Of the four prep players the White Sox extended seven-figure bonuses to last month, in the most expensive draft class in MLB history, outfielder Alex Weingartner is easily the fastest.
The 18-year-old New Jersey two-way star ran the 60-yard dash in a blazing 6.24 seconds at the Super 60 showcase in nearby McCook, IL this January with Sox staffers in attendance, before he touched 94 mph off the mound later the same afternoon.
Along with the ability to blister a home run earlier this week in “bridge league” action that rocketed off a field at Camelback Ranch in Arizona at 107 mph exit velocity, Weingartner has a physical toolkit that inspired the White Sox to pick him in the sixth round, but for a $1.4 million signing bonus that constitutes late second-round value.
Just don’t call it “raw” athleticism. It’s the product of work.
“I definitely wasn’t always fast, I was like a baby deer; my limbs, everything was all over the place,” Weingartner told the Sun-Times. “My older brother, he was always really fast, and my goal was to try and beat him. That helped me in the long run, just being by his side and training with him.”
For a teenager, Weingartner is impressively filled out, with enough strength to swing hard without the moving parts and big loading actions typical of younger hitters. The combination of centerfield-grade speed, a plus throwing arm and eventually above-average raw power inspired the Sox to pick a direction for a prospect who has shown a little bit of everything.
“I was just doing both until somebody told me in a way like what route I was going to do,” Weingartner said of abandoning his two-way player status. “I definitely started loving hitting more and really being an athlete and loving that. That drove that decision, and then just the White Sox saw me as a talented outfielder, and they made the decision easy for me.”
Pitching prospects have an incredibly high fail rate of their own, but the risk the White Sox are incurring is a hit tool that gives league scouts pause about Weingartner’s ability to make enough contact to actualize his impressive physicality. Sox hitting development has long-term plans to add more rhythm and movement to Weingartner’s setup over time. But the player himself is already raving about the improvements in contact ability he’s seen from being exposed to high velocity and spin from the pitching machines at the White Sox complex.
“If you’ve never seen it before and you’ve never been exposed to it, it’s difficult to evaluate whether or not somebody will be successful,” Weingartner contends. “Showing up here and [Sox coaches] helping me constantly, every day, I show up to the field to be a better hitter and understand my swing more. It’s progressed very rapidly.”
Is Weingartner a future White Sox mainstay? Or is he a future occupier of the sort of “middle class” of prospect that Chris Getz said the farm system lacked to deal from at this month’s trade deadline? In either case, Weingartner feels he’s already on the way.
“I’m nowhere near my angle of where I want to be with my swing and what I need to be at the plate,” Weingartner said. “But I think that hit tool, at least for me and in the back of my mind, the question of whether or not I was going to be successful at this level, went away.”
Roster moves
The White Sox optioned Jonathan Cannon on Thursday’s off day, recalling reliever Tyler Davis from Triple-A to take his place. The move essentially adds a fresh arm to a bullpen taxed by 16 games in as many days, to where Cannon covering the last three innings of Wednesday’s 10-4 victory over the Rangers was sorely needed.
Davis, an undrafted rookie signed away from the independent league Oakland Ballers in 2024 for his overpowering mid-90s four-seam fastball, has posted a 4.10 ERA in his major league action this year, and even recorded his first career save in May. His demotion to Triple-A was driven by control problems, and even though Davis has a 5.40 ERA with Charlotte during August, a 13-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio this month is encouraging.
Outfielder Rikuu Nishida was also optioned after being recalled on Tuesday to fill a roster spot vacated by veteran Andrew Benintendi, who was placed on bereavement leave. Nishida did not appear in a game during his second stint of the year in Chicago, as the Sox opted to start the recently acquired Brenton Doyle in center, who compiled back-to-back multi-hit games and clocked a three-run homer in Wednesday’s victory.
By Friday, Benintendi will have spent the minimum three days on the bereavement list, and will be eligible to be activated ahead of the team’s series against the Twins in Minneapolis.