The White Sox were already enduring plenty of bad news on Tuesday when Manny Machado agreed to a deal with the Padres.
If the White Sox also miss out on Bryce Harper, that means the team will move forward going back to relying on the stable of young players and prospects taking the team back into contention. With that in mind, it’s extra deflating for White Sox fans that prospect Luis Alexander Basabe suffered a broken hamate bone in his left hand during batting practice Monday in Arizona.
Basabe will have surgery Wednesday in Chicago. He is set to miss 4-6 weeks and then gear back up for the season with a late May return timetable for now.
The outfield prospect was one of the pieces going from the Red Sox to the White Sox in the Chris Sale trade back in December 2016. He reached Double-A Birmingham in 2018, and with a breakout 2019 had an outside shot of earning a big league call-up late in 2019.
Basabe was the No. 9 prospect according to MLB Pipeline (which is set to update its list on Wednesday) at the end of the 2018 season. He featured in the Futures Game in July and blasted a 102 mph pitch out for a home run.
Last season, Basabe hit .266/370/.502 in Single-A Winston-Salem before earning a promotion to Birmingham. There, he hit .251/.340/.394 in 270 plate appearances. The 22-year-old is considered somewhat raw and went to the Arizona Fall League after the season ended to get more reps.
Considering the White Sox were trying to get him more playing time by sending him to Arizona, having him miss the start of 2019 (and big league camp in spring training) is definitely not what the front office would have envisioned for him this season.
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