White Sox creeping toward contender status, but Hahn knows more work needs to be done
General manager Rick Hahn spent Monday-Wednesday of this week watching Class AAA Charlotte, the White Sox's top minor-league team.
He was back at Guaranteed Rate Field for Thursday night's game against the Rangers, and none of the top prospects at Triple-A accompanied the GM back to Chicago.
That's not much of a surprise, although more than a few Sox fans are hoping Luis Robert - No. 3 on Baseball America's Top 100 prospects list - comes up when rosters are eligible to expand in September.
Heading into Thursday night's play, Robert was hitting .366/.388/.634 with 29 home runs, 85 RBI and 36 stolen bases in 111 games with Charlotte, AA Birmingham and high A Winston-Salem.
"He's doing fantastic," Hahn said of the 22-year-old center fielder. "Obviously, you've seen the numbers. There are certainly some elements of his game that they're still fine tuning, they're still working on. But he's obviously an extremely talented young man and one that we're very excited to have here for the next several years.
"We have made no decisions on the ultimate (September) call-up list or the ultimate timing of the call-up list. The Charlotte club has been on a tremendous run. They currently are in the playoffs. We'll have to make a decision at some point about the timing of any recalls and how it affects the Charlotte club and how it affects the player development."
The feeling here is Robert would have been with the White Sox by now if they were going to bring him up this season.
If they wait a few weeks into 2020, the Sox could gain an extra year of service time with the gifted prospect. But don't be surprised if they sign Robert to a contract extension next spring like they did with Eloy Jimenez in March.
No matter if he arrives in September or April, Robert is going to instantly make the White Sox a better team. So is Charlotte teammate Nick Madrigal, and don't write off Zack Collins just yet.
There is also Andrew Vaughn, this year's first-round draft pick, to keep track of, along with four pitchers recovering from Tommy John surgery - Michael Kopech, Dan Dunning, Carlos Rodon and Jimmy Lambert.
The Sox have not been to the playoffs since 2008. Can they finally make a return in 2020?
"Let's talk in Glendale," Hahn said, looking ahead to spring training next year in Arizona. "Let's see what we wind up doing this offseason. In six weeks I'll go down this path a little deeper, but for now we can certainly be thrilled with a lot of the progress made by young key guys. It's been a lot of positive development, whether it's Tim (Anderson) or (Yoan) Moncada or (Lucas) Giolito and stuff we've seen out of (Reynaldo) Lopez in the second half and Eloy's progress and some of the young guys we've talked about perhaps coming up over the course of the next six months.
"There's a lot to be excited about. In terms of putting ourselves in a position to contend, let's get to the offseason and then set some priorities and see how good we are being able to convert on hitting those priorities before we assess it."