Tabbed as the prospective White Sox starting right fielder as early as November, and winning a spot on the Opening Day roster, Oscar Colás surely didn’t envision himself at Triple-A Charlotte at the start of May.
“Just like anybody getting sent down, you never know how they’re going to be or carry themselves,” said Charlotte Knights hitting coach Cameron Seitzer. “But he’s been phenomenal. (Knights manager Justin Jirschele) and I, we sat down with him and talked to him and he’s been nothing but positive. He’s excited to come to the ballpark. He’s been playing hard.“
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The numbers certainly bear that out. If the White Sox erred in believing that Colás was ready to be a major-league regular, it doesn’t appear to be because Triple-A pitching still presents a huge challenge to him. Through 10 games, Colás is hitting .429/.468/.714, with 10 of his 18 hits going for extra bases. While the 24-year-old was optioned in part to pare down an aggressive approach that had become inhibiting, Seitzer raved about the simplicity and professionalism of Colás’ batting cage routine.
“At this point, it’s more so his approach,” Seitzer said of the focus of their work with Colás, rather than mechanics. “Because when his approach goes a little bit overly aggressive, then his body and mechanics get out of whack as well, just like anybody else. So, really just honing in on his tempo, his approach, direction. The sky’s the limit for him, obviously.”
Spanish-speaking hitting coordinator Andy Barkett is also currently in town to assist, but Seitzer also says his Spanish is good enough for him and his newest charge to understand each other in the batting cage. Colás already spent the offseason working with White Sox coaches on simulating at-bats, using pitching machines to recreate the low, borderline breaking balls that he needed to lay off to thrive at the major-league level. Even now that he’s in Charlotte, Seitzer says they have Colás working off an iPitch machine daily. But Seitzer also likes opening up swing decision practice with flip work, immediately identifying where the ball is out of the hand and making a call on whether to fire or not.
Of course, Colás is coming off a month in the majors when he swung at 43 percent of pitches out of the strike zone. Clearly for him, and others, there is no simulation that can recreate the challenge of maintaining a plate approach in the heat of the moment. There is nothing Seitzer and coaches at Charlotte want to see more than Colás coming up in late-game, high-tension RBI situations and executing the game plan they mapped out for him in pregame hitters meetings.
“One thing we’ve been talking about is hunting his area, hunting his tunnel, whether it be eliminating the outer third or inner third or, top-rail, bottom-rail of the zone, and sticking to that throughout the game, throughout the AB,” said Seitzer. “And he has had a few opportunities since he’s been down, late in game, runners in scoring position, and he has done a great job. Maybe not got the hit, but executed his game plan, which has been great.”
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And as has been shown by Adam Haseley, Billy Hamilton and Jake Marisnick all being retained for part-time outfield roles while Colás has remained in Charlotte, the rookie’s return to Chicago is not contingent on simply a roster spot opening, nor a quick hot streak against Triple-A competition. The White Sox want a prolonged stretch where he shows a process that will make him reliable.
“You focus on the at-bats, the qualities of the at-bats, the pitch selection,” said Pedro Grifol of how they’re evaluating when Colás is ready to return. “One thing we have to be sure of as an organization, players like him you can send him down, but they can’t become that yo–yo guy. You get him here, go down get the work in, improve on what you need to improve on after tasting it here, then once you come back up it’s time to go, it’s time to make adjustments here in the big leagues.”
For comparison’s sake, DJ Gladney has been in the White Sox organization longer than starting catcher Yasmani Grandal, and was drafted out of Illiana Christian High School (Ind.) in June 2019. Even before the minor-league season was lost to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, or the alternate site, the ACE product’s big power and exceptional exit velocities were generating excitement among White Sox player development staffers.
“Teammates and everybody is like, ‘Aw man, you’re young, man! You’re 21!'” Gladney said by phone. “When in reality, I’ve been doing (it) for about five years now. It’s in that in-between where I feel like I am (old) but I’m not at the same time.”
The point of mentioning the canceled 2020 minor-league season is that the short-season rookie ball level in between the Florida Complex League and Low A — the logical assignment for a 19-year-old Gladney in 2o21 — never returned afterward. Faced with the decision to place Gladney in an environment where he might struggle or one where he might dominate and make no progress, the Sox opted to challenge him at Low-A Kannapolis. Predictably, he struggled. Oh, how he struggled.
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With a very young roster full of guys playing full-season affiliated baseball for the first time in their lives, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers went 40-79. Gladney hit .191/.293/.324, struck out in over 42 percent of his plate appearances and had an .849 fielding percentage at third base. He was not an anomaly on that very young team, but it was harrowing all the same.
“It definitely taught me that baseball is hard, that you’ve got to be able to be mentally tough every single day, because it doesn’t get any better,” Gladney said. “I felt like in ’21, I was kind of pressing, trying to get results and trying to impress people. I really didn’t have as much fun, and I was stressing myself out. Now that I’m older a little bit, I’m just going out there every day and having fun. Not trying to overthink too much, just playing a game that I grew up loving.”
During the height of the 2021 struggles for the Intimidators, Sox player development employees related that if they had to pick one player who had the mentality to persevere through this adversity, it would be Gladney. Minor-league win-loss records rightly don’t get a ton of focus, but Gladney also noted how now that he’s playing for the 21-9 Winston-Salem Dash, just focusing on doing things that will help the team win helps takes the focus off chasing good personal results. But Gladney also isn’t making baseball look exceptionally hard right now.
Through 30 games at High A, Gladney is hitting .300/.341/.633 and is tied for the South Atlantic League lead with nine home runs. He has shaved his strikeout rate down below 25 percent. This is his fifth season in professional baseball, but since Gladney won’t turn 22 until July, he’s still a year younger than the average player in the league. And rather than overthinking things, he’s trying to shrink his focus as much as possible.
“I’ve been taking out a spot visually where I want to swing at every single time, and if the ball comes anywhere in that spot, or anywhere near it, that’s where I want to swing at and do damage,” said Gladney. “This is actually something I’ve just started doing, like, (three) weeks ago, actually. I’ve struggled in the past in trying to figure out how to establish my strike zone. About (three) weeks ago, I just started swinging in one spot, and it has been working for me, so I’ve been sticking with it.”
League scouts would add that as Gladney has continued to grow and add strength, his swing looks noticeably shorter and more compact, with obviously no loss in power production. Gladney generally agrees with this but identifies it as more of a mentality change than any big mechanical adjustment. He has heard all the same noise about his exit velocity and raw power and is swinging like someone who trusts it’s going to be there.
“I hear that stuff, too, and I know myself as well,” Gladney said. “I’ve got big power. So the more I can not over-swing, the better for me. I can just stay fluid, and just smooth, nice swing. Gradual, not doing too much, the better chance I have of making good contact.”
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Gladney’s time at third base has mostly ended in the past couple of years, but he offers enough athleticism that his move to the outfield has seen him play all three positions this season. Having never consistently played outfield in his life before last year, Gladney tries to focus on individual components of his defense when taking outfield reps during batting practice — fundamentals like over-the-shoulder tracking, coming in on bloops, line-drive reads. And he takes plenty of help and motivation from his teammates, like fellow power-hitting outfielder Wilfred Veras, even if their attention drifts to more enjoyable accomplishments.
“We always crack jokes about each other, saying ‘I hit it farther,'” Gladney said. “The man can swing it. He’s a really good hitter. I love being around him.”
With Clint Frazier signing with the White Sox after a “mutual decision” for the Rangers to release him in late April, it stands to reason that he hopes to do more than spend the rest of the year in Charlotte. Through 11 games in a friendly hitting environment at home, Frazier is certainly making his case to be considered for Chicago at some point. The 28-year-old former top-50 prospect is hitting .421/.522/.868 with four home runs in his first 11 games with the organization, which is at the very least suggesting he’s too good for Triple A when he’s locked in.
“Obviously there’s a lot of talent, there’s a lot of tools,” said Seitzer. “He’s explosive. He generates a lot of torque and pairing that with good direction, he’s had some serious results so far. He’s really opening up the field and not just hitting the fastball. He’s been able to adjust to off-speed as well.”
Memories of Frazier from his Yankees days might include an extremely closed stance, where he was almost showing his back to the opposing pitcher before opening up as he started his stride. His hot streak in Charlotte has taken a more traditional appearance.
“If you start closed, there’s only (one) way to go, which is to come out of it,” said Seitzer. “He’s back to slight open. Then as he makes his forward move into the ball, he gains ground and he stays linear. So he’s actually staying on the pitcher longer. Just like Colás, he’s working on his depth of contact. A big thing for (Frazier) too is just staying aggressive, being on time and driving the fastball to right-center, and allowing himself to accelerate the right out front on off-speed. Obviously it’s been a game-changer for him, just being able to control the speed that he can create with his body.”
(Top photo of Oscar Colás: Laura Wolff / Charlotte Knights)