sign in sign up
<<
Home , Blake Rutherford, Charlie Tilson, Gavin Sheets, Jim Landis, Johnny Mostil, Richard Dotson

WHITE SOX HEADLINES OF OCTOBER 11, 2017 “Pitching, lefty power among White Sox needs” … Scott Merkin, MLB.com “Tilson takes part in Instructional League games” … Scott Merkin, MLB.com “White Sox developing former college sluggers at instructs”… Jim Callis, MLB.com “Former White Sox All-Star Landis dies at 83”… Oliver Macklin, MLB.com “Jim Landis, Defensive Star for Pennant-Winning White Sox, Dies at 83”… Richard Sandomir, New York Times “White Sox's tells TMZ he's pulling for Indians”… Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune “Cubs, White Sox urged to extend safety net to protect fans”… Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times “White Sox prospects making tweaks, getting healthy at instructs”… James Fegan, The Athletic “How is trying to unlock the power he already has”… James Fegan, The Athletic “Aldermen Call On Cubs, Sox To Exceed MLB Safety Netting Requirements”… Steve Miller, CBS Chicago Pitching, lefty power among White Sox needs GM Hahn will not deviate from rebuilding plan to fill holes, however By Scott Merkin / MLB.com | Oct. 10, 2017

CHICAGO -- The White Sox enter the 2017 offseason in an interesting stage of their rebuild.

While they will continue to procure talent, they also have young standouts such as second baseman and right-handed hurlers and Reynaldo Lopez already enjoying daily Major League life in the midst of their development phase.

Could this team actually contend next season? It's a possibility, albeit a bit remote. But that outside chance won't influence 's decisions in an area such as free agency to deviate even slightly from the rebuilding plan.

"We're not looking to build a club that's gonna jump up in one year and contend for a Wild Card [berth] and then regress back," Hahn said. "We're looking [at things from] a long-term point of view. The Twins have a very bright future ahead of them -- and their future probably got here earlier than they anticipated, by getting into the postseason as they did.

"But they're also shooting for that next higher level, which is part of the reason you didn't see them sell off their system in order to lock down what they were able to do this year. Our situation, again, [we're] pleased that that's even on people's minds. But what we're shooting for is not a one-year fix. We're shooting for something that's going to be sustainable."

Biggest Needs

Starting pitching: The White Sox appear set with Giolito, Lopez, veteran and possibly Carson Fulmer. Carlos Rodon remains a bit of an uncertainty, after starting and finishing the 2017 campaign on the disabled list with shoulder-area discomfort. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on Wednesday, which will leave him sidelined for 6-8 months. Even with a fully healthy Rodon at the top of the rotation, the White Sox need veteran additions to fill out the group and guard against overworking the younger hurlers as their innings gradually increase.

Possible fits: Miguel Gonzalez, Tyler Chatwood, Chris Tillman

Bullpen assistance: Hahn admitted the bullpen has been gutted during the rebuilding process, so look for this to be one of the areas of focus and one on which the White Sox might spend, if the price and fit are right. A number of relief options emerged internally -- ranging from Juan Minaya, who closed at the end of '17, to Danny Farquhar, , and Gregory Infante.

Nate Jones is expected to be ready by the start of Spring Training after season-ending right elbow surgery. Righty Zach Putnam is more likely to make an in-season comeback after surgery.

Possible fits: Luke Gregerson, Bryan Shaw, Anthony Swarzak

Left-handed power: Moncada's arrival to the big leagues, as well as the impressive first showing by Nicky Delmonico, gave the White Sox a little more balance from the left side (with Moncada being a switch-hitter). But the White Sox are short on left-handed hitting -- both in the starting lineup and off the bench.

Possible fits: Lucas Duda, John Jaso, Mitch Moreland, Jarrod Dyson, Curtis Granderson, Jon Jay

Gray Areas

Catcher: MLBPipeline.com's No. 7 White Sox prospect is moving toward the Majors. Kevan Smith and Omar Narvaez capably handled the position in 2017, with both developing their game-calling abilities and building a bond with the young hurlers. But the White Sox might want a veteran in the mix, as they had with Geovany Soto at the outset of '17.

Center Field: certainly possesses Major League capabilities defensively and showed extra-base potential in spurts offensively. But he didn't make contact consistently enough. With the team's No. 3 prospect still a few years away, a veteran could be a consideration.

Rodon's health: General parameters were presented for Rodon's recovery, but that comeback will be dependent on Rodon's rehab and won't be fully assessed until Spring Training. The left-hander's health clearly stands as a big component in the rebuilding process as a rotation staple. X-factors

Abreu, Garcia long term? Jose Abreu stands out as one of the game's top middle-of-the-order bats and has become a consummate clubhouse leader. Avisail Garcia rewarded the organization's patience and played like the five-tool talent he was envisioned as. The White Sox have two years of control over both players, so their decision is whether to extend them into the contending part of the rebuild or trade them to deepen their talent pool.

Player Development: Hahn and executive vice president Ken Williams have talked many times about good young players showing them when they are ready for the next challenge. The team is not considered to be in the prime contending phase for 2018. But the rise of talent -- such as Eloy Jimenez and right-handed Michael Kopech, the team's No. 1 and 2 prospects, or even right-handed starter Alec Hansen, the team's sixth-ranked prospect -- might force the issue at some point in '18.

Tilson takes part in Instructional League games Outfielder missed all of 2017 season with foot, ankle injuries By Scott Merkin / MLB.com | Oct. 10, 2017

MESA, Ariz. -- took part in a White Sox game on Tuesday afternoon.

Yes, the game represented an Instructional League contest against the A's at Fitch Park, played before a small crowd of teammates, scouts and maybe a few players' family members. But for the outfielder who did not play at all during the 2017 season, the type of competition didn't matter.

"Regardless, it's ," said a smiling Tilson at , prior to making the 40-minute bus ride to Mesa. "You spend so much time in the cage and it's tough to really simulate in-game competition.

"You know, laying off a couple of pitches, fouling a couple of pitches off, getting down two strikes, those type of things bring back familiar feelings you haven't been in touch with for a while. That was the biggest most exciting takeaway for me: How much you miss it. How much fun it is to be out there competing. It was great."

Tilson, the club's No. 19 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, actually returned for the White Sox on Monday at Goodyear. He played 5 1/3 innings in center and had three at-bats, much like he did on Tuesday. His next start should be on Thursday morning.

This comeback becomes a potential final test for Tilson. The 24-year-old suffered a torn left hamstring chasing a fly ball in Detroit on Aug. 2, 2016 in his one and only game with the White Sox, leading to season-ending surgery. That unfortunate injury was followed by a stress reaction suffered in his right foot at the outset of Spring Training and then a stress fracture suffered in the navicular bone of his right ankle leading to Tilson wearing a protective boot.

Surgery was a possibility to fix the navicular problem as recently as July, and remains possible. Hence, the test portion of this Instructional League participation.

"That's kind of part of my assignment out here," Tilson said. "There's still a little bit of healing potentially to go, but completely not symptomatic so being out here, being able to test it out and see how it reacts, so far I'm feeling good about it.

"I would describe it as a test. There's always [surgical] possibilities but I'm just trying to take it a day at a time and keep doing the things that are working for me. And just stay ready to play and I'm pretty confident that I'll make it through this just fine."

After this frustrating past season, Tilson admitted a need to listen to his body a little more even at such a young age. He worked with a nutritionist during the extended absence and dropped weight from an already fit 5-foot-11, 195-pound frame.

"He feels really good where he is at right now," White Sox Minor League hitting coordinator Mike Gellinger said. "Obviously after all those injuries and stuff, your mind plays a big part. Can I pull this off again? Can I do it? But he's in a good spot in his own brain."

The ultimate plan for Tilson is competing for a White Sox roster spot at the start of Spring Training. As of Tuesday, he sees no real roadblock halting that plan.

"I've got more to gain," Tilson said. "I should be all the more ready with a bigger appreciation for the opportunity."

White Sox developing former college sluggers at instructs By Jim Callis / MLB.com | Oct. 10, 2017

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn seemingly can't go more than a couple of weeks without trading for more prospects, but his deals aren't the only avenue in which the White Sox have beefed up their farm system. They've also done well in the Draft, spending their last two first-round picks and their 2017 second-rounder on college sluggers.

Catcher Zack Collins (No. 10 overall, 2016), third baseman (No. 11, 2017) and first baseman (No. 49, 2017) all should fit in nicely at , one of the most homer-friendly ballparks in the big leagues. For now, they're together in Chicago's four-week instructional league program in Glendale, Ariz., which ends this weekend.

After signing for $3,380,600 out of Miami last summer, Collins, ranked No. 7 on the White Sox Top 30 Prospects list struggled for much of his first full pro season, barely staying above the Mendoza Line in high through the end of July. He did come on in the final month, batting .290/.462/.580 to finish at .224/.370/.445. He hit for power (19 homers) and showed patience (87 walks) like he always has, but he'll need to cut his rate (27 percent) and continue to polish his receiving behind the plate.

"Out here, we've mainly focused on offensive things with Zack," White Sox farm director Chris Getz said. "We're trying to get him in a sound position to hit, be balanced, make good decisions like he has. He's using the whole field and pulling the ball more effectively. We feel good about where he is going into next season."

Burger and Sheets spent most of their first pro summer together at Class A Kannapolis, helping the Intimidators reach the championship series. The 2017 Missouri Valley Conference player of the year, Burger signed for $3.7 million out of Missouri State and hit .263/.336/.412 in his debut. Sheets, who led the Atlantic Coast Conference with 21 homers for Wake Forest, signed for $2 million and batted .279/.365/.397.

Getz said the White Sox are trying to get Burger and Sheets more experience rather than make any significant alterations in instructional league.

"Burger has very good contact ability, which bodes well for his power production," Getz said. "He has very good bat speed, uses his legs well, hits a lot of balls hard to all fields. He has a lot of ingredients to be a productive Major League hitter.

"Sheets has a solid idea at the plate as well. He has a good plan and approach. His power is more middle to pull right now, and he's learning to pull the ball more effectively. The looseness in his swing is encouraging."

Burger was the best power hitter available in the 2017 Draft, which is what made him the first Missouri State hitter ever taken in the first round. Though he's a burly 6-foot-2, 210-pounder, he's far from one-dimensional. He surprisingly has average speed and though some evaluators questioned his ability to remain at the hot corner, Getz sees him as a definite third baseman.

"Anyone who saw him this season or in instructional league, those doubts would be erased," Getz said. "He's solid. It's about learning to be more efficient in what he's doing. He's figuring that out. He's making the play to the backhand side, he has the arm strength, he's coming in on balls well. There's no doubt in my mind that Burger will stay at third base."

Former White Sox All-Star Landis dies at 83 By Oliver Macklin / MLB.com | Oct. 10, 2017

Former White Sox Jim Landis, who was known as one of the best defensive of his era, died Saturday. He was 83.

A Richmond, Calif., native, Landis passed away in Napa, Calif., not far from where he was born.

Landis played for the White Sox for eight seasons from 1957-64. He won five consecutive Gold Gloves with Chicago from '60-64 and was selected to the All-Star team in '62.

In 1959, the White Sox advanced to the World Series, and Landis was a large contributor to the club. He hit .272 with five home runs, 26 doubles and 60 RBIs while finishing seventh in the AL Most Valuable Player Award voting. He batted .292 with six runs in six games against the Dodgers in the Fall Classic that year.

Signed by the White Sox as an amateur free agent in 1952, Landis led all AL outfielders with a .993 in '63 and finished his career with a .989 mark. He was one of 27 players named to the organization's "Team of the Century" in 2000.

Landis also played for the Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, Astros and Athletics throughout his 11-year Major League career.

Jim Landis, Defensive Star for Pennant-Winning White Sox, Dies at 83 By Richard Sandomir / New York Times | Oct. 10, 2017

Jim Landis, the speedy center fielder whose defensive skills, sometimes compared to those of , were instrumental in the ’s winning the American League pennant in 1959, died on Saturday in Napa, Calif. He was 83.

His son Craig, a player agent, said the cause was cancer.

When Landis joined the so-called Go-Go White Sox in 1957, he strengthened a formidable defense up the middle, with Nellie Fox at second base, at shortstop and Sherm Lollar at catcher. Landis made few errors, led the A.L. three times in plays turned by a center fielder and won the each season from 1960 to 1964.

He was known for making difficult catches look easy and for snaring balls that appeared to be certain home runs.

“I think maybe Landis has better anticipation than anyone now playing,” , the White Sox owner, said in an interview with The Chicago Tribune in 1959. “He catches balls that I know are two- or three-base hits.”

But as a minor leaguer Landis had learned that his speed was not enough to make him a great outfielder; he needed help. So during spring training he shadowed Johnny Mostil, an instructor who had been a White Sox outfielder in the 1920s. As fly balls and line drives were hit at them, Landis broke with Mostil at the crack of the bat.

Mostil told The Des Moines Tribune, “He’d look up when I looked up and stop when I stopped either to catch the ball or to be in position to take it on the bounce or off the wall.”

The practice worked out well for Landis. Veeck and Ted Kluszewski, the slugger who played with Landis late in his career, were among those who declared that his defensive prowess was the equivalent of Mays’s.

Landis, speaking to White Sox Interactive in 2003, said he only learned of those comparisons later, when he read that some Yankees players had said he “would turn triples into doubles and doubles into singles.”

James Henry Landis Jr. was born on March 9, 1934, in Fresno, Calif. His father was a factory worker; his mother, Maida, was a homemaker. He was signed by the White Sox for $2,500 after his first year at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Calif.

Landis’s hitting was not on the same level as his fielding. His batting average was only .212 in his rookie season, but he improved to .277 the next year. In 1959 he hit .272, with five home runs and 60 runs batted in. In that year’s World Series, against the Dodgers, he had seven hits in 24 at-bats for a .292 average.

In Game 5, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, he lost a ball in the sun, a mishap that ignited a Dodgers rally. But the rally stalled, and Chicago won, 1-0.

“Everyone claims the ball hit me, but I still think it bounced in front of me,” Landis told The New York Times in 1961. “I was blinded by the sun and the background of white shirts.

That ballpark, he said, “was the worst I ever have been in.”

The Dodgers won the series in the next game, at in Chicago.

Landis was traded to the Kansas City Athletics in 1965 and also played in Cleveland, Houston, Detroit and Boston. In retirement, he worked for a safety sign company, of which he eventually became a partner.

In addition to his son Craig, he is survived by his wife, the former Sandra Foster; his daughters, Vicki Robinson and Michele Stafford; another son, Michael; five grandchildren; and his sister, Ann Proctor.

In 2000, Landis was voted by fans onto the White Sox Team of the Century, along with Fox, Aparicio and the outfielders Shoeless Joe Jackson and Minnie Minoso.

White Sox's Michael Kopech tells TMZ he's pulling for Indians By Phil Thompson / Chicago Tribune | Oct. 10, 2017

This White Sox thing might still be new to minor league pitcher Michael Kopech, but here's a pro tip: Don't root for a division rival, even for a good reason.

TMZ stopped Kopech and reality TV star girlfriend Brielle Biermann in an undisclosed airport and asked him which team he's rooting for this postseason.

"I got a buddy that plays for the Indians," he said. "So I feel like I would be not very supportive if I didn’t say the Indians. They’ve had a heck of a . It would be tough to see that end this early when they’ve had a historic season."

That's a nice gesture, but ask most Sox fans, and their most hated rival -- after the Cubs -- is probably the Indians (or maybe the Tigers, but the Indians are up there).

Kopech will appear on Biermann's show "Don't Be Tardy" several times this season. "I tried to come down on my off days during the season to film when I could. I made a couple appearances," he said. "Make her happy."

Suggestion No. 2 for Kopech: Don't just to do a favor for your significant other, act like you wanted to do said favor.

Luckily for Kopech, he artfully dodged a question about the pair getting married and launching their own reality TV spinoff. "Ah, guess we'll see," he said.

Cubs, White Sox urged to extend safety net to protect fans Instead of a resolution, Finance Chairman Edward Burke (14th) originally wanted to change the municipal code to require more protective netting. By Fran Spielman / Chicago Sun-Times | Oct. 10, 2017

If Chicago aldermen have their way, the Cubs and Sox will “lead the league in spectator safety” — by installing protective netting that covers the area behind the home and visitors dugouts at Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field.

Last year, Chicago became the fourth big-league city in the nation to ban chewing tobacco at baseball stadiums.

On Tuesday, the City Council’s Finance Committee approved a resolution urging the Cubs and Sox to “not only abide by the MLB standards for protective netting, but to exceed such minimum guidelines and lead the league in spectator safety.”

The ordinance was championed by Finance Chairman Edward Burke (14th), who said his original intention was to change the municipal code to require additional protective netting.

The chairman backed off — and agreed to a resolution that merely urges the Cubs and Sox to install more netting — after Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), whose ward includes Wrigley, raised liability concerns.

“The teams, it’s my understanding, have expressed a commitment to protecting the fans in a way that doesn’t interfere with their viewing of the games,” Burke told his colleagues.

Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th), a die-hard Sox fan whose ward includes Guaranteed Rate Field, noted that the teams “hear us loud and clear” and are “working to make sure that it’s safe for all of our residents and guests” to Chicago.

“In my discussions with the White Sox organization, they’re moving forward with additional safety provisions moreso than what currently exists where the netting goes just to the dugouts. It’ll be continued further down to cover more of the fans. … It’ll be up for next season.”

White Sox spokesperson Sheena Quinn and Cubs spokesman Julian Green said fan safety is paramount at both ballparks. But they were noncommittal about specific safety measures except to say they would “continue to work with ” to explore additional ways to protect fans.

The need for additional netting was underscored by a lawsuit filed last week by a 60-year-old Schaumburg man.

John “Jay” Loos was hit in the left eye with a line drive foul ball while watching the Cubs play the at Wrigley on Aug. 29.

At a news conference Monday, Loos said doctors told him he suffered five broken bones and tore a hole in a sinus.

After three surgeries — with two more scheduled — Loos said he knows doctors might have to replace the eye with a prosthetic.

Tunney supports additional safety measures, but “I’m just concerned about us getting involved in liability for a workplace incident turned foul,” he said. “This has been happening for years. Where does Major League Baseball stand? Do they take responsibility?”

Burke noted the disclaimer on the back of every ticket and said it’s “not in the spirit of welcoming people into the venue.”

Green refused to comment on the pending lawsuit or on Burke’s resolution, saying only: “Fan safety is paramount to the game-day experience at Wrigley Field. We will continue to work with Major League Baseball to explore additional ways that ensure our fans enjoy baseball in the safest possible environment.”

A spokesman for the Sox could not be reached.

White Sox prospects making tweaks, getting healthy at instructs By James Fegan / The Athletic | Oct. 10, 2017

GLENDALE, Ariz. — This is about what constitutes time off in the baseball world.

Which is to say that even in a relaxed and seemingly half-empty Camelback Ranch complex full of White Sox minor leaguers as early as 8:00 a.m. on a Monday, it's increasingly clear time off doesn't really exist.

Even in a stripped down clubhouse — which has just one card game going as opposed to the usual two or three, and Jake Burger stationed at Jose Abreu's regular locker in a possible glimpse of the future — there was still a lineup card up for the day's game on Monday. That lineup card had center fielder Charlie Tilson‘s name on it, playing, as far as I can tell, the first game of any kind since his left hamstring tear in August 2016. That's if you count this as a real game, which kind of defeats the purpose of fall instructional league.

“It's more relaxed. It's more of a chilled out atmosphere,” outfielder Blake Rutherford said of the experience. “You just get to work. You don't play every single game and you don't play a whole game, usually you just get to work with the coaches and just try to take that into the game. There's no stats or results you have to see right away, nothing for people to look at it. So it doesn't really matter how good or bad you do, they just want to see the progression.”

Rutherford, like his Kannapolis teammates Burger and Gavin Sheets, is spending the month trying to unlock the power in his swing that was missing all year, but especially down the stretch (.213/.289/.254 in 30 games after being traded). He isn't pressing about seeing it in games. That's because he's only occasionally playing them, regularly spending most of his day doing drills in the cages and on the outfields with roving instructors, with a game or two thrown in at the beginning and end of the week. As such, all three insist that an extra month at the facility shouldn't be considered part of the grind of what is already the longest season of their lives.

Burger finds the situation so sustainable that he's going to make it his new normal. He's following the Nicky Delmonico plan and moving to Arizona so that he can come to the facility all winter, as if training and practice were an all-year, workaday job.

“Work with the weight and conditioning guys,” Burger said of his plans. “There will be a handful of them living down here. Get with them every day. [Hitting Coordinator Mike] Gellinger lives down here. Be able to get in the cages with them and hopefully find someone to hit me some ground balls.”

Burger's work ethic is commendable, and is living up to scouting director Nick Hostetler's draft day promises of the tree trunk-like kid whom the White Sox remain steadfast can stick at third base. I wonder sometimes if we're hurtling toward an unreasonable new standard, where the player that literally walks in a team training facility every day of every week of the year becomes the expectation, and anyone else is considered lazy by fans and analysts.

That's not something for Burger — someone who is far enough away from the majors still that he must assume that he needs to squeeze every drop of work as possible to make his dream come true — to worry about. We're years removed from people responding to Gordon Beckham's every social media post, nagging him to practice more, and things have only gotten more intense since.

Newly 21-year-old outfielder Micker Adolfo won't be receiving much of that. For one, he avoids social media entirely, and also because he's loaded up for the offseason. A fracture in the knuckle of his left pinky ended his breakout season at 473 plate appearances with a .264/.331/.453 line. Five weeks after the injury and two weeks since getting his cast off, he's working on range of motion and believes he's a week away from swinging a bat. From there he's participating in fall instructional league at the Sox's Dominican Republic academy in November, alongside Luis Robert, and will commute the 25 minutes from his home to the academy to train during the winter…if he can't talk his way onto a winter league roster before that.

While he's not playing, Adolfo's presence at instructs is just about getting healthy and right under the Sox's watchful eye, which explains what the last month has been like for right-hander as well. Shut down in the South Atlantic League playoffs with fatigue in his throwing shoulder, Cease has been throwing side sessions under the supervision of pitching coordinator Richard Dotson, who said Cease was battling leg problems from the time he was traded to the Sox in July that could have led to compensation issues in his shoulder.

“He kind of wasn't really healthy right when we got him and I think this spring is going to be important for him to kind of make a statement,” Dotson said. “We know he's got a good arm, but to [he needs to] be able to come out and do the things we hope he's going to do.”

Those things he needs to do don't need to come now, but the Sox want his delivery in place in time to have the eye- popping showing in spring that a high-90s fastball and hammer curve should. That's the reason catcher and 2016 first- rounder Zack Collins is at instructs too. is supposed to be about development, but he needed the low leverage environment of instructs — where stats aren't even kept — to embrace a major adjustment in his swing to reduce the hitch in his load.

“I tried a bit during the season and it wasn't working just because numbers are into it and winning matters,” Collins said. “Here there's really no pressure. I just go out there and can try things out. If I strike out or hit a , neither one matters. It definitely helps to be here.”

Collins is hoping everything will be second nature for him with the new bat placement by the time spring rolls around — a .235/.422/.471 line in Double-A after he was promoted at the end of the year suggests he could have a lot of success if he falls back into his old ways. The change in his swing is about being effective in the majors, though, not just Double-A, and certainly not just instructional, which isn't quite a break, given how much work is being done.

How Blake Rutherford is trying to unlock the power he already has By James Fegan / The Athletic | Oct. 11, 2017

GLENDALE, Ariz. — They're not much for keeping statistics down here in instructional league, which is a level of practice baseball that's even more practice baseball than spring training, a stretch that already produces numbers we're supposed to ignore.

But there's stuff to see and pay attention to if you know what you're looking for, which is why manager Rick Renteria and general manager Rick Hahn sat through an entire instructional league game together on Tuesday, with Renteria encouraging hustle and clapping for relay throws like it was mid-May.

So here's something the White Sox like to throw out as an interesting nugget from this month of bullpen and batting cage sessions, outfield drills, and low-intensity games: Blake Rutherford has hit two home runs in limited time.

“We're in Arizona, it's instructional league and all that, but he's hit two home runs here,” Sox minor league hitting coordinator Mike Gellinger said. “One to center, one the other way, which tells me he put the balls in the air, he let them get deep and yet he still caught them to be able to do that. We're not looking for everyone to hit home runs by any means but he probably is going to eventually grow into being able to do that more often.”

Two home runs is notable because it's equal to the number of times Rutherford went deep in 440 plate appearances this year across his time with the Yankees and White Sox's Low-A affiliates. That's the reason he finished the 2017 season with a combined .348 , and the reason why next year's prospect lists will reveal that he's slid down from his once consensus global top-50 status, and why he has had to spend the last few months reiterating that, “My power's definitely there. It's definitely going to show.”

Power hitting isn't everything for Rutherford, whose high-level prospect status derived from his all-around game, which offered the potential for average or better tools across the board along with a polished plate approach from his extensive experience in the amateur showcase circuit. Despite Luis Robert, Luis Gonzalez and Luis Basabe all in the system, the Sox have still actively rotated Rutherford and Alex Call through center field reps. With roving outfield instructor Aaron Rowand in camp, Rutherford's cage time has been split with practicing his live reads off the bat in the field, as he tries to get to the point where he can see a ball's flight off the bat and put his head down and run to a spot.

But the power is the area is that most noticeably dragging down the optimism that Rutherford will be stalking alongside Eloy Jimenez and Robert in the White Sox outfield five years from now, and his swing has been his first focus. For the last four weeks, Rutherford is focusing on getting his arms extended and catching the ball out in front, which he thinks is a bigger factor for increasing production than adding strength and muscle.

“Sometimes I feel I just caught the ball too far behind the plate which led to a lot more ground balls than fly balls and line drives,” Rutherford said, mirroring the words of Gellinger. “At the end of the season I made an adjustment, that's why I was seeing more balls in the air. For the most part I was just catching the ball a little bit too late and I didn't really make that adjustment until the end. Coming into instructs I knew that was the adjustment I had to make and I've come a long way since instructs started.”

Hitters often talk about trying to let the ball get deep to get a longer look, but there's a limit to how far that can go before it inhibits their ability to drive the ball. Whatever Rutherford's raw power winds up being, Gellinger thinks he needs get his bat head out in front to create a launch angle he can access in games, even if he doesn't like talking about launch angle explicitly.

“We've actually been talking launch angle for 20 years without talking launch angle,” Gellinger said. “When [Greg] Walker was here, Konerko hit 400 home runs because of his launch angle. He didn't talk about launch angle. You don't need to talk about launch angle. You talk about posture and swing mechanics and if you do it right, you will create launch. That's why nobody wants to get into it too much because when you start to talk about it, because everybody starts to try to lift the ball with their body and that doesn't work at all.”

The Sox don't want Rutherford to sell out or contort his body for power. Beyond the panic of an elite prospect struggling offensively in Low-A, the strikeout and walk rates (15.4 and 9.6 percent after the trade, respectively) are something they'd love to see continue, but there's barely any existence as a corner outfielder in the current major league landscape without 20 home run power, and Rutherford won't let this part of his all-around game lag anymore than he would baserunning or defense.

“You see a lot of guys who don't hit for a ton of power in the minor leagues, whether it's the travel, the ballparks, just growing, obviously maturing,” Rutherford said. “I don't obviously want to turn into a power hitter who loses contact. I want to continue to be a contact hitter who can hit for power and do all things in the batter's box.”

Aldermen Call On Cubs, Sox To Exceed MLB Safety Netting Requirements By Steve Miller / CBS Chicago | Oct. 10, 2017

CHICAGO (CBS) — A day after an injured Schaumburg man announced he was suing the Cubs and Major League Baseball for not having enough netting at Wrigley Field, the City Council Finance Committee has backed a resolution urging both the Cubs and the White Sox to put up more safety barriers.

Ald. Patrick Thompson (11th), whose ward includes Guaranteed Rate Field, the home of the White Sox, was among the aldermen who voted for the resolution.

“In my conversation with the White Sox, they’re already in plans to expand their netting at Guaranteed Rate Field,” Thompson said. “The resolution is just to call attention to that and make sure that both the Sox and the Cubs – and hopefully then other cities – will look at us as a leader in terms of making sure we have safety.”

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), whose ward includes Wrigley Field, said he supports more netting at ballparks, but he raised liability concerns.

“In terms of the liability issue, I kind of fell off on that part of it, because I’m not exactly schooled on exactly what we should be doing when an accident happens inside of a private place — a stadium,” he said.

The resolution wouldn’t require the Cubs or White Sox to make any changes at their stadiums but would only publicly encourage them to install more protection for fans to prevent others being hit by foul balls or wayward bats.

The Cubs will add at least 30 more feet of protective netting, president of business operations Crane Kenney previously said, a move that will come in conjunction with moving the both dugouts slightly farther down the lines as part of continued Wrigley Field renovations. The Cubs were evaluating the possibility of adding more than 30 more feet of netting as well, Kenney said.