Yoan Moncada's Turnaround Hints He May Now Be Close to MLB Stardom

When Yoan Moncada was coming up with the Boston Red Sox, he would sometimes eat 10 Twinkies in a single sitting, according to Eli Saslow of ESPN The Magazine.

Now, after a rough start to spring training with the Chicago White Sox, the gifted Cuban may be ready to chew through big league pitching like so much cream-filled sponge cake.

Few have questioned Moncada's talent or his tools. He's a linebacker in baseball clothing, a physical specimen blessed with the speed and raw power to take MLB by storm.

There's a reason the Red Sox handed him a record-shattering $31.5 million signing bonus as a teenager and why he slashed .287/.395/.480 with 23 home runs, 100 RBI and 94 stolen bases in 187 MiLB games.

He hit just .211 in a brief big league audition with Boston last season, striking out 12 times in 20 plate appearances. Then came the offseason trade, which sent Moncada to the South Side and ace left-hander Chris Sale to Boston.

Moncada wasn't the only prospect the White Sox netted—they also got right-handers Michael Kopech and Victor Diaz and outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe—but he was the headliner. Expectations were calibrated accordingly.

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So when the 21-year-old switch-hitter struck out 12 times in his first 12 exhibition games with Chicago, it sounded a few alarm bells. Maybe this kid was further away than many assumed.

The White Sox have to be thrilled with what they've seen since.

While the obligatory small-sample caveats apply, Moncada raised his spring average to .317 and his OPS to 1.074. Eight of his 13 hits went for extra bases, including four doubles, a triple and three home runs.

Perhaps most promisingly, he struck out just twice after his initial dozen-game whiff binge.

It wasn't enough to crack the Opening Day roster, as the White Sox optioned Moncada to Triple-A last Tuesday.

That's no great surprise. Moncada has never taken a minor league at-bat above Double-A. From a service-time standpoint, the White Sox can gain another year of control if they call him up after May 15, as FanGraphs' Craig Edwards explained.

Sox fans eager to see their shiny new prospect in action will balk at such bland, business-related calculations. Moncada wasn't especially enthusiastic.

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"It was kind of difficult for me, but it wasn't my decision to make," he said, per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

The truth is, Moncada could use more seasoning.

He committed a team-leading five errors this spring, and he's still learning to handle breaking pitches, as ESPN.com's Keith Law outlined:

"

... Moncada wraps his bat and can't get to the stuff thrown inside and backspin it, getting on top of those pitches or missing them entirely. When he reached the majors, it was as if he'd never seen a breaking ball in his life.

"

This isn't Kris Bryant and the Chicago Cubs, in other words. There are legitimate baseball reasons to keep Moncada down despite his Cactus League surge.

We'll see him at some point in 2017, though, make no mistake.

The White Sox have an opening at second base after releasing Brett Lawrie in early March. They might trade veteran third baseman Todd Frazier at some point. There's been talk of moving Moncada to center field.

There could be holes all over the diamond, and the rebuilding Sox will eventually fill one of them with their prized position prospect and potential superstar.

The projection systems are mixed on Moncada's 2017 output. ZiPS foresees a .236/.325/.384 slash line with 17 homers and 34 stolen bases, per FanGraphs. Steamer is less bullish and predicts a .228/.305/.356 line with six homers and 13 steals.

The former would earn Rookie of the Year votes. The latter would merely tease potential.

"Overall, he's so talented and so athletic, a lot of times it just takes care of itself," Chicago bench coach Joe McEwing said of Moncada's continued development with the leather and the lumber, per Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. "He's a tremendous kid who wants to learn and get better every single day. He works his butt off."

Enough, perhaps, to break through this season—and atone for all those Twinkies.    

All statistics current as of Monday and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball Reference unless otherwise noted.