Our Sox Populi staff combines their prospect lists each offseason, coming up with the Top 100 players in the system. We’ll be summarizing and counting them up here, five at a time, leading up to the regular season.

80
Caleb Freeman
Right-Handed Reliever
Birmingham Barons
Baseball Cube Rating 54.33
Simple WAR 0.6

Freeman has had a star-crossed pro career, tabbed as THE rising bullpen star four years ago but breaking down in 2022 and yet to fully recover. Although he’d seen Charlotte in 2023, Freeman spent all season at Double-A in 2024 and was … good. His challenge is to continue regaining his footing while numerous other righty relievers in the system equal his footing and surpass it.

79
Michael Turner
Catcher
Birmingham Barons
Baseball Cube Rating 55.63
Simple WAR 1.2
Not certain what it is, or whether Double-A represents a hard ceiling for Turner, but his offensive game completely crashed in 2024: The on-base and slugging machine he had always been (coupled with a cannon from behind the plate) went POOF. He’ll try to make the best of his do-over this summer.

78
Drew McDaniel
Right-Handed Starter
Winston-Salem Dash
Baseball Cube Rating 55.40
Simple WAR 0.6
This strikeout machine still has too many other holes in his game to push too far toward the top of this list. On top of that, he’s been old for his level at every step, and at some point the org is going to need to see him succeed in an arrangement that isn’t just bullying younger batters.

77
Jurdrick Profar
Shortstop
DSL White Sox
Baseball Cube Rating 63.83
Simple WAR 1.1
It’s not simply getting caught up in the family mystique (Atlanta’s Jurickson, among others in baseball as the family business) to be excited about what Jurdrick brings to the table. He didn’t quite overwhelm the DSL in 2024, but then, he had just turned 17 when play got underway there. The shortstop has pop, a solid batting eye, and enough promise to potential get him a ride on the fast track upward to Chicago.

76
Reudis Diaz
Right-Handed Starter
DSL White Sox
Baseball Cube Rating 58.40
Simple WAR 1.6

Reudis is truly an X-man on this list, given just 25 games and 65 overall innings over two years in the DSL. That said, his small sample size is eye-popping — particularly a 2024 K/BB of 5.67 (34 whiffs, six walks). If a WHIP less than 1 and an ERA almost sub-2 can’t get a player sniffing a Top 75 under any game conditions, well, that Top 75 is for an organization far superior to Chicago’s.

Michael Turner photo courtesy of Birmingham Barons.

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