White Sox top prospects: Sergio Santos breaks down Birmingham standouts

Things are not going well for the Chicago White Sox at the major league level.

But down in Double-A, things are going quite well for the Birmingham Barons, who are chasing a first-half title in the Southern League, sporting a killer pitching staff and providing some hope for the future in the early stages of another long-term rebuilding project at 35th and Shields.

Of the 30 players ranked by MLB.com, 11 White Sox top prospects are currently playing for manager Sergio Santos down in Birmingham, and that’s a group that doesn’t include Drew Thorpe, who was promoted from Double-A to the big leagues a week and a half ago.

While the big league team is on pace to have the worst season in franchise history, fans looking for something to get excited about have shifted their focus from the South Side to the Deep South. That’s where Santos is commanding an exciting group in his first year back in the White Sox organization.

The former White Sox relief pitcher spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons managing minor league teams in the Yankees organization, including a championship season in the Florida Coast League two years ago and a runner-up performance in the South Atlantic League last summer.

Now, he’s back with the White Sox, part of the player-development staff working on Chris Getz’s top-to-bottom organizational makeover.

“Chris, in spring training, set the tone of what our identity was going to be and how we’re going to play the game,” Santos said via Zoom during a Thursday media session. “And that’s what I say every season: ‘I don’t know how many wins and losses we’re going to have, but what I can guarantee is the style of baseball that we’re going to play.’ And these guys have lived up to it.”

Certainly, it seems it will take Getz a while to bring his vision to life at the major league level. But if he’s going to do it, it will be thanks to some of the impressive talent making noise down in Birmingham.

Santos, unsurprisingly, had plenty of positive things to say about his charges, who could find themselves the building blocks of the White Sox’ future. It might be a year or two before they’re starring on the South Side, but the manager’s assessments now can help inform fans what’s happening down on the farm.

White Sox top prospects: Jake Eder

Rick Hahn’s last act as the White Sox’ baseball boss was dealing away a bunch of big leaguers at last year’s trade deadline and acquiring a host of impressive prospects who are all over the list of the organization’s best.

That group includes Jake Eder, the lefty pitcher who came over when Jake Burger was shipped to the Marlins. Currently ranked by MLB.com as the White Sox’ No. 10 prospect, Eder has been mostly excellent this season, with three runs or fewer allowed in all but three of his dozen outings. He’s been especially effective of late, with 25 strikeouts in his last three starts.

“He’s done a really good job,” Santos said of Eder. “He has incredible stuff. He’s the one starter we have (that) when I go in the box to coach, their third baseman or shortstop will say, ‘Who the heck is this guy?’ Because he has some nasty stuff.

“Eder is one of those kids who’s eager to learn, he wants to get better, he’s an open book, open to ideas and new things. And (White Sox pitching czar Brian) Bannister kind of figured something out. He has incredible stuff, and if he can put it together consistently, the guy is going to be a definite starter in the big leagues.”

White Sox top prospects: Edgar Quero

Edgar Quero was another one of those young players acquired in Hahn’s flurry of moves last summer, coming over from the Angels in the trade that sent Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to Southern California.

A prized catching prospect who’s been among the younger players at every level he’s played, the 21-year-old Quero is ranked by MLB.com as the No. 4 prospect in the White Sox’ organization. And he’s playing like it.

Recently, his offensive numbers have been eye-poppingly excellent. In 16 games this month, he’s hitting .467/.515/.767 with four homers, six doubles and 13 RBIs. It’s been a torrid stretch that’s jacked his batting average up nearly .070 points from where it was at the end of May.

“With Q, I was never worried, even when he was going through a little bit of those struggles (earlier in the season),” Santos said. “The guy can flat-out hit. He hits from both sides. So you knew it wasn’t going to be long of him not hitting. He was going to bounce back just because he’s that good of a player.”

Quero isn’t just a bat, though, he’s a catcher who could be a fixture of the White Sox’ future behind the plate. And he’s getting an education in not just developing into a big league backstop but doing so while working with the pitchers he could one day be catching at the major league level.

“He does an incredible job,” Santos said. “In between innings, he gets with the pitcher right away, saying, ‘What do you want to do?’ They plan ahead for the next inning. They talk about what went well that last inning.

“He’s not afraid to speak up and kind of go in on the pitcher when he needs to. And he’s really good at picking a guy up when he also needs to. So it’s very evident from his work he takes a lot of pride what he does behind the plate, and that’s nice.

“Like I tell him, ‘Catching comes first, and then you are going to hit.’ Because he’s a good hitter. Running the pitching staff is definitely far more important.”

White Sox top prospects: Noah Schultz

Noah Schultz was the White Sox’ first-round draft pick in 2022, and though physical issues have limited him to a relatively small number of innings in the minor leagues, his performance has been incredible and caught the attention of the evaluators. He’s currently ranked by MLB.com as the No. 2 prospect in the organization and the No. 39 prospect in all of baseball.

The tall, lanky lefty — and Oswego East product — was recently promoted to Birmingham, where he’s got a 1.72 ERA and 21 strikeouts in four starts.

It goes to show how slowly the White Sox are going with Schultz that he’s on a strict schedule and innings plan; he hasn’t gone past four innings in any outing this season. But even under those conditions, he’s managed to be really impressive.

“He’s got incredible stuff,” Santos said. “How athletic he is, he’s made some plays off the mound on bunts or swinging bunts that are pretty impressive. He’s (got a fastball at) 95 to 98 (miles an hour), with a wipeout slider.

“He’s close. I just think he needs more innings and experience, and without a doubt he’ll make a big impact when he gets to the big leagues.”

White Sox top prospects: Jairo Iriarte

Along with the aforementioned Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte was the other highly regarded pitcher acquired in Getz’s trade that sent Dylan Cease to the Padres in March. And though Thorpe has already ascended to the big leagues, Iriarte might not be too far behind him.

The 22-year-old righty is ranked as the White Sox’ No. 9 prospect. His ERA, north of 4.00, is only where it is because of a bumpy ride in his last four outings, but he was excellent through his first nine starts of the season, after which he sported a 2.77 ERA.

“Iriarte has incredible stuff. It’s swing-and-miss stuff,” Santos said. “My nickname for him is ‘El Tigre,’ which is ‘The Tiger.’ You see the transformation. He’s a very fun, easy-going guy on non-start days. On the day of his start, you see that transformation of his focus and everything getting geared up. When he gets on the mound, he’s going to compete whether he has it that day or not. He’s going to give it everything he has.

“That’s his personality, and that’s what’s going to make him a major league pitcher.”

White Sox top prospects: Jacob Gonzalez

The White Sox made Jacob Gonzalez their first-round pick last summer. The shortstop out of Ole Miss got off to a rough start playing a handful of games at Class A Kannapolis, but he impressed during spring training — when Getz called him the talk of minor league camp — and did enough at Class A Winston-Salem to earn a recent promotion to Birmingham.

Currently ranked by MLB.com as the organization’s No. 7 prospect, he’s shown an ability to get on base in his 27 games at Double-A, with a .355 on-base percentage to go along with his .286 batting average.

“He’s got a very solid approach at the plate,” Santos said. “He has a good idea of his swing, of his strengths, and he has a really good plan every time he goes up there. That’s what stuck out to me. He sticks to his plan. A lot of times guys have plans, they get in the box, and things change and they go away from it. He’s obviously a college guy, and he’s just a very experienced hitter. He seems a lot older than his age because of his approach and his plan.

“And then defensively, he’s impressed me at shortstop and then getting some games in at second base. The guy can play anywhere in the infield, to be honest with you.

“He’s an exciting player, and Chicago fans have a lot to be excited about.”

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