What to expect from White Sox prospect Colás in bigs

The White Sox anticipated that Oscar Colás would transfer shortly after they signed him for $2.7 million in January 2022. Perhaps not this shortly, nonetheless.

Colás spent three years splitting time between Cuba’s Series Nacional and Japan’s minor Western League from 2017-19, getting only a seven-game cup of espresso with Japan’s huge league Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. But he wanted only one season within the U.S. Minors, advancing from High-A to Triple-A final summer season, to win Chicago’s right-field job.

Colás, No. 2 on the White Sox Top 30 Prospects checklist, options a number of the finest energy and arm energy within the membership’s system, and he ought to present an offensive and defensive improve over Gavin Sheets, who had projected because the membership’s proper fielder on the outset of Spring Training. Colás outplayed him on either side of the ball within the Cactus League, hitting .262/.273/.431 with three homers in 65 at-bats. He provides Chicago 4 Cubans in its beginning lineup, becoming a member of Yasmani Grandal, Yoán Moncada and Luis Robert Jr.

Before he may signal with a giant league crew, Colás first needed to extricate himself from his Hawks contract. He believed he was certain to the membership solely by the 2019 season, however the deal contained 5 possibility years that he mentioned by no means have been defined to him.

Softbank positioned him on its restricted checklist whereas he sat out the 2020 season, then declined to supply him a contract, which made him a free agent in December 2020. He wished to affix the White Sox, who already had dedicated many of the cash of their 2021 worldwide bonus pool, so he waited 13 months to signal with Chicago as a part of its 2022 class.

Despite his two-year layoff, Colás confirmed little rust in his U.S. debut in 2022. His OPS rose from .845 in High-A to .928 in Double-A to 1.069 in Triple-A, and he batted .314/.371/.524 general with 23 homers in 117 video games at age 23. Ranked No. 85 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects checklist, he confirmed the flexibility to make changes as he rose by the Minors, doing a greater job of utilizing the whole area and using an improved two-strike method.

Colás nonetheless goes to be a power-over-hit man, as a result of his bat velocity, the energy in his 5-foot-11, 220-pound body and his aggressive mindset mix to create well-above-average uncooked pop from the left aspect of the plate. But he is a extra superior hitter than initially anticipated and exhibits a willingness to not fear about residence runs and simply let his arms work when he faces southpaws or falls behind within the rely. He hit .362/.417/.533 in opposition to lefties in 2022, in comparison with .301/.358/.521 in opposition to righties.

Colás’ 23 % strikeout price final yr is a suitable tradeoff for his energy, however his 7 % stroll price underscores the necessity for extra endurance. He tends to chase breaking balls out of the strike zone that huge league pitchers will attempt to exploit.

Though Colás strikes properly for his dimension, he is only a fringy runner who’s not a lot of an element on the bases, and he’ll want to keep up his conditioning to maintain what velocity he has. After spending nearly all of his time in Japan at first base, he noticed most of his motion in 2022 in heart area. He’s a greater slot in proper area, the place he initiatives as a mean defender

While he was as soon as hyped as “The Cuban Ohtani” and will run his fastball as much as 95 mph when he pitched sporadically in Cuba and Japan, Colás had no actual need to pitch, and Chicago signed him solely as an outfielder. His well-above-average arm energy remains to be obvious and helped him document seven assists in 34 video games with no consideration fielder final yr.

The White Sox have scored huge by signing gamers comparable to José Abreu and Robert instantly out of Cuba previously, and Colás may hit in the course of their lineup as soon as he adapts to the massive leagues. He may present 30 or extra homers per season as soon as he will get established.