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.

The previous rank is in reference to our Midseason Top 25. Player profiles are linked in the player’s name if the player has one. Tell us what you love and hate about the rankings in the comments section or join the discussion at Soxtalk!

1. Tyler Flowers, C, White Sox
Previous: 1st

2. Dan Hudson, RH SP, White Sox
Previous: 4th

3. Dayan Viciedo, 3B, AA Birmingham
Previous: 2nd

4. Jordan Danks, CF, AA Birmingham
Previous: 3rd

5. C.J. Retherford, 2B/3B, AA Birmingham
Previous: 11th

6. Jared Mitchell, OF, Low-A Kannapolis
Previous: 5th

7. Brent Morel, 3B, High-A Winston-Salem
Previous: 17th

8. Charlie Shirek, RH SP, AA Birmingham
Previous: 10th

9. Trayce Thompson, OF, Rookie Great Falls
Previous: Not yet signed (He would have been 13th if he had)

10. Josh Phegley, C, Low-A Kannapolis
Previous: 8th

11. Carlos Torres, RH SP, White Sox
Previous: 14th

12. Jhonny Nunez, RH RP, White Sox
Previous: 25th

13. John Ely, RH SP, AA Birmingham
Previous: 19th

14. Christian Marrero, OF/1B, AA Birmingham
Previous: UR

15. John Shelby III, OF, AA Birmingham
Previous: 7th

16. Stefan Gartrell, OF, AAA Charlotte
Previous: 23rd

17. Nathan Jones, RH RP, High-A Winston-Salem
Previous: 12th

18. Charlie Leesman, LH SP, Low-A Kannapolis
Previous: 20th

19. Kyle Bellamy, RH RP, Low-A Kannapolis
Previous: UR

20. Lucas Harrell, RH SP, AAA Charlotte
Previous: 15th

21. Stephen Sauer, RH SP, Low-A Kannapolis
Previous: 23rd

22. Jon Link, RH RP, AAA Charlotte
Previous: 13th

23. Steven Upchurch, RH SP, Rookie Bristol
Previous: 16th

24. Brandon Hynick, RH SP, AAA Charlotte
Previous: Not yet in system

25. Clevelan Santeliz, RH RP, AA Birmingham
Previous: UR

Others receiving votes, in order of points/votes received: David Holmberg, Jon Gilmore, Miguel Gonzalez, Dan Remenowsky, Santos Rodriguez, Nevin Griffith, Eduardo Escobar, Brady Shoemaker, Nick Ciolli, Joe Serafin, Ryan Buch, Matt Heidenreich, Kyle Colligan, Gregory Infante, Jim Gallagher, Fernando Hernandez, Brandon Short, Seth Loman

Prospects previously ranked, still in the system from but received no votes this time: Brian Omogrosso (formerly #9, torn labrum), Justin Greene (#19)

Prospects previously ranked, no longer in the system: Dexter Carter (#7, traded to SD), Jack Egbert (#25, now with NYM)

The most notable Baron would have to be Gordon Beckham. Beckham was only in Birmingham for a couple months, but he impressed enough to make it to the Majors by June and is currently a Rookie of the Year candidate, if not favorite. Beckham has the ability to hit .280-.300 with 20 HR at a premium position (either 3B , SS or 2B) with a good walk rate and big RBI potential. He is the type of player the White Sox can build around. The Sox definitely needed a solid young positional player to come through because the best hitters of the lineup were aging free agents to be like Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye. Beckham has put up an OPS over .800 on an 80-90 RBI pace for a whole season. What more could a Sox fan ask for?

Replacing Beckham as the top positional prospect in the system has undoubtedly been Tyler Flowers. Flowers was the main returning piece in the Javier Vazquez trade with Atlanta. Initially, there were questions about his defense and how his bat would make the transition to AA. Flowers answered both positively. His defense made major improvements, Southern League managers even voted him the best defensive catcher in the league, and he absolutely mashed the ball (.302 average, .445 OBP, .993 OPS). His AAA numbers weren’t spectacular, but he didn’t have much of a chance to adjust. Jim Thome’s trade before the August waiver deadline opened the door for some September playing time for Flowers, though he has still only seen limited action.

In the Majors, Flowers has looked like Josh Fields with a much better batting eye. Now before everyone freaks out with a Josh Fields comparison, I did say Flowers was going to strike out a lot this September. His swing is still long and the stats have translated as expected. What’s interesting is that while his contact rate is awful, his walk rate and batting eye has been very impressive. Flowers has 8 strikeouts and 3 walks in 16 at-bats. He should be able to adjust and this is a tiny sample size anyway, but I’m more encouraged about his ability to draw walks and go deep into counts despite a horrid contact rate. It’s not like pitchers are giving him any respect. The power hasn’t shown up yet, just one double, but I’m not worried about that right now. All things considered, 2009 has been a great year for Flowers. General Manager Kenny Williams and Manager Ozzie Guillen have a lot of tough decisions this offseason and Flowers’ situation for 2010 is going to be one of the tougher ones. Can they trust his bat to play DH? Can they risk having him backup A.J. Pierzynski and only play a few times a week? It will be one of the bigger storylines of the offseason.

Probably the biggest storyline of the White Sox minor leagues this year has been the emergence of Dan Hudson. Hudson, an ‘08 draftee like Beckham, has recorded wins at five levels of pro baseball this season. A mind blowing feat for two reasons: that he successfully moved through the system so quickly and that he did so without skipping a level. He entered this season as a sleeper prospect, but quickly asserted himself as the top pitching prospect in the system. In 16.2 innings with the Sox so far, Hudson has been mostly impressive. His velocity is as advertised in the 93-95 m.p.h. range and he has a 3.24 ERA. His strikeout rate has remained solid, but he has walked 9 batters in his 2 starts. For the first start you might be able to argue nerves, especially after he didn’t walk any in his 3 relief appearances. He seemed to be nibbling, afraid to attack hitters. Hopefully the issue is a mental problem that can be easily fixed, as opposed to an actual lack of control. Like with Flowers, I’ll be optimistic because it’s really hard to evaluate a September call-up. Hudson was probably getting a lot of his strikeouts in the minors by getting hitters to chase with 2 strikes. That won’t work in the Majors, but Hudson has the ability to be a solid Major League starter down the road. If he doesn’t get traded, he will probably enter 2010 as the favorite for the 5th starter spot.

The other candidate for the 5th starter spot in 2010, Carlos Torres, has had control problems in the Majors that look more like a long-term concern. He was barely on the prospect radar to start 2009, but had a spectacular season for Charlotte. I think he will be a future long reliever type, but watching him walk 4 in 6 innings today against the Indians doesn’t make you think he can start in the bigs. You simply can’t walk 17 in 27.1 innings and expect to succeed in the Majors. Sure, he could get better, but it’s really hard to see a major improvement. Still, Torres had a great 2009 to put himself in this discussion and you can never have enough pitching options.

The four mentioned so far all are with the big league club currently. Others lower in the minors have had successful years as well. Brent Morel had a strong second half while playing at high-A in his first full professional season. C.J. Retherford continues to prove people wrong and will have another chance in the Arizona Fall League. The system still isn’t top tier, especially after two in-season trades, but the depth is improving after being one of the worst systems in baseball in 2007.

It was first reported by Jon Heyman hours before Monday’s Twins game that Flowers was going to be called up. At the time it was easy to assume it would be a small audition and showcase for Flowers. He wasn’t going to play regularly at catcher and with Alex Rios on the roster, the Sox already had an excess of hitters that needed playing time. However, now it makes more sense. With Jim Thome gone, the outfield can be Rios, Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin/Scott Podsednik with Quentin probably getting more time at DH while he gets nursed back to 100%. Flowers can spell A.J. Pierzynski at catcher and play DH when one of the outfielders needs a day off. Now he likely will be trying out for a spot on the opening day 2010 roster.

Flowers got to this point by killing the ball in AA this year. Earlier today he was named to the Southern League Post-Season All-Star team because he blew the league away. He hit .302 with a .445 OBP and .993 OPS and got promoted to AAA in mid July. His numbers in Charlotte are decent, but not great, though we are running into issues with sample size here.

In only 31 games with the Knights, Flowers hit .286 with a .364 OBP and .803 OPS. His walk rate was spectacular in Birmingham (57 in 248 AB), but mediocre in Charlotte (10 in 105 AB). A drop should be expected because he was getting pitched around in AA, but after walking 98 times last season in High-A, walks were believed to be a strength in his game. His power also took a dip, but 12 extra base hits in 105 AB isn’t bad. Without looking too much into his stats in AAA because of the small sample size, he has performed much better in August. In 20 games in August Flowers hit .306 with a .411 OBP (9 walks in 62 AB, that’s more like it) and .863 OPS.

So with somewhat regular playing time at the Major League level on the horizon, what should we expect from Flowers? He’s going to strike out a lot. He has a long swing and struck out in more than 1/4 of his plate appearances with the Knights so it shouldn’t be a shock if Flowers puts up Josh Fields like K numbers while he adjusts to Major League pitching. He has a lot of pop in his bat and if he can stick at catcher should be a great asset offensively. Don’t expect for him to hit for a high average this month, but if he maintains his walk rate he could be a useful bat for whatever miracle run the White Sox might try to make because he can hit the ball hard.

The most interesting part about this is to see how close to ready Flowers is. I wouldn’t have expected a promotion this soon and we probably wouldn’t have seen Flowers up if the Sox weren’t falling apart right now. With nothing to lose, it’s a ‘why not?’ situation, but this could be important for what Ken Williams does in the offseason. If he and the front office like what they see from Tyler to close the season, they won’t spend money to add or bring back hitters (Dye?). Flowers is cheap so he shouldn’t have to rake to earn a spot on the team next year. Hey, at least it’s a reason to watch the team the rest of the season.

In 9 starts with the Barons, Hudson was 7-0 with a 1.60 ERA. He struck out 63 and walked just 10 in 56.1 innings. He currently has a 28 inning scoreless streak. It’s astonishing what he has done this season. Between Kannapolis (who he only made 4 starts for), Winston-Salem (only 8 starts there) and Birmingham he has a 12-5 record with a 2.19 ERA with 142 strikeouts and 25 walks in 123.1 innings. It’s hard not to love a strikeout to walk ratio of almost 6:1.

This promotion might be a sign that Hudson is getting strong consideration for spot starts with the White Sox until Jake Peavy gets healthy. With Bartolo Colon on the disabled list, it seems Carlos Torres and Hudson are the favorites to start for the Sox when a 5th starter is needed.

In other news, outfielder Stefan Gartrell was promoted to Charlotte as well. Gartrell had 19 HR and 70 RBI for the Barons. He is a big power bat that likely has a future as a Major League bench player. He is 25 and repeated Birmingham this season, but has impressed with the bat this year, especially at spacious Regions Park.

Hudson is setting himself up to have a shot at the 5th starter slot next season. Jose Contreras’ contract ends after this season and if he doesn’t re-sign it currently looks like an open race between Hudson and Carlos Torres. Torres had a heck of a July in his own right and is currently Major League ready. Hudson might have to wait until the second half of 2010 to get a call up, but he will likely eventually fill out a potentially nasty rotation for years to come.

Hitter of the Month: Brady Shoemaker (Rookie Bristol)
.429 (33-77), 5 HR, 19 RBI, 16 R, 9 BB, 14 K, 1.235 OPS

Shoemaker had a 28 hit streak snapped on the 1st, but has shown that he is too good for the Appalachian League. He has a hit in 31 of the 32 games he has played since joining the BriSox after the draft. Plenty of college players have dominated rookie ball and fizzled once they play against players their own age, but few have raked like this.

Other notables

Carlos Torres (AAA Charlotte):1-0, 1 SV, 3 G (2 GS), 1.00 ERA, 18 IP, 19 K, 8 BB, 7 H (1 HR)
If you throw in Torres’ quality spot start for the White Sox it was a memorable month for him.

Cole Armstrong (AAA Charlotte): .341 (15-44), 5 HR, 7 RBI, 10 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 1.106 OPS
Somehow Armstrong had more extra base hits (8) than RBI (7), but he is finally turning around his awful start to the season.

Brent Lillibridge (AAA Charlotte): .326 (28-86), 2 HR, 12 RBI, 12 R, 12 BB, 18 K, 5/6 SB, .414 OBP
Lillibridge is finally contributing to someone this season. His overall stats in Charlotte still aren’t pretty, but he can steal a base (12/13 SB in AAA on the season) and is showing improvement.

Dayan Viciedo (AA Birmingham): .304 (27-89), 4 HR, 9 RBI, 4 BB, 12 K, .826 OPS
Viciedo continues his month-by-month improvement. These numbers come after a week+ slump to start to the month too.

Logan Johnson (High-A Winston-Salem): .327 (18-55), 5 HR, 13 RBI, 1.066 OPS
The king of the hit by pitch by crowding the plate to an extreme, Johnson has been converted to catcher so his bat might play if he can learn the position well.

Brent Morel (High-A Winston-Salem): .314 (33-105), 4 HR, 22 RBI, 21 R, 11 BB, 17 K, .929 OPS
Morel is a solid fielder at third so getting his bat going could make him a very good prospect.

The Ice Cold

Jon Link (AAA Charlotte): 10.1 IP, 13 R (12 ER), 11 K, 6 BB, 19 H (3 HR), 10.45 ERA
Link got off to a hot start to the season, but has struggled for past two months. He had a 5.06 ERA in June.

John Shelby (AA Birmingham): .197 (13-66), 1 HR, 9 RBI, .609 OPS
Shelby’s future currently looks somewhat dim. He was already putting up mediocre numbers for the AA Barons and his current slump has his batting average in the .230s and his OPS below .700.

Josh Phegley (Low-A Kannapolis): .139 (11-79), 4 HR, 9 RBI, 4 BB, 14 K, .520 OPS
Not the kind of professional debut you want to see from the 38th overall pick, but it’s way too early to write him off. At least the home runs have been coming.

Eduardo Escobar (Low-A Kannapolis): .198 (17-86), 3 BB, 19 K, .515 OPS
A major disappointment this season, Escobar has posted a sub-.600 OPS each month.

Miguel Gonzalez (Rookie Bristol): .200 (13-65), 2 BB, 11 K, .574 OPS
After a hot start, Gonzalez has come back to Earth. Still, his overall numbers (.277, 4 HR, .801 OPS in 26 G) are great to see from a young catcher.

Torres had initially been called up to piggy-back Clayton Richard’s start and was going to remain on the roster until Bartolo Colon replaced him on the roster on Friday. Torres will now start Wednesday and is still scheduled to head back down to make room for Colon.

Joe Cowley is reporting that the Sox expect Danks will miss only one start due to the blister on his pitching hand.

Torres will be in Chicago in time for tonight’s game and our sources indicate his promotion will be short-lived. Torres will provide the Sox with relief in case Clayton Richard has another poor outing and will remain on the roster until Friday, when Torres is optioned back to AAA Charlotte to make room for Bartolo Colon, who is scheduled to start part of the double-header.

Torres was a 15th round selection (2004) out of Kansas State and went 8-4 with a 2.20 ERA in 16 games (15 starts) for the Knights this season. He is primarily a fastball pitcher (90-93) with a very live arm. His best pitch is his cutter and he’ll compliment his fastball with a change-up and curve. Fastball command and his ability to keep hitters off-balance by changing locations and using his off-speed stuff effectively is the key to Torres’ success.

Poreda, who is the Sox top pitching prospect, was used sporadically since being promoted to Chicago on June 9th. Poreda pitched well (2.45 ERA, 9 hits, 12 K, 8 BB in 11 IP) in all but his final appearance, where he faced two batters with the bases loaded and proceeded to walk both of them.

While a demotion is typically not considered a good thing, Poreda should benefit from additional time in the minors. In fact, I’d call the demotion a great thing for Poreda’s career as his limited usage over the past month did nothing to help his development.

He’ll be able to rejoin the rotation in Charlotte and continue to develop his secondary stuff while working on improving his command. A stretched out Poreda might also be a Plan B, C, or D this season if Torres/Richard/Colon struggle in the rotation.

We included the player’s rank from our preseason rankings and his range in our ballots. The ranges show how consistent or inconsistent we were. Some of our voters love one guy for one reason or another and the rest of us may think he is nuts. The parentheses after the highest and lowest votes show how many people had that player ranked in that position.

An exciting thing at FutureSox that we have been working on, and teased during the Brandon Allen trade, is our prospect profiles. They include biographical information, previous FutureSox rankings, scouting reports and other information. The profiles that we have already created are linked below the player’s name on this list. You can also view them by clicking the “Prospect Profiles” link at the top of any FutureSox.com page. We will add more profiles as we go and a few more will be coming soon so check them out!

Leave us some comments and tell us what you think about our rankings or join in the discussion at Soxtalk. If you think we are out of our minds, let us know where we screwed up!

1. Tyler Flowers, C, AAA Charlotte
Age: 23
Range: 1st (5) to 2nd (4)
Previous rank: 5th
Player Profile

2. Dayan Viciedo, 3B, AA Birmingham
Age: 20
Range: 1st (3) to 3rd (3)
Previous: T-2nd
Player Profile

3. Jordan Danks, CF, AA Birmingham
Age: 22
Range: 1st to 4th
Previous: 6th
Player Profile

4. Dan Hudson, RH SP, AA Birmingham
Age: 22
Range: 4th (7) to 5th (2)
Previous: 12th
Player Profile

5. Jared Mitchell, OF, Low-A Kannapolis
Age: 20
Range: 3rd to 8th
Previous: Not yet in system
Player Profile

6. Dexter Carter, RH SP, Low-A Kannapolis
Age: 22
Range: 5th (2) to 14th
Previous: 8th
Player Profile

7. John Shelby III, OF, AA Birmingham
Age: 23
Range: 8th to 18th
Previous: 7th
Player Profile

8. Josh Phegley, C, Low-A Kannapolis
Age: 21
Range: 7th to 16th
Previous: Not yet in system
Player Profile

9. Brian Omogrosso, RH SP/RP, AAA Charlotte
Age: 25
Range: 6th to 21st (2)
Previous: 19th

10. Charlie Shirek, RH SP, AA Birmingham
Age: 23
Range: 6th to unranked
Previous: 24th

11. C.J. Retherford, 3B/2B, AA Birmingham
Age: 24
Range: 5th to unranked
Previous: T-25th
Player Profile

12. Nathan Jones, RH RP, High-A Winston-Salem
Age: 23
Range: 6th to 21st
Previous: 23rd
Player Profile

13. Jon Link, RH RP, AAA Charlotte
Age: 25
Range: 4th to unranked
Previous: 17th

14. Carlos Torres, RH SP, AAA Charlotte
Age: 26
Range: 7th to unranked
Previous: UR

15. Lucas Harrell, RH SP, AAA Charlotte
Age: 24
Range: 8th to unranked
Previous: 14th

16. Steven Upchurch, RH SP, Rookie Bristol
Age: 19
Range: 10th to unranked
Previous: 18th
Player Profile

17. Brent Morel, 3B, High-A Winston-Salem
Age: 22
Range: 9th to unranked
Previous: 11th

18. Justin Greene, OF, Low-A Kannapolis
Age: 23
Range: 17th to unranked (2)
Previous: UR

19. John Ely, RH SP, AA Birmingham
Age: 23
Range: 10th to unranked (3)
Previous: 20th

20. Charlie Leesman, LH SP, Low-A Kannapolis
Age: 22
Range: 9th to unranked (5)
Previous: UR

21. Jon Gilmore, 3B, Low-A Kannapolis
Age: 20
Range: 14th (2) to unranked (2)
Previous: 22nd

22. Stephen Sauer, RH SP, Low-A Kannapolis
Age: 22
Range: 13th to uranked (3)
Previous: UR

23. Stefan Gartrell, OF, AA Birmingham
Age: 25
Range: 9th to unranked (4)
Previous: UR

24. Jack Egbert, RH SP/RP, AAA Charlotte
Age: 26
Range: 11th to unranked (4)
Previous: 9th
Player Profile

25. Jhonny Nunez, RH RP, AAA Charlotte
Age: 23
Range: 12th to unranked (3)
Previous: UR

Trayce Thompson, OF*
Age: 18
Range: 7th to unranked
*We included Trayce Thompson in our ballots because we believe he will sign, but since he hasn’t yet, we won’t include him in the final rankings. If we were to include him, he would have slid in at 13th, ahead of Jon Link.

Torres, 26, is having a breakout year. The Kansas State product is 7-4 with a 2.41 ERA in 15 starts. In 86 innings he has struck out 84 and walked 35. Opponents are hitting .213 off of Torres. He ranks 7th in ERA, t-4th in wins and t-2nd in strikeouts.

The IL All-Stars will play the Pacific Coast League All-Stars Wednesday, July 15 at 9 p.m. central in Portland, Oregon. The game will be televised on ESPN2.