Showing posts with label Wikelman Gonzalez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wikelman Gonzalez. Show all posts

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Garrett Crochet trade return: Too soon to celebrate it?

The White Sox reached the halfway point of the season Wednesday with a 7-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Their record stands at 26-55, which means they are on pace for 52 wins this season. That would be an 11-game improvement over last year's 41-121 disaster.

You might say an 11-game improvement feels a little better when you go from, say, 83 wins to 94, as opposed to 41 wins to 52. Even if that's what ends up happening here, you won't catch me celebrating it.

Speaking of celebrating, I've seen some fans on Twitter celebrating the offseason trade of Garrett Crochet, now that three of the four players the Sox acquired from the Boston Red Sox are in the major leagues.

Crochet, of course, is pitching exceptionally well in Boston. That comes as no surprise. He's 7-4 with a 2.06 ERA in 17 starts, and he leads American League pitchers in strikeouts (135), innings pitched (109.1) and bWAR (3.8).

The Red Sox are a mediocre team, but hey, it isn't Crochet's fault. He's an All-Star, and everyone knows it. The question is, did Chicago do well with the players it acquired in its signature offseason move? Let's evaluate:

Kyle Teel, C: Teel put up an .886 OPS in 50 games in Triple-A Charlotte and made his MLB debut on June 6 against the Royals. In 14 games since he joined Chicago, he's batting .282/.408/.359. He's yet to hit a home run, and he didn't have an extra-base hit until this past week. That's the bad news.

But the good news is he's 5 for 14 with three doubles in his past five games, raising his OPS from .615 to .767. When the sample size is small, a player can go from below average to a 120 OPS+ pretty quickly, and that's what Teel has done this week.

The 23-year-old, left-handed hitter has looked competent defensively, and his framing has been better than fellow young catcher Edgar Quero, which has allowed him to get the majority of the starts behind the plate.

One interesting story to follow the second half: How do the Sox dole out the playing time for these two young catchers? I see a lot of fans upset when whichever guy isn't catching doesn't start at DH. Me personally, I'm not a fan of using the second catcher as a DH -- especially when neither catcher is an elite hitter.  

Teel has the kind of athleticism that suggests he could move to the outfield or first base seamlessly. The problem with that is he's a better catcher than Quero right now, and that makes me reluctant to call for that. Of course, Quero is only 22 years old himself, and he most certainly can improve. 

It could be that Quero becomes the everyday catcher long term, and Teel makes a position change. Or maybe Teel is the catcher, and Quero becomes trade fodder. The competition between the two and the team's handling of it should be fascinating to follow. Having two potential solutions at the position is a good problem to have. You rarely state that about the Sox.

Braden Montgomery, OF: This is the first season in pro ball for the 22-year-old, who is currently at High-A Winston Salem.

Montgomery started the season in Low-A Kannapolis, and he tore the Carolina League apart in 18 games to earn a quick promotion, hitting .304/.393/.493 with 19 RBIs. His numbers at Winston have been good. Not spectacular, but good. 

He's batting .271/.345/.475 with with seven homers, 12 doubles, two triples and 30 RBIs in 48 games. Montgomery is probably the highest-upside hitter in the organization, but it's too early to say whether he will one day become a stalwart in Chicago. 

Right now, the plan is probably to finish the year in High-A. Maybe there's another promotion to Double-A Birmingham coming later this year if his numbers go from good to dominant.

Chase Meidroth, SS/2B: I don't think we expected Meidroth to be the everyday shortstop in Chicago this season, but that's how it has worked out. When the season started, we heard a lot of Colson Montgomery hype, but with Montgomery still flailing at Triple-A, Meidroth has made the most of his opportunity.

After posting a 1.050 OPS in nine game at Triple-A Charlotte to start the season, Meidroth got a quick call-up to Chicago, and he's been a surprisingly good defensive shortstop. Scouts have said his long-term future is at second base, and maybe they are right. That said, I don't feel nervous when the opposition hits the ball to Meidroth at short. He's handled most everything that he's supposed to handle.

At the plate, he got off to a good start, but he's cooled significantly as of late. He's currently batting .264/.347/.317. His OPS+ is 90, which means he's 10% below league average at the position.

Over his past 12 games, Meidroth has slumped to a .163/.222/.163 slash line in 54 plate appearances. It's ugly, but it's also not a huge sample. An overall on-base percentage near .350 with good defense will play, if Meidroth can right the ship and maintain that over the course of a whole season.

I've seen some fans touting Meidroth as a member of the future core of the next good Sox team. Let's pump the brakes on that. The 23-year-old has earned the right to continue to play every day. That is fact. However, we still need to see whether his offense will hold up over the long haul.

Wikelman Gonzalez, RHP: The 23-year-old began the season by making four starts at Double-A Birmingham, but then he was converted to a reliever and promoted to Triple-A Charlotte, where he had a 2.75 ERA across 12 appearances and 16.1 innings.

That was good enough to earn a promotion to Chicago. Gonzalez made his MLB debut on June 20 against Toronto. He's made two appearances thus far, both lasting two innings. He allowed one run in both. He struck out five in four innings. That's good. He's walked four in four innings. That's bad.

But the stuff looks pretty good when Gonzalez throws it in the zone. Once again, it's too early to say whether this guy is a future bullpen stalwart, but he's shown enough so far to get some more opportunity.

Right now, it's just too early to do any victory lap about the Crochet trade. Every player the Sox acquired in this deal has had encouraging moments. It's a good sign that none of the three who have been called to the majors have fallen flat on their face. 

We've seen so much incompetence as a fan base that sometimes when we see competence in rookies, we get a little out over our skis and anoint them as the next big thing a little too soon. My final verdict: Be hopeful for these guys, but understand there is still a long way to go before they can be called established players. 

Thursday, December 12, 2024

White Sox trade Garrett Crochet to Boston for 4 prospects

Stop me if you've heard this one before: The White Sox traded an ace left-handed starter to the Boston Red Sox for four prospects.

We all remember when Chris Sale was traded on Dec. 6, 2016, to kick off the last rebuild. That didn't work out so well, so we're all left to hope this latest move works a little better.

The Sox sent Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox on Wednesday, in exchange for Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez.

You won't get any excitement about prospects from me. Until I see some guys become productive players in Chicago, I'm going to cast a cynical eye toward this move. I've been burned before. That said, here's what we know about the four players acquired:

Teel: The left-handed-hitting catcher is a consensus top 30 prospect in baseball, and he was ranked the No. 4 prospect in the Boston system. A first-round selection in the 2023 draft, the 22-year-old started last season at Double-A Portland, where he batted .299/.390/.462 with 11 homers and 60 RBIs in 84 games. That earned him a promotion to Triple-A Worcester, where the numbers were more modest in a smaller sample: .255/.374/.343 with two homers and 18 RBIs in 28 games.

Teel is an athletic player with a strong arm, and he's described as a good enough receiver that he should be able to stay behind the plate, although he has played some games at corner outfield positions. Note the high on-base percentage at both levels last season. Teel isn't projected to have big power, but we know the Sox have a need for batters who can get on base.

Montgomery: A first-round pick (12th overall) in the 2024 draft, the 21-year-old outfielder has yet to make his professional debut because of a gruesome ankle injury suffered in the College World Series in June. He was the fifth-ranked prospect in the Boston system.

A switch-hitter, Montgomery is a power prospect who projects as a corner outfielder -- most likely right field, as he possesses enough arm strength to play there. He batted .322/.454/.733 with 27 homers and 85 RBIs for Texas A&M University last spring. Most of his power comes from the left side of the plate, so if you want to dream, we know left-handed power plays well at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The question, of course, is how Montgomery recovers from the ankle injury. He's expected to be ready for spring training. We'll see. Again, note the on-base percentage.

Meidroth: The 23-year-old infielder is likely the closest to major league ready of any player the Sox acquired in this deal. Meidroth spent 2024 at Triple-A Worcester, where he batted .293/.407/.401 with seven homers, 57 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. He was the No. 11 player in the Boston system.

Again, note the on-base percentage. Meidroth drew 105 walks during the 2024 season, and he struck out in only 12.7% of his plate appearances. Expect a lot contact, but probably not a lot of hard contact. Meidroth has played second base, shortstop and third base, with his most likely long-term home being second base.

Hey, the Sox have a gaping hole at second base! Getting traded to Chicago might be this kid's lucky day.

Gonzalez: The right-handed pitcher was the No. 14 prospect in the Boston system. Gonzalez, 22, has a fastball that tops out at 98 mph, but to quote Lou Brown, somebody better teach this kid some control before he kills somebody. He walked 46 guys in 83.2 innings at Double-A Portland in 2024. 

Gonzalez went 4-3 with a 4.73 ERA in 24 games, 19 of them starts. The book on him is he throws fastball, slider, change. The slider is a relatively new pitch, and if he can harness it, maybe he sticks as a starter. If not, he's destined for the bullpen.

And he's Venezuelan, which means Ozzie Guillen will love him!

There you have it. That's the best I can do to put a positive spin on the trade. As they always say, it will be years before we can fully judge it. We can fully judge the Sale trade now. It stunk. Hope this one is better.