On track for Birmingham at a relatively young age, this summer is nonetheless critical for the slugger
Wes Kath
Third Baseman
6´3´´
200 pounds
Age: 22
2022 South Side Sox Top Prospect Rank 7
2023 South Side Sox Top Prospect Rank 12
2024 South Side Sox Top Prospect Rank 67
2024 High Level Winston-Salem (High-A)
Age relative to high level -1.1 years
SSS rank among all third basemen in the system 4
Overall 2024 regular season stats 116 games ⚾️ 16 HR ⚾️ 58 RBI ⚾️ .226/.320/.409 ⚾️ 43 BB ⚾️ 155 K ⚾️ 6-of-9 (66.7%) SB ⚾️ .936 FLD%
As Wes Kath was seen as Plan B in the first round in 2021 for the White Sox, they jumped when he was available late in the second round and signed him to an over-slot, $1.8 million bonus. However, his journey into the pros has been fraught with peril.
Right off the bat, after the draft and starting his career playing for the ACL Sox was a difficult adjustment for Kath, as he slashed just .212/.287/.337 in 28 games with two triples, three homers, 15 RBIs, eight walks (7.0%), 42 strikeouts (36.5%) and 66 wRC+. When contact was made, he hit grounders at a staggering 54.2% rate.
Kath’s first full pro season was a mixed bag, as he was part of the “prospect elite” Project Birmingham, but frankly had done little to earn the honor — certainly when it came to actual, Double-A game play. Simply evaluating him based on his proper placement (99 games at Low-A Kannapolis), the results were more encouraging. Kath’s .397 slugging percentage indicated he’d found his power stroke at the same or better pace than first-rounder Montgomery, and the third baseman was also walking at a nice enough pace to warrant a .343 on-base. Huge concerns, however, came with Kath’s swing-and-miss weakness, as his 148 whiffs in Low-A worked out to roughly three Ks every two games.
Unfortunately for Kath, the bad vibes of a premature promotion to Double-A carried over throughout his 2023 summer. Promoted to Winston-Salem with a possible hope of him seeing Birmingham again by summer’s end, the third baseman regressed in every way, with even less contact and power than his woeful 2022 season. His final slash was abominable: .193/.275/.311.
Things did improve in 2024, with contact up a bit and power shooting forward (16 HRs, 58 RBIs). There is still a ton of swing-and-miss in Kath’s game, and it looks like an impossible issue to truly correct: He has struck out 3.5 times for every walk in his pro career, and 2024 was actually worse, at 3.6.
It says a lot about how bad Kath has been in his career that NONE of his ratings went down after 2024 yet his average rating is a poor
Kath’s Baseball Cube player ratings
Durability 74 (+5 from last season)
Power 69 (+7)
XBH 57 (+10)
Runs 54 (+1)
RBIs 45 (+8)
Speed 34 (0)
Hitting 32 (+3)
Contact 9 (+1)
Average 46.75 (+4.37)
Despite some encouraging signs for Kath in 2024 and him being so young (22, and playing younger than average at every level), we are reaching a critical point in his career. There is hardly cause for promotion to Birmingham in 2025, yet his mere flex as a second-round in his fourth full season might justify the move. Whenever he starts with the Barons, he must not only get to Double-A in 2025, but see some success there (continued power, better K/BB balance).
100. Cole McConnell, CF
99. Drake Logan, LF
98. Marcelo Alcala, RF
97. Lyle Miller-Green, 1B
96. Jared Kelley, RHRP
95. Adrian Gil, 1B
94. Adam Hackenberg, C
93. Loidel Chapelli, 2B
92. Eddie Park, CF
91. Chase Plymell, RHRP
90. Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa, RHRP
89. Tristan Stivors, RHRP
88. Pierce George, RHRP
87. Wes Kath, 3B
