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)

But in the last two years or so, the White Sox have made big strides in getting their system restocked with legitimate talent. Three improved drafts combined with some shrewd dealings from “The Gambler” Kenny Williams, have put the Sox system back into the middle of the pack, or even better than that, if you look at the talent that has already ascended to the major league team in that period. The system is producing prospects with real chances at major league success at a much higher rate nowadays.

In order to best illustrate this ascension, some might point to the meteoric rise of Gordon Beckham, the team’s first round pick in 2009 and current Rookie of the Year candidate. Or Dan Hudson’s march from Low-A all the way to the big club in one season. Surely no one would deny these shining examples, but they are single players in a huge organization, and one might be tempted to call them flukes, or simply very good luck combined with 2008’s high draft position. Show me something more, you say? Show me the depth of talent required for a minor league system to truly stand out?

I give you, the pitching staff of the 2009 Kannapolis Intimidators.

Kannapolis, the Sox Low-A affiliate, put up a chubby 5.12 ERA in 2007. In 2008, it dropped more than a full point to 4.08. And here in 2009, it dropped 80 more points to 3.24, 2nd best in the South Atlantic League by just .01. They were also 2nd in strikeouts, 2nd in WHIP, and led the league with 15 shutouts. Not surprisingly they finished the season at 82-57, best record in the 16-team league, despite being below the median in most offensive categories. And the pitching staff that achieved this was filled mostly with players drafted or signed since the 2008 June draft, not much more than a year ago.

Kanny’s starting rotation featured a number of very talented arms, led by Hudson, drafted in the 5th round in 2008. Hudson appeared in just 4 games, but dominated, posting a scant 1.23 ERA to go along with 30 strikeouts against just 2 walks in 22 innings. No wonder he was quickly promoted to Winston-Salem, then Birmingham, then Charlotte, and ended his improbable season with the big club. Lefty Charlie Leesman (11th round in ‘08) opened some eyes by finishing at 13-5 with a solid 3.05 ERA, while increasing his velocity. Stephen Sauer started in the bullpen, but was quickly moved into the starting rotation, where he displayed plus control (just 19 walks in 142 IP), posted a nice 3.38 ERA and struck out nearly a batter an inning to give him a stellar 6.47 K/BB ratio. Dexter Carter (13th round, ‘08) staked a 3.13 ERA and struck out 143 batters in 118 innings, which helped out the big club as he was traded to San Diego as part of the Jake Peavy package. Gregory Infante (free agent foreign signee, 2006) posted a 3.26 ERA and a skill for inducing ground balls, before being promoted to Winston-Salem.

Replacing some of the departed starters were Nevin Griffith (2nd round, 2007) and bolt-from-the-blue 2009 37th round pick Joe Serafin. Griffin had a 3.86 ERA while coming back from major injury. Serafin, a lefty out of Vermont, was promoted after dominating in rookie ball and contributed a 3-1 record, 2.98 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 42 innings for the Intimidators. A soft-tossing, control-focused lefty picked in the late rounds inexplicably succeeding in A ball in his draft year? I could swear I’ve heard this story before.

But the talent didn’t end with the rotation; the Kanny bullpen was rock steady, and propelled some new names onto the prospect radar. The pen was anchored by closer Dan Remenowsky, who posted numbers that were nothing short of eye-popping: In 63.1 innings he posted a 1.99 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, just 16 walks (2.27 BB/9) and a staggering 109 strikeouts (15.49 K/9). All this plus 25 saves and 7 wins from a guy who went undrafted, and was signed in 2008 as a free agent out of an independent league.

Setting up Remenowsky in the pen were a number of prospects worth keeping an eye on. The best prospect of the bunch is hard-throwing right-hander Nathan Jones (5th round 2007), who posted a 2.41 ERA, a miniscule .129 average against and 25 strikeouts in just 18.1 innings, before being promoted to Winston-Salem. Eventually replacing Jones in the setup role was 2009 5th round pick Kyle Bellamy. The right-hander pitched a brief 3 games in Bristol (Rookie) before being promoted to Kanny, where he was nothing short of dominant: 1.42 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and 30 strikeouts against just 2 walks in 19 innings. 2008 4th round pick Drew O’Neill contributed a solid 2.54 ERA to the bullpen as well, and while his K and BB numbers weren’t great, he displayed an ability to induce ground balls, posting a 3.41 GO/AO. Other solid contributors who were all promoted in-season to Winston-Salem included Charlis Burdie (1.76 ERA, .122 BAA, 60 K in 56.1 IP), Tyson Corley (0.95 ERA, 5.55 GO/AO, 38 K in 38 IP), Daniel Albritton (1.76 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 18 K in 15.1 IP) and Kevin Asselin (2.74 ERA, 49 K in 49.1 IP). Keep an eye on 21 year-old Santos Rodriguez, acquired from Atlanta in the Vazquez/Flowers trade. He only pitched 4 innings at the end of the season, but made an impression by striking out 8 in 4 innings of work against just 1 walk, allowing no runs. Rodriguez can really dial it up with the fastball and is worth following.

What does all this mean for the organization? The Kanny pitching staff represents a wave of pitching talent moving through a Sox system that hasn’t seen a deep group like this in some time. As they start 2010 in Winston-Salem (High-A), or in some cases Birmingham (AA), they will reach a make-or-break point, and we’ll get a better idea of who among them has the right stuff. Odds are against any given prospect, but that’s why it is far better to have a depth of talented prospects to begin with, then to have only a few and hope for the best. So keep an eye on the Barons and Dash’s box scores next year, and you just might see some future major leaguers separating from the pack.

The Birmingham Barons were one of Minor League Baseball’s best teams this year and their 92-47 record was the best in the team’s history. Their roster at the start of the season was stacked with many of the organizations top prospects including Gordon Beckham, Tyler Flowers, Brandon Allen, Dayan Viciedo, Aaron Poreda and John Shelby, and as you would have expected, they made light work of opposing Southern League teams. Promotions, trades and call-ups removed many of their best players from the first couple of months of the season but they were replaced, and replaced well, by players such as Christian Marrero, Jordan Danks and Charlie Shirek, added to that, mainstays such as John Ely and C.J. Retherford ensured that the Barons didn’t skip a beat in the second half. Now ready to make a run for the Southern League crown, the Barons will start their best of 5 series with Jacksonville Suns on Thursday.

The Winston-Salem Dash make their way into the playoff largely thanks to playing in a very weak Carolina League South. You may think that’s a little unfair, saying they’re only in the playoff due to playing in a weak division, but when you have a 4.30 ERA (2nd worst in the CAR) and are just midpack in runs scored, it’s unlikely that you were a good team. The Dash actually allowed more runs (642) than they scored (626). Winston-Salem’s offense has been led by a personal favourite of mine, Seth Loman, and postseason All-Star at 3B, Brent Morel, they also have Carolina League manager of the year Joe McEwing in their corner as well as a rotation led by Justin Edwards and Dylan Axelrod. The Dash will play their first postseason game tomorrow night against the Salem Red Sox, who are expected to start Daisuke Matsuzaka, and while anything can and often does happen in the playoffs, don’t expect the Carolina League crown to be coming the Dash’s way.

The Kannapolis Intimidators’ season has been all about their fantastic second half, in which they have a 45-24 record and a .652 winning percentage. Pitching was this team’s M.O. as they led the whole of the South Atlantic League with 530 runs allowed thanks to a rotation fronted by two of this organizations more intriguing starters, Charlie Leesman and Stephen Sauer (having Dexter Carter and Dan Hudson for a time didn’t hurt either). Even with losing one of it’s better arms, Charlis Burdie to the Dash, the Intimidators have one of the most formidable bullpen’s in the Minors, backed by Dan Remonowsky, ’09 draftee Kyle Bellamy and late season promotion Santos Rodriguez. Other ’09 draftees have played large parts in this team’s second half run, most notably two early round picks Jared Mitchell and Josh Phegley but also one later round pick, Joe Serafin. The Intimidators will play their first postseason game tomorrow against the Lakewood BlueClaws, with Charlie Leesman getting the start.

The final Sox affiliate to make the playoffs are the defending Pioneer League champions Great Falls, who swept their way past the Orem Owlz in the 2008 championship series behind the arms of Dan Hudson and Dexter Carter. This years Voyagers have been led by a steady dose of pitching and offense where the rank 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Pioneer League. The Voyagers have an old team for a rookie ball affiliate and as it stands Trayce Thompson is the only teen on their roster, he’s also roughly 2 ½ years younger than anyone else on the team, and it is partly for this reason that they don’t appear to be brimmed with future Major Leaguers. The Great Falls Voyagers will call upon it’s offensive stars Jose Vargas, Nick Ciolli, Johny Celis and Kyle Colligan to lead the team to victory when they start their playoff run against the Missoula Osprey’s this Saturday the 12th.

Brady Shoemaker, a 6′ 0″, 200 pound outfielder, drafted out of Indiana State in the 19th round, leads the Appalachian League in batting average (.420) and OBP (.458) and is amongst the league leaders in a multitude of other categories such as SLG (.636, 5th) and doubles (10, T-2nd). What’s perhaps even more impressive though is that he’s hit in every game he’s played thus far, that’s all 22 of them and he already has 9 multi-hit games one of which was a 5-5 two home run massacre of Kingsport Mets pitching.

It’s not just on the field where Shoemaker has been opening eyes though, his dedication and professionalism off the field received special note from Bristol manager Ryan Newman, who said the following about him in the Bristol Herald Courier:
“He’s real quiet in the locker room. He takes care of his business and goes about his work as a professional. It’s great to have a guy like that in the clubhouse and in the middle of your lineup.”

Joe Serafin, a diminutive lefty drafted out of Vermont in the 37th round, leads the Appalachian League in both ERA (0.31), the next closest qualified pitcher to him is Trevor Shull who has a 1.50 ERA, and WHIP (0.69) and he is also tied for first in wins (4). Serafin mainly throws a fastball-curve ball combo, with his fastball clocking in around the high 80’s which he has combined with impeccable control (0.93 BB/9) to limit opposing batters to a meagre .177 average against.

In somewhat similar fashion to one rather more famous White Sox lefty, Mark Buehrle, Joe Serafin likes to work quickly, very quickly. A prime example of this speed on the mound was his July 8th start against the Burlington Royals, a game in which he picked up the victory after throwing 6 shutout innings, the game lasted just 1 hour and 55 minutes. Joe says that working quickly helps him to keep his focus on the game and not on any outside factors and it certainly seems to be working for him so far.

Serafin and Shoemaker may not grade out highly as prospects for the future, and both are likely to fizzle out as they make their way through the system due to a lack of stuff and tools, but until that happens, long may their success continue.