The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder Ben Cowles off waivers from the Cubs. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. They already had multiple 40-man roster vacancies, so no corresponding transactions were needed. The White Sox’ 40-man roster is now up to 39 players.
Cowles, 25, has a good minor league track record overall but is having a down year. Drafted by the Yankees back in 2021, he went on to produce a combined .268/.365/.426 batting line across various minor league levels from 2021 to 2024. That production translated to a 124 wRC+, indicating he was 24% better than league average at the plate. His 25.9% strikeout rate was a bit high but he drew walks at an 11.5% pace. He also provided double-digit steals annually in the latter three of those years while bouncing between shortstop, third base and second base, plus two thirds of an inning in left field.
The Cubs acquired him in July 2024, one of two players they got when sending Mark Leiter Jr. to the Bronx. The Cubs added him to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. But as mentioned, his results haven’t been great this year. He has stepped to the plate 462 times at the Triple-A level. His 28.6% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate are subpar, both compared to league average and his previous production. His .238/.304/.382 batting line translates to a 74 wRC+.
That performance got him nudged off the Cubs’ roster but he’s a sensible flier for the White Sox. He can still be optioned for two more seasons after this one, so the Sox can send him to Charlotte and see if he gets back on track. Even with his down year at the plate, he has stolen 16 bases and provided his typical defensive versatility.
The Sox are currently getting breakout seasons from Colson Montgomery and Lenyn Sosa. Montgomery should be at shortstop for the foreseeable future while Sosa will likely be at second or first. The rest of their infield mix includes some intriguing but unproven players like Miguel Vargas, Chase Meidroth, Bryan Ramos and Curtis Mead. Cowles gives the Sox another guy to put in that group as they see who separates themselves from the pack.
Photo courtesy of Cody Scanlan, Imagn Images
No love for Brooks Baldwin here who is 6 months younger than Ben Cowles, has even more defensive versatility and has already produced decent offensive numbers with the White Sox.
Btw: Brooks Baldwin has been incredibly versatile with the White Sox manning 6 different positions: 2B (10) 3B (15) SS (10) LF (33) CF (18) RF (15)
Additionally, over his last 30 MLB games, the switch-hitter has produced a .289/.347/.467 slash line.
He’s looking like a potential Swiss Army Knife player for the future White Sox, perhaps an even better version of Leury Garcia. 🙂
Baldwin needs to be on this club in the future. He plays just about anywhere and I thought when we had 2 catchers- he was the emergency catcher. Don’t mess this up Getz.
Ben Cowles from Rochester ny. Up until this moment I pronounced it Rodchester. Hope he wsox can get his numbers better in their farm system. My good wishes, the least I can do for butchering his hometown name for so long.
In terms of batting average on balls in play, Colson Montgomery has been UNLUCKY. If he had a normal BABIP of about .292 his batting average would be .269 and his obp would be .323 which likely would mean he can stay a sustainable shortstop in the long term at least on offense. Though his homers will likely change into doubles instead going forward