White Sox outfielder Nicky Delmonico has been diagnosed with a fracture to the third metacarpal on his right hand, the club announced. Additionally, the team has elected to option righty Carson Fulmer after another rough outing tonight, as James Fegan of The Athletic was among those to tweet.
Delmonico is expected to miss approximately four to six weeks of action. The 25-year-old had turned in quite a promising debut effort in 2017. But he was struggling along with most of the rest of his team in the current campaign. Through 133 plate appearances, he carries only a .226/.331/.304 slash with 133 plate appearances.
That’ll put the organization’s outfield depth to the test, with Avisail Garcia already sidelined. Daniel Palka and Trayce Thompson could function in a platoon. The other options on the 40-man roster are Charlie Tilson and Ryan Cordell, though neither has hit well at all this year at Triple-A.
As for Fulmer, his outing today — which included eight earned runs and five walks in two innings — was just the latest sign of trouble. The former first-round pick has now allowed 29 earned runs with an unsightly 29:24 K/BB ratio in 32 1/3 innings on the year. He’s allowing home runs in bunches and generating a mediocre 6.7% swinging-strike rate, so there’s really not much in the way of positives at this point. Of course, he’s still just 24 years of age, so the Sox will hope he can still tap into his promise after some time at Triple-A.
Tilson is the only option with Cordell out with injury…..unless it’s time for Eloy?
Should try and see if Carson has what it takes to become the Sox’s closer of the future. A lot of great relievers were just transitioned to that role cuz they struggled starting
hmm, if only the Sox had elite SP and OF prospects…. I could see Kopech getting the call, but probably too early for Eloy
Well, Fulmer was also an elite SP prospect at one time.
No, Fulmer was a number 1 draft pick, and the top prospect in a bone dry system. He was pushed back to 11 after all the trades went down. From 1 to 11…just pathetic. And he has shown zero ability at the majors, in any capacity.
The sox drafting and their player development is the worst in baseball. Their top prospects have come from trades. They also need a shortstop.
He’s a good batting practice pitcher
I think he needs to become a relief pitcher.
I don’t know, I’d put the reds right up there, look at how many of their prospects have flopped
who besides fullmer has flopped in year 2 of a rebuild?
Yes, most of their top prospects came from trades. But who did they trade to get them?
1) 3 of their top prospects came from trading one of their draft picks that they turned into one of the best pitchers in all of baseball.
2) 2 of their top prospects came from trading a minor league free agent that they turned into one of the most consistent, TOR pitchers in baseball.
3) 3 of their top prospects came from trading a player that had a 93 OPS+ before coming to the Sox. Through 3 years with the team, he became a consistent 120 OPS+ guy with elite RF defense.
As a whole, their position player development has not been great. Personally, I think that has significantly more to do with poor draft strategy (thanks Kenny) than “development,” but that’s a different argument. That being said, they didn’t just find a way to luck into these top prospects. They traded extremely valuable pieces that they drafted and/or developed.
I’d recommend giving Hahn at least 1 more year before judging the team’s drafting and development. He has acquired a bunch of excellent pieces over the last year and a half, and there are a LOT of his guys in the minors that are killing it right now. Be patient, and don’t lump in the last 10+ years of Kenny Williams garbage with what Rick is doing now. He deserves a clean slate.
Priggs89-Couldn’t have said it better. Rick Hahn has done a nice job since convincing both of his bosses, owner Jerry Reinsdorf and VP Kenny Williams that the rebuild was necessary after so many attempts at reloading and retooling since the 2005 World Championship season.
As GM, Hahn is the chief architect for all of these trades that have netted the White Sox so many elite prospects. As the assistant GM under Williams during the past decade he was also most responsible for negotiating the team-friendly contract extensions for Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Adam Eaton that allowed the organization to make those trades in the first place.
Hahn has also continued the organizational trend of prioritizing college pitching and hitting in their amateur June Drafts. This should expedite the rebuild in addition to the trades made that also included mostly advanced prospects, some of whom had already made their MLB debuts with their prior organizations: Yoan Moncada, Reynaldo Lopez and Lucas Giolito. Most of the other prospects secured in those trades have MLB ETA’s of three years or less and figure be on the White Sox active roster by 2020.
Finally, I will give some credit to Williams also. His love has always been in scouting and he was probably most responsible for the international signings of both Jose Abreu and current #3 prospect Luis Robert. He probably also did much of the background work in the trades that netted the White Sox Moncada and Eloy Jimenez.
Tim Anderson is good what you mean bruh
Exactly.
Fulmer was an elite SP prospect? That’s news to me.
He was a top 100 for 2 years.
Should be a long relief guy. Andrew Miller role…not nearly the stuff, but that’s a hole in the current bullpen and something that Fulmer was profiled as, dating back to Vanderbilt.
Unless they want a 7 man rotation in a year or two ?
I guess we have different standards. To me, there’s a big difference between being a “top 100” guy and being an elite prospect. Quite frankly, the only reason Fulmer was put on the list to begin with was because he was a high draft pick. Since his draft year, he hasn’t done done much of anything impressive.
donopolis: Surely you where being sarcastic with the first part of your comment. The top seven White Sox prospects are starting pitchers and outfielders and each are currently in mlb.com’s top-100 list: link to m.mlb.com
Top pitching prospect Michael Kopech would be a logical choice to replace Carson Fulmer in the White Sox rotation. He pitched outstanding tonight for AAA Charlotte after having command issues in his previous two starts, his only poor outings of the 2018 season. Kopech was the winning pitcher in Charlotte’s 1-0 victory over Columbus at home. He tossed 7 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks while fanning 9. It’s particularly impressive because the park in downtown Charlotte is a bandbox, the most hitter-friendly venue in the International League.
Pitching on the same night in which Fulmer was horrible in Chicago would line Kopech up to take his spot in the rotation next Wednesday evening at home versus the Orioles. Aside from Kopech, the only other realistic candidate at Charlotte to replace Fulmer might be Dylan Covey who has pitched quite well for the Knights this season.
Correction: Michael Kopech’s outstanding start on Friday night was on the road in Columbus and not at home in Charlotte.
The White Sox also have another option to replace Carson Fulmer on the active roster. They just might recall a reliever from AAA on Saturday and give long reliever Chris Volstad the first crack at Fulmer’s former spot in the rotation against the Orioles on Wednesday.
Top prospect Eloy Jimenez who is at AA Birmingham is also on the White Sox 40-man roster. The slugging corner outfielder has cooled off a bit in last four games but was on fire for a long stretch after a slow start following his recovery from a pectoral strain suffered in spring training. Even with his recent slump and slow start, Jimenez has managed to hit 7 HR’s and knock in 28 runs in 28 games for the Barons thus far in 2018. With his advanced hitting tools and knowledge of the strike zone, Jimenez might be one of those rare prospects who could make the jump from AA straight to the big leagues without too many problems.
I don’t expect it to happen but it’s a possibility that both top White Sox prospect’s Michael Kopech and Jimenez can earn their first MLB promotions on Saturday. That would definitely give suffering White Sox fans a morale boost after a historically bad start to the 2018 season, to say nothing of infusing some life into their starting rotation and batting order.
In addition, CF Charlie Tilson if finally beginning to hit well at AAA Charlotte after a slow start. He’s had a couple of severe leg injuries after being acquired from the Cardinals at the 2016 summer trade deadline for reliever Zach Duke. The injuries have kept Tilson sidelined for much of the past two seasons so it’s little surprise that his timing at the plate was slow in returning. He would also be a possibility to replace Delmonico on the active roster although the White Sox could easily swap Tilson out for light hitting CF Adam Engel as well.
C’mon Chisox, give us some Kopech!
They wont start the clock on Kopech and Eloy this year. They have 11 wins in mid May. So buckle up for the Charlie Tilson experiment and whatever arm they decide to add to this dumpster fire of a bullpen.
I’m expecting Dylan Covey and Charlie Tilson to get the call to replace Carson Fulmer and Nicky Delmonico on Saturday. But I will be shocked if Michael Kopech isn’t in the White Sox rotation by the summer and also expect Eloy Jimenez to make his MLB debut no later than when the roster’s expand in September. Both will be important pieces for the White Sox next season and I fully expect each to get their MLB baptism in 2018.
Even if Kopech and Jimenez were to get promotions this weekend they would not gain an extra year before they can reach free agency. If the White Sox wait until sometime in June neither would achieve Super Two status either that could potentially guarantee them an extra year of arbitration eligibility. Barring an injury I can assure you that Kopech will be pitching on the South Side of Chicago sometime the summer and that Jimenez will likely join him as well.
I’d put a lot of money on both Kopech and Eloy being up by the end of the year. Their win total this year means nothing. Worst case scenario, barring injuries, they’ll both be September call ups at the very least.
My guess – Covey to replace Fulmer, and Rondon to back up the infield while Leury moves to the outfield on a more full-time basis.
You nailed it!
Per White Sox Press Release: link to mlb.com
As expected, no Michael Kopech or Eloy Jimenez promotion just yet but they did replace Carson Fulmer with AAA starter Dylan Covey. They also decided to go with another infielder to replace OF Nicky Delmonico, at least for the time being. I maintain that if Charlie Tilson continues to improve his hitting at AAA it won’t be long until he replaces the light hitting bat of Adam Engel in CF. Tilson would also give the White Sox another option to leadoff in addition to Yoan Moncada.
Covey will get another shot. At least he’s been solid at AAA. The White Sox don’t have anything approaching a worthy bat to promote other than Jimenez. I think they need to bring him up to give their fans something to get excited about. Forget the clock. They’re losing their fan base. Most Sox fans I know are okay with the idea of a rebuild, but don’t trust Hahn to be in charge of it and rightfully so.
I agree with much of what you say with the exception of your comment regarding Rick Hahn. I believe most White Sox fans have some semblance of faith in Hahn to complete this rebuild successfully. After all, it was Hahn who convinced both Jerry Reinsdorf and Kenny Williams to tear things down prior to the 2016 trade deadline when he began fielding offers for many of the White Sox veteran assets. Those discussions eventually paid off with many of the elite prospects they currently have, later that offseason at the winter meeting and through last summer’s trade deadline.
In Hahn we trust!
To all the White Sox fans who flooded trade rumors with your delusional comments on how the Sox are going to surprise people this year…….
SURPRISE!
They will win the WS in 2099, maybe
And that’d still be less time between World Series than it took the other team in Chicago. Funny.
Ha! Hopefully it will be another 108 years before the baby bears are given another World Series!
The hitting of Sox outfielders has been awful this year. Any contending team must have some very good consistent offense from the OF. Engel and Thompson are non-factors at the plate, L. Garcia is a utility piece with a .233 career average, Delmonico was mired in mediocrity prior to his injury, and I have little hope that Tilson is an upgrade. Surprise me Charlie! When does Avisail return? I am hopeful we will see Eloy and maybe Rutherford by September. And kudos to Hahn, because the future looks bright in many areas.
Nice summary above Priggs89. State of future arms on WSox still looks promising to those who so far are regrettably correct in thinking neither Fulmer nor Giolito were ever going to be a key part. Some who look only at prospect rankings still don’t understand that Lopez + Dunning were really the key gets for future rotation in that deal (Gio was the “fools’ gold” but hope we can fix portion). Giolito being serviceable 5th guy with some magical season thrown in along the way wouldn’t be so bad. Hope Cease can stay healthy and Hansen gets back, as those are 2 others to hopefully fill rotation from within. Jordan Stephens also looks like a bulldog who will be up this year if he keeps things up. Starters down in Kannapolis also putting up “promote me” stats to go with exciting Winston-Salem roster. Even if Kopech can’t develop a nice consistent change up and have to settle for him being being an electric bullpen arm in big picture, they seem to have a volume of capable arms that will ultimately be gems that weren’t as high on the radar. Now let’s get the Kannapolis/WSalem/Birmingham bats developing as they are now since this is where they have been weak in-house for a long time.