Fantasy baseball: 2020 Chicago White Sox fantasy preview

2020 Chicago White Sox projected starting rotation

Lucas Giolito, RHP (14-9, 3.41 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 228 K in 176.2 IP)
Dallas Keuchel, LHP (8-8, 3.75 ERA. 1.37 WHIP, 91 K in 112.2 IP with ATL)
Reynaldo Lopez, RHP (10-15, 5.38 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 169 K in 184 IP)
Dylan Cease, RHP (4-7, 5.79 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 81 K in 73 IP)
Gio Gonzalez, LHP (3-2, 3.50 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 78 K in 87.1 IP with MIL)
Alex Colome, RHP (4-5, 2.80 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 55 K in 61 IP, 30/33 saves)

Giolito was easily the staff ace last year and looks like he could be a fantasy ace. Those elite strikeout numbers, great ERA and WHIP, and a better offense behind him will have Giolito going in the third round. He’s a nice guy to build a rotation around if you are happy with the power you grabbed early.

The White Sox spent plenty of money on Gio and Keuchel. It adds lefties to the rotation, but this could be a rough landing for them. Keuchel struggled a little in a truncated season in a ballpark that is great for lefty pitching. Gio mostly pitched out of the bullpen last year. Both are solid picks at the end of your rotation, but neither has a ton of upside. Both are coming back to the A.L. where they have to face DH’s again.

Lopez and Cease both have good upside. Lopez flashed some of the promise that the team thought he had when they picked him up from Washington. Last year marked his first career complete game, and Lopez had a string of strong starts later in the season. A terrible early season marred his overall stats. He’s got the upside you want in a flier late in the draft.

The White Sox picked up veteran Steve Cishek, he of 132 career saves, to set up Colome. Colome was strong as the closer last year, but if he falters for some reason, Cishek is there. Colome has good ratios and should see more saves this year, but he is not in the elite tier of closers since he doesn’t rack up strikeouts like many of them do. I value him higher than last year though because of the potential for more save chances.

Prospects to watch:

Michael Kopech struggled a bit in his first taste of the majors, surrendering four homers in 14.1 innings. He also struck out 15 while only allowing two walks. Kopech doesn’t have much left to prove at AAA, but the signings of Gio and Keuchel pushed him back to the minors. That said, all four guys behind Giolito have shorter leashes with Kopech on the horizon. I like him as a later round stash.

There are 20 more of these where this came from! Sports may be on hold, but we will have baseball sometime this season. We here at FanSided Fantasy are going to make sure you’re prepared!