The Chicago White Sox will enter this year Spring Training with some interesting positional battles that fans should be excited to watch.
As the off season still rolls along there’s only seven weeks left till pitchers and catcher report to their respective spring training facilities on February 10th, 2025. With the Chicago White Sox pretty much done all their big moves for this off season, outside of still trying to trade Luis Robert Jr., the roster how it looks now is pretty much what fans will see come Spring Training.
The White Sox will look to enter 2025 having a a better season than they did in 2024 which lead them to having the worst loss record in MLB History at 121. The White Sox set the record with a 4-1 loss to division rival Detroit Tigers. The likelihood of that happening again is very slim, but the White Sox still may be looking at over 100 losses so they’re not fully out of the woods yet.
With that being said, there is something to be excited for when watching the 2025 Chicago White Sox and that’s the plethora of prospects they have coming up and the positional battles fans will be seeing from those prospects who are vying for a spot on the Major League roster. As well as having a new young and hungry manager in Will Venable who will ultimately be the one to decide who will win the positional battles and takeover over the starting jobs for catcher, second base, shortstop and third base.
Catcher
Korey Lee
The White Sox currently at catcher will have three guys competing for the starting job as well as the backup position. Currently on the Chicago White Sox 40-man roster they have two catchers Korey Lee and Matt Thaiss who was recently acquired for cash considerations from cross town rival Chicago Cubs. Lee who currently holds the starting job has so far not impressed in his short time with the White Sox. Last year in 125 games Lee only managed to hit .210/.244/.347 and an OPS of .591.
The White Sox did have three catchers on their 40-man, until they traded away Chuckie Robinson to the Los Angeles Angels for cash considerations. The possibility however of newly acquired catching prospect Kyle Teel who was acquired in the Garrett Crochet deal, hinted on a recent episode of Foul Territory that he will be in big league spring training camp.
Kyle Teel
The 22-year-old Teel who since being acquired is now the Chicago White Sox #2 overall prospect in their organization according to MLB.com as well as MLB #25 overall prospect. When looking at Teel’s grades of his tools which is on a scale from 20-80 with 80 being the best, Teel’s best quality he has going for him is his arm which grades out at 65/80 according to Baseball Savant. Other notable grades to point out are his hit ability (55/80) and for a catcher he is graded at a 50/80 for his run which is very impressive.
With only being drafted a year and a half ago Teel has had very little time down on the farm to rack up stats, but in his short time on the farm he hasn’t ceased to impress. So far in his two season down in the minor leagues Teel has a career slash line of .301/.404/.444 with an OPS of .848.
For his 2024 season Teel had an absolutely incredible season between Double and Triple A. In 112 games between the two levels Kyle Teel accumulated 123 hits, 23 doubles, 13 HRS, 78 RBI, 12 stolen bases (impressive for a catcher), and had a slash line of .288/.386/.433 with an OPS of .819. For his fielding Teel sports a career .986 fielding percentage as well as being able to throw out 22% of potential base stealer for his career. Kyle Teel has a very good chance to break camp with the club if he performs well. Pay close attention to this positional battle because it has the makings of being a really exciting one.
Middle Infield
Colson Montgomery
The middle infield is another area where there should bear some fruitful competition. For the shortstop position #3 overall prospect for the Chicago White Sox organization and MLB’s #37 overall prospect Colson Montgomery has the best chance to win the spot out of spring training. Added to the 40-man roster on November 20th to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft Montgomery will in fact be in Big League camp vying for the starting job.
The 22-year-old Montgomery who was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 1st round (22nd overall) of the 2021 MLB Amateur Draft, the 6’3” Montgomery spent the 2024 season at Triple-A where he struggled overall. In 130 games Montgomery managed to hit 18 HRs, 21 Doubles, 3 Triples, 63 RBIs, and 69 BBs in 485 At-Bats, while slashing .214/.329/.381 for a .710 OPS.
Even though Montgomery had a disappointing 2024 campaign, there may be a bright spot to look forward to. Participating in this year’s Arizona Fall League, Montgomery in 11 games (32 at-bats) had 2 doubles, 3 HRs, 11 RBI, 4 stolen bases, 10 BBs, and slashed .313/.511/.656 with an OPS of 1.167. Even in a small sample size such as this these numbers should be something that Chicago White Sox fans should be excited about and should bode well for him coming into Spring Training.
Brooks Baldwin
The 24-year-old Baldwin spent 2024 for the most part in the Minor Leagues splitting time between Double and Triple A, as well getting some time in the big leagues playing 33 games for the Chicago White Sox in 2024. Overall, in the minor’s last season Baldwin in 82 games had 102 hits, 19 doubles, 8 HRs, 41 RBI, 17 stolen bases (5 caught stealing), and had a slash line of .324/.391/.460 for an OPS of .851. In his 33 games with the big-league club Baldwin faired as good as a rookie could fare coming up for the first time. Baldwin had 24 hits, 6 doubles, 8 RBI, 2 HRs, 4 stolen bases, for a slash line of .211/.250/.316 with and OPS of .566.
Baldwin during his time in the major’s split time between second (24 games) and shortstop (9 games) where he fared better at the shortstop position. Having a 1.000 fielding percentage in 27 (76.0 innings) chances committing no errors, 8 putouts and helped turn 9 double plays. To note Baldwin still has all three of his minor league options according to FanGraphs.
Lenyn Sosa
The soon to be 25-year-old Sosa (January 25th) will figure to be in the mix for the second base opening as well as maybe seeing some time over at third base. Last season Sosa played 47 games at second base last season (374.1 innings) where he had a fielding percentage of .988 (league avg. .983), committed just 2 errors in 163 chances, all while helping turn 31 double plays. At the plate Sosa had a decent season and entering his fourth year in the Major Leagues he is primed to take a step forward.
In 100 games with the Chicago White Sox Sosa had 89 hits, 13 doubles, 8 HRs, 35 RBI, with a slash line of .254/.283/.359 with and OPS and OPS+ of .642 and 84. The one statistic that stands out when looking at his Baseball Savant page is that he ranks in the 99th percentile for LA Sweet-Spot% at 42.2%. Sosa will most likely be competing with Brooks Baldwin as well as Chase Meidroth who was also brought over in the Garrett Crochet trade.
Chase Meidroth
Currently ranked as the Chicago White Sox #13 prospect is in my opinion the most exciting player coming into spring training. His grades when looking at his Baseball Savant just don’t do him justice because all indicators point to Meidroth being a really good hitter at the Major League level.
Last season in Triple-A for the Boston Red Sox Meidroth played in 122 games where he had 128 hits, 20 doubles, 3 triples, 7 HRs, 57 RBI, having 105 walks while only striking out 71 times, for a slash line of .293/.437/.401 for an OPS of .838. The thing that stands out for Meidroth is that strikeout to walk ratio, that show a good eye for the ball and the reason for the high average and OBP. Meiroth has a really good shot if all goes well to win the position out of spring training.
Third Base
Miguel Vargas
The main two players competing for the starting third base position will be Miguel Vargas who was acquired at last year’s trade deadline with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Bryan Ramos. Vargas in 72 games last season had 31 hits, 7 doubles, 5 HRs, 16 RBI, for a slash line of .150/.249/.257 for an OPS and OPS+ of .506 and 46. Not great, but there still is room for improvement and if all else fails and he loses out on the starting job Vargas could figure to be the Chicago White Sox utility man off the bench with his ability to play first base, second base, and leftfield.
Bryan Ramos
Bryan Ramos like Brooks Baldwin spent time down at Double and Triple-A as well as getting sometime in the big leagues. In 88 games down on the farm Ramos had 80 hits, 18 doubles, 10 HRs, 44 RBI, for a slash line of .242/.328/.387 for an OPS of .707. In 32 games with the Chicago White Sox Ramos had 20 hits, 4 doubles, 3 HRs, 11 RBI, for a slash line of .202/.252/.333 for and OPS of .586.
Just as it stands as I said Lenyn Sosa will also see time at third base and if he ends up performing better offensively than either Ramos or Varges then he could overtake them as the starter. Both Vargas and Sosa are out of minor league options so they will both figure to be on the MLB roster, while Ramos still has one option remaining if the Chicago White Sox need to use it.
All in all I have faith that both Chris Getz and Will Venable know exactly what they’re doing and they’re going out and finding under the radar talent to help improve this roster. Like signing former Dodger farmhand Andre Lipcius who will also compete for the third base position and has an invite to Spring Training. Even though last season was abysmal to put it mildly, the future does look bright for the Chicago White Sox.
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