 2008 while bouncing between AAA and the majors, and spent all of 2009 in Charlotte. Given the crowd of arms the Sox are looking at for the 2010 bullpen, Ehren’s chances of breaking in for 2010 are slim, so he’s probably looking to catch another team’s eye (he is a minor league free agent and can sign anywhere). He’s put up some decent numbers so far – a 3.12 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, with 24 strike outs in 34 innings, and he’s started four games.

Liga de Beisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico also has just a couple Sox representatives seeing playing time. One, left-handed pitching prospect Hector Santiago (a reliever with High A Winston-Salem last year), hasn’t looked too good – in 8 games, pitching 6.1 innings, he’s sporting a 7.11 ERA, 2.37 WHIP, and 8 walks against 4 strikeouts. But Miguel Negron, a minor league free agent outfielder who spent last year at AAA Charlotte, is among the league’s offensive leaders, sporting a .337/.461/.458/.919 line, with more walks (18) than strikeouts (15) in 83 at bats. The 27-year-old Negron is a long shot at best for Chicago’s bench in 2010 (barring injuries ahead of him), so he’s auditioning for the rest of the league as much as he is the Sox.

Pierre will likely replace Scott Podsednik’s role on the 2009 team and leadoff hitter and left fielder. He brings speed and a decent on-base percentage to the team without giving up a top tier prospect or a piece from the Major League club. For more on the Pierre side of the deal check out our sister site, SoxNet, for their take on the trade.

With that said, we cover the minor leagues so let’s talk more about Ely and Link. For starters, both pitchers have a chance to contribute to the Dodgers this year, though Ely will probably have to wait longer. Ely was the 13th rated prospect in our postseason rankings and Link came in at 22.

We project Ely as a 5th starter type, but if you listen to Phil Rogers he is worth more than Pierre by himself. Ely had a great season, playing in the Southern League All-Star Game, earning a place on the league’s post-season all-star team and recently being named to our All-FutureSox team. Sure, performance isn’t everything in the minors and Ely doesn’t have top tier stuff as even Rogers admits. He has a great changeup, good control and his fastball and curve are decent pitches. He was a 3rd round pick in 2007 so clearly the Sox liked him then. This year was a bit of a breakout year for him, but his peripherals were slightly down from 2008 and he played in a pitchers’ park.

Link racked up the strikeouts in AAA this season, but struggled a bit in the second half. Control has been a problem for him at AA and above (4.3 BB/9 each of the last two seasons). If nothing else, he is consistent. The last two seasons he has struck out 66 and walked 27 in ~56 innings. His slider is his best pitch, but he has the stuff to be a decent Major League reliever. His fastball velocity is rumored to have dropped this past year so that’s a concern going forward. The interesting part of his inclusion in this deal is that the Sox appear somewhat thin in the bullpen even after signing J.J. Putz. This further opens the door for someone like Sergio Santos to slip onto the roster. Link had a good chance to make the 2010 White Sox bullpen and he should be at least competing for the same with the Dodgers.

Considering Pierre is a likely starter for the Sox and fills a need at the top of the order, it’s hard to complain about giving up a pitcher like Ely. He could have a long career in the Majors as a back end of the rotation starter, but Pierre might have more value in the short run. Link could be a wild card, but since Pierre wasn’t starting for the Dodgers and has a sizable salary it’s a trade that could pay off for both sides.

In other recent news, the White Sox Rule V Draft came and went without much news. They didn’t select anyone in the Major League phase and had no one taken from them. In the AAA phase Johnny Lujan and Arismendy Mota were taken from the Sox. Lujan, 25, repeated Birmingham in 2009 and walked too many batters leading to a 4.45 ERA as a reliever. Mota was way under our radar and is 22 without having pitched above the DSL.

Also, Jordan Danks was named to the Arizona Fall League All-Prospect team.

For a small disclaimer, we chose the outfield spots regardless of position so they were voted on as the best three outfielders. As for pitchers, we chose three starters because that was the mostly random number decided upon as well as a closer and a set-up man. Tell us what you think, a lot of the spots were not easy selections. Without further ado, here’s the 2009 All-FutureSox Team in a somewhat fancy Flash presentation (be sure to click on the players).

Note: You will need an updated version of Adobe Flash Player to view the file below. If it’s not working, you may need to download it. You can download the latest Flash Player here.

Unfortunately the White Sox did not send many pitchers of interest to the Arizona Fall League, but one player who did catch the eye was Sergio Santos. Santos is a former 1st round pick, he was selected number 27 overall in the 2002 first year payer draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but after stalling as an offensive prospect the White Sox signed him and converted him to pitching. In his first season off the mound Santos had some fairly mixed results, including an 8.16 ERA and a 6.38 BB/9 in 28.2 innings over four levels. There were some encouraging points for Santos, namely his 9.57 K/9 and a purported 99 mph fastball. The White Sox recently added Santos to the 40-man roster protecting him from this years Rule 5 Draft, so they obviously see something that they like in Sergio, but let’s see what PITCHf/x has to say.

Velocity Table:

As you can see from this velocity table Santos can dial it up. He didn’t quite manage to hit the triple digits, but he was the second hardest thrower in the AFL, behind, guess who, Stephen Strasburg. The average fastball velocity from a right handed pitcher is around 92 mph, so Santos’ average FB velocity of 95.68 mph gives him legitimate plus velocity. The differential between Santos’ fastball and changeup velocities was just over 10%, which is very good. His fastball/slider differential was also solid.

Raw Data:

First I’ll give a brief explanation of the movement graph. We’re looking at it from the catchers standpoint. You’ll notice that the graph indicates some of the pitches are “rising”, however, due to the laws of gravity we know this is not possible. What the graph is actually showing is how much each pitch moves compared to an otherwise similar pitch thrown withot any spin, so Santos’ fastball is not actually rising by an average of 6.38 vertical inches, but instead it is falling 6.38 inches less than an otherwise similar pitch thrown without any spin. Likewise, negative vertical movement indicates the pitch fell by however many inches more than an otherwise similar pitch thrown without any spin. Negative horizontal movement indicates the pitch moved in on a right handed batter and positive horizontal movement indicates the pitch moved in on a left handed batter, again, compared to the otherwise similar pitch thrown without any spin.

Without context, this data means nothing, as we don’t have any reference points to tell us whether Santos’ movement is above or below average. So what I’m going to do is compare Santos’ movement to the average moment of a right handed pitcher.

Average pitch movement from a RHP:

From looking at this average movement data we can see that Santos’ stuff moves… a lot. He’s getting upwards of 2 inches of sink more than average, and anywhere from 2-5 inches of negative horizontal movement more than average. Now getting a lot of movement isn’t necessarily going to be a good thing and it can lead to control issues, something that Santos has had. But if you can put the ball over the plate on a consistent basis while getting a lot of movement, I’ve got to assume that this will yield good results.

Next up I’m going to look at Santos’ release point graph. This isn’t especially useful from a diagnostic standpoint but it does allow us to see if a pitcher is tipping any of his pitches. You can see from the graph that his changeup is coming from an ever so slightly lower point than the other three pitches, but it’s a negligible amount and Santos should be fine when it comes to tipping pitches.

Now we get onto Sergio’s Achilles heel; control and command. You can see from the location graph that Sergio’s pitches miss, often. You’ll notice that both his fastballs and changeups are missing almost exclusively to the right side of the plate (from the pitchers perspective) and this is exactly what you would expect given what we saw on his movement graph. You’ll also notice that his pitches are missing down often, and again this is to be expected given what we saw in the movement graph; if your pitches get a lot of sink, when you miss, you’ll likely miss down and out of the zone. To this point we’ve seen that Sergio’s velocity and movement have been significantly above average, but his control is certainly well below average. He will need to improve this if he wants to stick with the Sox out of ST.

The last graphs that I want to look at are of Sergio’s flight paths. Flight paths, as you can probably imagine (and see), show the estimated path than an average pitch takes from release point to the catcher. They effectively tell you the same thing as the movement graph but it’s a little more palpable for PITCHf/x newcomers. You can see that Sergio’s slider has some good break to it and I like the pitch quite a lot, it also looks to take a very similar initial path to the fastball, which may make the pitch tough to pick up. Again you can see the extreme movement of the change, another pitch that could prove very valuable to Sergio if he learns to consistently throw it over the plate.

Finally I’m going to try and summarize the effectiveness of each of Santos’ pitches with the help of whiff rates. Whiff rates tell you how often a pitch incurs a swinging strike, or in other words, how difficult a pitch is to hit. The slider is the pitch that really jumps out for me and the 36.36% whiff rate is significantly above the league average whiff rate for a slider of 28.7%. For me, the slider is by far Santos’ best offering, it has good movement, velocity and has been proven difficult to hit even in an extreme hitters environment. Santos’ fastball has the makings of a great pitch with the plus velocity, but it has disappointingly low whiff rate of 5.83%. I think this is case in point of how velocity isn’t everything. You need to have command of a pitch in order to utilize it’s full potential. I think Santos’ fastball at present is average at best, but with the potential to be much more than that. Like his fastball, Santos’ changeup also has a below average whiff rate and the lack of control makes it a below average offering. The movement that Santos gets on the change could make it a neutralizing pitch against left handers but he must get it over the plate more consistently. Up to this point I have been including Santos’ curve for tokens sake and due to the fact that he only threw three of them, I would not feel comfortable making any kind of evaluation of it.

So in conclusion, I see Sergio Santos as currently having a fringe average fastball, a plus slider and a below average change. All of his pitches should improve as (or if) he learns to better command them. Due to being out of options, Sergio will need to stick with the big club out of Spring Training or he will be exposed to waivers. It’s probably too early for him to pitch in the Majors as he needs at least one more year to work on his control, but he could surprise, again in Arizona, and take the last spot on the roster.

References:
All PITCHf/x data was taken from Brooks Baseball
Flight Paths were created using Harry Pavlidis’ template file from BtB
Average pitch movement was taken from Harry Pavlidis at BtB
Average whiff rates by pitch type were taken from Sky at BtB

Notes:
I’m a PITCHf/x newcomer so all constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged.
PITCHf/x is not 100% accurate, I did not change any pitch classifications and as a result some of them are likely to be wrong.

The DSL White Sox got off to a fast start in 2009 as they won all of their first 11 games, sitting them firmly atop their division. Unfortunately they couldn’t quite maintain this blistering pace and they stuttered to a 7-9 record through the rest of June. They picked up their play in July finishing with a 15-11 record for the month and then rounded out the season with a 9-8 record in August. This resulted in an impressive 42-28 record on the season, but that was only good enough for third place in the division (behind the Yankees’ 2nd team and the Twins) and resulted in the DSL Sox missing out on the playoffs.

Players to watch (ages as on 04/01/10):

Juan Silverio, 18, SS/3B
Silverio was the prized signing of the Sox’ 2007 international free agent class but his first pro season was one to forget as he posted a .586 OPS over 59 games. I don’t place too much blame on Silverio for his lack of production last year though because there’s no way he should have been starting in Bristol as a 17 year old. This year Silverio has rebounded nicely in the DSL, his plate discipline is still lacking as he struck out 47 times against just 16 walks but he did show very good power (.547 SLG, .226 IsoP) and hit for a high average (.321).
At this point Silverio still looks like your typical unrefined, free-swinging latin prospect but he’s still very young and there’s lots of time for him to improve. Assuming no visa issues we may see him back in Bristol next year.

Daurys Mercedes, 20, SS/2B
Daurys took large strides forwards this year after a very weak offensive season in 2008. Mercedes was signed in 2007 along with Juan Silverio, but unlike Silverio, Mercedes showed very good plate discipline as he walked 31 times against 39 strikeouts. This was a vast improvement on his 62 SO/17 BB last year. Mercedes hit for some decent pop this year with a .473 SLG and .154 IsoP as well as a strong average (.319).
Mercedes may be ready for the step up to Bristol next year, and in fact, his plate discipline means that he’s probably more prepared than Silverio is, although Silverio remains the better prospect going forward due to his power potential.

Jaime Del Valle, 20, C
I’m including del Valle more because of the fact that he was named an All-Star at catcher (along with Silverio at SS) than because I see him as having legitimate potential. The plus for del Valle is that he showed good control of the strikezone with 20 BB/24 SO as well as a good average of .291, but his power nonexistent and I don’t expect much from him going forward.

Darwin Matos, 19, RHP
There were several pitchers who put up good numbers for the DSL Sox this year but Matos is the lone guy on my radar. The main thing that jumps out with Matos is his high strikeout rate (10.9 SO/9), which is key for identifying prospects at this level (and I would argue any level), the walk rate was also high at 4.5 BB/9 but that’s to be expected for a pitcher of his age and experience.
Matos will be 19 for the majority of the 2010 season and I expect him to be back in Dominican Summer League.

If there’s anyone you think I missed, let me know in the comment box below and I’ll be sure to shoot your opinion down!

Retherford had 3 RBI including a 2-run HR in the 8th inning to give the Javelinas the lead for good in the final. However, overall, Retherford’s AFL didn’t go as well though. He got off to a hot start, but slumped the rest of the way to finish with lines of .246/.333/.348/.681 (not including the title game) in 69 AB. On the upside, he had seven walks and just nine strikeouts. Obviously, the AFL isn’t long enough for a healthy sample size, but it is encouraging to see C.J. walk more than normal and still have a good contact rate. He didn’t show a lot of power, but his two HR came against Stephen Strasburg and in the title game. He’s been getting more attention as he nears the Majors, but a projection as a utility man (possibly even an above-average one) still remains reasonable and likely.

The highlight of the AFL from the Sox standpoint has been Brent Morel. Morel captured the league batting title after hitting .435 (27-62). Before everyone gets too excited, he only had four extra base hits and four walks. He’s not likely to be a star hitter, but he plays good defense and makes contact. What more could you want out of a third baseman? The question becomes what his ETA is. Morel is more than likely going to start in AA to start 2010 putting him 1-2 years away still. Mark Teahan’s arrival probably puts the Sox in no rush to move Morel through the upper levels of the system.

Meanwhile, Jordan Danks finished in the top five in hits, walks and OBP and led the league in runs scored (31). Danks plays good center field and the scouts agreed in various reports out of Arizona. He had a great walk rate (20 in 99 AB) and hit .343, but the concern has been contact rate and he did nothing to change that. He struck out in almost 22% of his plate appearances in Arizona, staying in line with his 2009 numbers in Winston-Salem and Birmingham. He doesn’t project to hit for big power so he will need to improve that to be a successful hitter in the Majors. At the same time, a good defensive center fielder that can get on-base will always have a job.

On the pitching side, no one made a big impression. Kyle Bellamy pitched well, but joined the league late and only pitched 5.2 innings. Matt Long continued the success he had with the Barons late this year, but his high 80s fastball makes him only a fringe prospect. Sergio Santos showed his usual (high velocity, lots of strikeouts and no control) and Justin Cassel and Jacob Rasner had tough times in the fall league.