Chicago White Sox: International free agent signings are a win

As the rebuild gets closer to being done for the Chicago White Sox they will look to keep the train rolling and these moves are step one in that plan.

The Chicago White Sox declared rebuild after the disaster of a 2016 season. They weren’t good, they weren’t bad. They needed to get bad and stock prospects and get a couple of high draft picks in order to be a team that has sustained success.

Now in 2019 that plan is starting to come together. Guys like Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech, Eloy Jimenez, and Dylan Cease have all trickled in. Not only have then gotten up, they have made an impact. Then there are guys we have been waiting for and will wait a little longer like Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal, and Andrew Vaughn.

Now it is about the next group of players that will join then anywhere from 3-5 years down the line. The White Sox started that process by adding five international free agents when the bidding opened. These are guys the White Sox will try to develop and get going so they can find their way to stardom in the MLB.

Four years to the day after the White Sox signed Fernando Tatis Jr. in international free agency, they signed his brother Elijah. They hope to handle this Tatis better than they handled the first one. They traded Fernando to the San Diego Padres so they can get James Shields. This was right before the Sox declared a rebuild, and it was also right before Fernando developed into a premier MLB prospect.

They will probably look to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to Elijah and that he ends up being a really good prospect like his brother. He is also a really good hitter and he has some pop to his bat and he knows how to obliterate a good fastball. This could turn out to be a really good add for the White Sox.

They also brought in Yolbert Sanchez. He is a 22-year-old Cuban player and a former teammate of Luis Robert on the Cuban National team. Now, the White Sox hope they will be Major League teammates. He is a quality shortstop just like Elijah Tatis. He is really good at his position defensively. His biggest need is to work on his hitting. The idea is that at least one of these two shortstops develops into a great MLB player.

They have Tim Anderson in place at shortstop but you never know what happens with position strength, abilities to play other positions, being designated hitters, or backups. It is never a bad thing to have to many awesome players. There are also injuries and other issues that can come out of nowhere so having backup plans for everything is extremely important.

They also signed a 16-year-old Dominican third baseman named Wilfred Veras. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez compared him to Edwin Encarnacion which is an awesome compliment. Encarnacion is a really good hitter in the MLB and if the White Sox got production like that from Veras one day that would be so sweet.

Then there are two 16-year-old Dominican pitchers named Cristian Mena and Erick Bello added to the fold as well. There are never too many pitchers in an organization so this is a smart move for the White Sox to keep adding them. Add all the pitchers you can, because Tommy John isn’t rare, guys not being as good as promised happens all the time, and you just need great pitching to win baseball games.

List of White Sox international free agents:

• Elijah Tatis
• Yolbert Sanchez
• Wilfred Veras
• Cristian Mena
• Erick Bello

Hopefully all of these guys perform and find their way to the Major Leagues someday. Not every prospect is going to be good for any team but you can always foot for them to be good in not only the interest of these teams but the players themselves. The White Sox are going to be good here soon so these guys might get there in time to keep the train rolling.