Grading The White Sox Top Prospects This Season: No. 21, Wilfred Veras

Probably the most underrated prospect on this list, Wilfred Veras has had a great start to his minor league career. The cousin of Fernando Tatis Jr., Veras has baseball in his blood. He signed out of the Dominican Republic with the White Sox in 2019 for a signing bonus of 200,000 dollars. A nice sum for a prospect who has the potential to be a very, very good player in the MLB.

After signing with the White Sox, it would take him a few years to get into the Arizona Complex League, but he finally arrived in 2021. There he would perform very well, as he hit .322 with a .416 OBP in 46 games. In those games, he hit four home runs and 26 RBIs. He walked 21 times, but he unfortunately struck out 42, as this seems like that is his biggest issue. 

In 2022, he finally made his minor league debut going to Kannapolis, the Low-A affiliate for the White Sox. There he would hit .266 and have a .319 OBP over 101 games. He would hit 17 home runs, showcasing his raw power. He would unfortunately strike out 118 times, which has been a problem so far in his career. But, if he still can hit for a high average and get on base, strikeouts don’t seem to be as big a problem for coaches in today’s game. 

Towards the end of 2022, he would be a part of “Project Birmingham,” where the White Sox promoted most of their top prospects to AA, so they could get all the top prospects together and increase the level of competition to get the best out of their prospects. He would play in 12 games in AA, hitting .267 with three home runs and five RBIs. A nice output in such a small sample size.

At the beginning of this season, they would bring him back down to A+ ball, Winston-Salem, this wasn’t anything against Veras, as they did that to most of the prospects that were ambitiously moved up to AA and were brought back down to the Dash. Over 92 games in Winston-Salem, he would hit .277 with 11 home runs and 63 RBIs. He would add 18 stolen bases, which is a nice tool for Veras to add to go along with his raw power. His output in Winston-Salem would get him promoted to AA towards the end of the year and he would play 38 games for the Barons. 

He would hit .309 there with six home runs and 30 RBIs. The power really kicked in once he got to Birmingham, which should really excite fans moving forward. His power and speed combination will make him a sleeper to be a long-term starter for the Sox moving forward. 

I would grade his season as a B+ as he had a fantastic year this year and will push to be promoted to AAA at some point. He is moving fast for a 20-year-old prospect and might be ranked in the top 10 for the Sox prospects once the new list comes out. He is definitely a name to watch, and I look forward to seeing how he progresses next year.