Montgomery, Ramos among White Sox prospects heading to Arizona Fall League
When the Arizona Fall League begins play on Oct. 2, the White Sox are going to be well represented.
Shortstop Colson Montgomery, the Sox's top prospect, is on the Glendale Desert Dogs roster, as is third baseman Bryan Ramos, rated the White Sox's No. 5 prospect by Baseball America.
Pitchers Adisyn Coffey, Josimar Cousin, Jordan Leasure, Jake Eder and Frasier Ellard and outfielder Jacob Burke fill out the Sox contingent headed to Arizona.
Montgomery will be the AFL's highest-rated overall prospect (No. 14).
While he had a solid minor-league season, hitting a combined .287/.456/.484 with 8 home runs and 37 RBI in 64 games with Class AA Birmingham, high A Winston-Salem and the ACL White Sox, the 21-year-old Montgomery missed most of the first half with a strained back.
Before he took over as general manager on Aug. 31, Chris Getz was the Sox's director of player development. He hinted back Montgomery could be headed to the Arizona Fall League in mid-May.
"It's a possibility," Getz said. "You want to continue to ride the momentum of his development. He had an excellent first season."
While there is a chance Montgomery might be ready to help the White Sox at some point next year, Ramos also looks close to being major-league ready.
Like Montgomery, the 21-year-old Ramos went down with an injury (groin) in spring training and got off to a late start.
The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder wound up hitting .264/.358/.450 with 15 home runs and 50 RBI in 81 games with Birmingham and high-A Kannapolis.
Eder is another Sox prospect to watch in the AFL.
Acquired from the Marlins in the Aug. 1 Jake Burger trade, Eder struggled in 5 starts at Birmingham, going 0-3 with an 11.42 ERA.
The 24-year-old lefty missed all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery and he sat out the first three months of this season after fracturing his left foot in spring training.
"When you combine those two (injuries), I think it was like 22 months before I was back in a real game," Eder said. "It was long, but it was good. I learned a lot about myself, learned a lot about my routines. It was just day by day, getting better each day."
Leasure came over in the July 28 trade that sent Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Dodgers.
The White Sox need a lot of help in the bullpen and the 25-year-old Leasure should have a good shot at winning a job in spring training.
Armed with a big fastball, the right-hander had 23 strikeouts in 13⅓ innings for Class AAA Charlotte after joining the Sox.
Leasure also allowed 16 hits and 8 walks and had an 8.10 ERA with Charlotte, so he clearly needs more work.
Burke cracked the White Sox's top prospects list this season with a strong showing at Class A.
In 85 games with Winston-Salem and Kannapolis, the 22-year-old outfielder slashed .294/.392/.439 with 6 home runs and 40 RBI.