Right man for the job? White Sox excited about Colas' potential
When the White Sox report to spring training in a couple weeks, much attention will be paid to right field.
Andrew Vaughn played 45 games at the position last season, but he's moving to his natural position, first base, after Jose Abreu exited as a free agent and signed with the Astros.
AJ Pollock played 14 games in right before leaving the White Sox and signing with the Mariners.
Gavin Sheets is back, and he played 85 games in right field last season. Like Vaughn, he's a natural first baseman.
Heading into camp, top prospect Oscar Colas is expected to get every opportunity to win the starting job in right.
But Eloy Jimenez has made it clear he also wants to play the position instead of being the Sox's full-time designated hitter.
New manager Pedro Grifol said Jimenez is likely to play right field once or twice a week, so the door is still open for Colas to be the regular in the corner spot.
The big question is, can the 24-year-old slugger handle the jump?
"I don't think it's necessarily too much of an ask," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said.
A star in his native Cuba, Colas also played two seasons in Japan.
The experience showed last year, when the 6-foot-1, 220-pounder excelled at three minor-league levels after signing with the Sox in January.
"Oscar's season was certainly impressive playing at three different levels and being productive at each of them," said Chris Getz, the White Sox's assistant general manager/player development. "Quite honestly, he continued to get better every time he was challenged at a higher level."
Colas started the 2022 season with high Class A Winston-Salem, moved to AA Birmingham midway through the year and finished up with AAA Charlotte.
The left-hander hit a combined .314/.371/.524 with 23 home runs and 79 RBI in 117 games.
"He's a guy who has really good hands at the plate, certainly has power," Getz said. "He loves to compete and plays passionately. He has a chance to be an impactful major-league player. There's a real aggressiveness to how he plays the game. He has the ability to make adjustments at the plate just because of how talented his hands are.
"We feel like he really has a chance to help our major-league club soon."
Even if he is the Sox's starting right fielder when the season opens with a March 30 game at Houston, Colas isn't going to be handed the American League Rookie of the Year trophy.
He is an aggressive swinger who struck out 120 times in 526 plate appearances last season. Making contact against major-league pitching is going to be a much tougher challenge.
"You know, just the consistent approach at the plate," Getz said. "He can do some special things from at-bat to at-bat but you've got someone on the mound he doesn't know or understands your tendencies, so it's a bit of a cat-and-mouse game at times.
"Understand what he's trying to do and what your strengths are as well and you have to stay disciplined."
Defensively, Colas spent most of his time in center field last year. He did play 34 games in right and had 7 assists.
"He's going to be a solid outfielder," Getz said. "He's got a plus arm and he'll certainly want to advertise that come spring training. But he has instincts out there, covers ground, communicates well. He can make some plays. He'll be a solid corner outfielder defensively."