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.

25
Wilfred Veras
Right Fielder
Birmingham Barons
Baseball Cube Rating 67.75
Simple WAR 0.7
One of the most dangerous hitters in the system spent the entire year at Double-A, and is rumored to be starting there again in 2025. Heads-up, White Sox, the hole in Veras’ swing is no less wide than that of Tim Elko, who blew past Veras to Triple-A.

24
Alexander Albertus
Third Baseman
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers Low-A)
Baseball Cube Rating 57.25
Simple WAR 1.5
Hard to say too much, given Albertus was acquired (as part of the three-team trade at last year’s deadline, the White Sox giving up Michael Kopech, Erick Fedde, Tommy Pham and five or six of the concourse statues) with a fracture in his leg and has yet to play in the system. However, the infielder has an impressive resume and lit up the ACL before the trade.

23
Tyler Schweitzer
Left-Handed Starting Pitcher
Birmingham Barons
Baseball Cube Rating 70.17
Simple WAR 1.3
“Workhorse” and “lefty” don’t always seem to go together, but in this case after a 132-inning season split between High-A and Double-A, it applies. Nothing hits you between the eyes about Schweitzer, but he just keeps facing down challenges. Stuffed behind the gilded left arms of Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, Schweitzer is the southpaw No. 3 pitching in the system this year and may well be the closest to the majors.

22
Blake Larson
Left-Handed Starting Pitcher
IMG Academy (High School)
Uh, well, here’s a southpaw ranked higher than Schweitzer … but is not healthy. Somewhere early this year something popped (Larson was throwing at IMG in an alumni visit in January, then showed up at Camelback Ranch in an arm brace), and his pro debut will be delayed until at least 2026 after Tommy John surgery.

21
Nick Nastrini
Right-Handed Starter
Chicago White Sox
Baseball Cube Rating 49.71
Simple WAR -0.5
Nastrini was the No. 5 starter out of last year’s Spring Training, but got sick while waiting for his first start and basically didn’t recover all year. Oh, well, he got past the virus that slowed him, but the setback of getting out of his routine, after a killer Cactus League? Nope. The No. 1 young starter on the team (ahead of Davis Martin, Jonathan Cannon, et. al) as of one year ago is now buried at Charlotte and seemingly unable to get back to the surface to make a real run at the majors.

Wilfred Veras photo courtesy of Birmingham Barons.

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