You might've heard something about the White Sox having a good farm system.
MLB Pipeline put out its much-anticipated top 100 prospects list Saturday night, and the South Side rebuild was well represented.
A total of seven players landed on the site's list: outfielder Eloy Jimenez ranked fourth, pitcher Michael Kopech ranked 10th, outfielder Luis Robert ranked 28th, pitcher Alec Hansen ranked 54th, pitcher Dylan Cease ranked 61st, pitcher Dane Dunning ranked 92nd, and outfielder Blake Rutherford ranked 99th.
Jimenez has generated tons of buzz ever since coming to the White Sox organization in last summer's crosstown swap with the Cubs. He's only played a handful of games above the Class A level, though plenty of fans want him on the South Side as soon as possible. Jimenez hit 19 home runs last season in 89 minor league games. MLB Pipeline has Jimenez ranked as the No. 2 outfield prospect in baseball.
Kopech, who recently voiced that he's ready whenever the call to the big leagues comes, dazzled last season at Double-A Birmingham and was named the Southern League Most Outstanding Pitcher. Ranked as the No. 3 right-handed pitching prospect by MLB Pipeline, Kopech could very well reach the White Sox major league roster this summer should all go well at Triple-A Charlotte.
Robert is just 20 years old and has yet to play a game of minor league baseball in the United States, but he has plenty of folks inside and outside of the organization excited. Manager Rick Renteria brought an eye-popping scouting report back from the Dominican Republic, and there's been talk of the possibility that he could start the 2018 season at Double-A.
Hansen was among minor league baseball's leaders with 191 strikeouts in 2017, and he recently earned a sparkling scouting report from White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, who said Hansen has a curveball that "breaks like a freaking firecracker."
MLB
Cease was acquired along with Jimenez in the trade with the Cubs and has great promise after turning in a 3.28 ERA and striking out 126 batters last season.
Dunning is another one of those potential candidates for the White Sox starting rotation of the future. He had a sub-3.00 ERA and 168 strikeouts in 2017 between Class A Kannapolis and Class A Winston-Salem.
Rutherford was the centerpiece of the return package in that seven-player trade with the New York Yankees last summer. Though he slipped from a much higher ranking last season — he was the White Sox No. 4 prospect heading into the offseason — he could still be a big part of that outfield of the future on the South Side.
Be sure to check out NBC Sports Chicago's entire Meet the Prospects series, profiling 25 different pieces of the rebuild that are hoped to turn the White Sox into a perennial contender.