Not all of the prospects the White Sox sent to the Arizona Fall League were there for the same reasons.
Some of them had injury-shortened seasons and the AFL served as a way to make up for lost time on the field. Some of them were there to see high-end minor league competition and see how they fared.
The league wrapped up the regular season on Friday and Glendale, the team the White Sox prospects were on, did not make the championship game. Overall, the results weren’t great. Frankly, none of the seven White Sox representatives distinguished themselves in Arizona.
The best performer of the bunch was reliever Tyler Johnson. Johnson, the No. 19 White Sox prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was out until mid-June with a lat strain this past season. He got an extra 8 2/3 innings in Arizona and will get more with USA Baseball's Olympic qualifying team in November. Johnson had a 3.12 ERA, but strangely struck out just three while walking seven.
Starting pitcher Bernardo Flores, another top 30 prospects at No. 28, also headed to Arizona after missing time in 2019. He made six starts in the AFL, totaling 20 1/3 innings. He struck out 19 and walked just five, but gave up a whopping 32 hits for a 7.97 ERA.
Under-the-radar relievers Bennett Sousa and Vince Arobio didn’t do much to put themselves on the map. Sousa had a 5.59 ERA, but did strike out 12 and walk only one in 9 2/3 innings. Arobio had more walks (8) than strikeouts (7) in 10 2/3 innings.
The hitting side was more interesting with Gavin Sheets (No. 13 ranked prospect) and Blake Rutherford (No. 9) looking to build on their seasons in Double-A. Both players had really slow starts in the regular season before building a bit more success towards the end of the year.
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Rutherford played in the league’s all-star game, but hit .179/.281/.385. On the positive side, he finally showed some power with nine extra base hits (four doubles, three triples and two home runs) in 21 games. The three triples were second in the league.
Sheets’ AFL season mirrored his regular season. He got off to a very slow start, but hit .281/.385/.344 in his last 10 games. Overall, the 23-year-old first baseman hit .250/.321/.319 in 20 games. If Sheets had a good AFL run, he could have boosted his trade stock or started to build a case for him to get a 2020 call-up to the White Sox. Instead, he will have to make his case in Triple-A next year.
Micker Adolfo rounds out the group and his overall performance was less important than the fact that he got to play against high level competition and return to playing the field. Adolfo had Tommy John surgery and was limited to 36 games in 2019, all at DH. Adolfo was known for having a big arm before the injury. As right field continues to be a position of need for the White Sox, Adolfo could be a long-term solution there, just not any time soon.
Adolfo hit four home runs in 61 plate appearances, but also struck out 27 times. The power is still there. Maybe the rest of his game will come back with more at-bats.