Why the White Sox’s future is bright
Flamethrower, Michael Kopech was hitting 99 mph on the radar gun in his first start of the spring.
With the White Sox not having been in the playoff hunt since 2012 and not being in the playoffs since 2008, Sox fans are questioning if they’ll ever be good again.
“I think the Sox will still be bad this year, as they are in a rebuilding phase,” sophomore Sox fan Andrew Pygon said.
Despite a lot of doubters I am here to tell you the future is coming quick and it is looking quite bright.
The Cubs hype has been very real over the past few years, making it tough to be a White Sox fan. On the bright side, Sox fans can look back at the Cubs just three years removed from losing 101 games, they went to the playoffs two years in a row before they won it all in 2016. Rick Hahn, Rick Renteria and the rest of the White Sox organization look to replicate that same success.
Their rebuild started when they traded Cy Young finalist Chris Sale to the Red Sox and star leadoff man Adam Eaton to the Nationals. This continued with trades of Todd Frazier, Melky Cabrera, Anthony Swarzak, David Robertson and Jose Quintana. The White Sox went from having one of the worst farm systems in baseball to one of the best in the matter of two seasons worth of prospects they have traded for. Some of the notable acquisitions of the White Sox include Yoan Moncada, flamethrowing Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito, Eloy Jimenez, Reynaldo Lopez, and Luis Robert. They also drafted Jake Burger, Zach Collins and Carson Fulmer over the past few years.
As the White Sox enter another reloading year, expect to see an advancement in the skill of Yoan Moncada and Carson Fulmer in the bigs as well as veterans Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson and Asavial Garcia. Despite the fact that the White Sox were sellers at the trade deadline they went 20-20 in their last 40 games without any of the studs that were on the team prior to the deadline. This upcoming season, I would not be surprised to see Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez all hit the big leagues for good to bring the White Sox much needed rotation help, since they seem to be a team that looks to have a run down James Shields start Opening Day unless someone else rises during Spring Training.
Lucas Giolito in a Spring Training Game vs the Cubs.
Hopefully, after some flashes of success during the 2018 season, the White Sox can use their cash to sign one of the many All Star players in a star-studded free agent class that consists of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw, Andrew McCutchen, Josh Donaldson and so many more. Going into the 2019 season, the Sox could add a veteran to help out their new young guys and give some much-needed playoff experience going into the time White Sox fans have been waiting for: CONTENDING!
Jake Hansmann is a senior at York, and this is his first year on the York-Hi Staff. At York, he is on the baseball, soccer and diving teams. Outside...
