White Sox prospect Sam Antonacci showing how he can 'create havoc'
GLENDALE, Ariz. — In a sport increasingly obsessed with power, load management and top prospects, Sam Antonacci is creating his own path to the majors.
Antonacci earned a spot on the White Sox’s spring training roster despite only 1 1/2 seasons of professional baseball as a fifth-round pick.
That’s because Antonacci has displayed multiple intangibles that could help supplement a lineup full of sluggers in the future.
“He is a gamer,” said Ryan Fuller, the Sox’s director of hitting. “The best part with him is he is coachable. He wants to know what he needs to get better at. So we see his incredible on base skills, his ability to take a walk, get hit by a pitch, hit a single, steal second base, create havoc.”
Those traits were on display in 519 plate appearances at Class-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham, in which Antonacci posted a .433 on-base percentage, an 86.8 percent contact rate and a 13.3 percent walk rate.
His on-base percentage was aided by getting hit by pitches 35 times, but that didn’t slow him down as he stole 48 bases.
More impressive was that the left-handed hitting Antonacci, 23, showed no signs of slowing down. He led the Arizona Fall League with 28 hits and 24 runs in addition to batting .378 in 74 at-bats, and MLB Pipeline ranked him as the 11th top prospect in the organization despite not being picked until the fifth round in 2024.
“Honestly, I kind of have an unorthodox way of training, especially hitting in the offseason,” Antonacci said. “I like to hit quite a bit, and I like to hit when I'm tired, too. So whether that's like 300 to 500 swings in a day, and I'm tired on half of those.
“A lot of people think like when you're tired, you're going to develop bad habits, but my thought process is when I'm swinging tired in the cage with my dad, it's I'm preparing to play in October and those those cold nights in the playoffs. So I'm going to be tired during the end, so I might as well practice tired.”
Antonacci also hit three home runs in the AFL - two shy of his regular season total - and hit a homer in Friday’s exhibition opener against the Cubs. The Sox will be patient about letting Antonacci create more power without compromising his hitting and on-base skills.
“We have three main skills here, our decisions, our contact, and then your damage,” Fuller said. “Sam is unbelievable with his decisions and contact, and as he's getting stronger, as he's swinging our weighted bats in our bat speed program, those are naturally going to come, and he's already showing that.
“But you never want to take away those inherent skills that Sammy has that are elite.”
The Sox have a glut of young infielders, including incumbent second baseman Chase Meidroth. Antonacci has played third and shortstop as well as second.
“I got drafted to to help the White Sox, whatever they need,” said Antonacci, who transferred from Heartland Community College in Springfield to Coastal Carolina after the 2023 season.
“… Honestly, when I was in college, I was just hoping to get drafted. Obviously, I was trying to help Coastal Carolina win at that time. But once that ended, I was just hoping to be able to continue to play baseball.
“And at the end of the day, all the numbers, all the rankings, how much money you make, goes out the door, and once you cross those white lines, I don't know any of that. I don't know how much money you make or what draft pick you were. We're on the same field, so I got a good chance to win.”