Chicago White Sox: Will team call up Yoan Moncada soon?
With the Chicago White Sox struggling and Yoan Moncada tearing it up on the farm, is the time to call him up near?
After spending some time in the penthouse of the American League Central, the Chicago White Sox seem to be coming back down to earth. They got swept by the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend, with the final game being a shutout.
After winning six games in a row, the Sox now lost six of their last eight games. In those eight games, they scored 26 runs (19 of them in just three games) while giving up 36. Additionally, they’ve hit just .237.
Conversely, Yoan Moncada, the number one rated prospect in MLB, was named the International League Batter of the Week. He hit .500, with two homers, four RBI, eight runs scored, and a .818 slugging percentage.
For the season, he is hitting .352/.427/.565, with six homers and 11 RBI. He also has three doubles, seven stolen bases and 13 walks.
With the Sox struggling, is it time to call Moncada up?
Moncada is probably ready to take on major league pitching. When he came up late last season with the Boston Red Sox, he certainly wasn’t. He hit just .211 and struck out 12 times in 19 at-bats. Now that he’s tearing it up in the minor leagues, I think he’s ready to take on the show once again.
Does that mean he’ll get the call soon? Not so fast.
There are a couple of financial factors to consider before calling him up. Yes, baseball is big business and money is a consideration before making moves.
That last month of the 2016 Moncada played handcuffed the White Sox. If the team calls him up before mid-to-late May, they may lose a year of service time, The same happened with the Cubs and Kris Bryant. They could have called him up in September of 2014. They didn’t. Then, they could have brought him up to the big-league club out of Spring Training. They didn’t. The only reason for that was that extra year.
Another reason to keep Moncada down even longer is the Super Two status. CBS Chicago explains that status:
"Generally, players must have three full seasons of big league service before they’re eligible for arbitration, the process that allows them to make more than the league minimum salary. But a select class of players who rank in the top 22 percent of service time among those with between two and three years of experience are eligible to reach arbitration a year early. Generally, it takes around two years and then 130 to 140 days of service time in the third season to reach this threshold,"
That month Moncada played last season gets tacked on to whatever time he spends this season. He can then qualify for Super Two status. That can cost the team millions. For example, Chris Archer was a Super Two status player. When he signed his new contract with the Tampa Rays, he received a bonus of $25.5 million. If he didn’t have the enhanced status, that bonus would be $20 million.
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Because of these two reasons, don’t expect to see Moncada just yet. Winning isn’t really a concern right now, so they can afford to keep him at Triple-A Charlotte until at least late June. Once all the financial considerations are over, expect to see him man second base for the Chicago White Sox for the next decade.