White Sox View Blake Rutherford As Future Regular

The White Sox think they found their center fielder of the future in late May, agreeing to terms with 19-year-old Cuban Luis Robert, who pocketed a $26 million signing bonus.

Chicago believes it landed its right fielder of the future on July 13, when they acquired Eloy Jimenez in a trade package for Jose Quintana.

The club’s left fielder of the future?

The White Sox are sky high on 20-year-old Blake Rutherford, whom they acquired from the Yankees on July 18 in the deal that sent third baseman Todd Frazier and relievers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle to New York.

“We’re extremely excited around here,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “Blake is a guy who was very high on our (2016) draft board. We debated (taking him last year at No. 10 overall). We view him as having an extremely high ceiling and a guy who . . .  fits into that mold of a potential high-impact offensive player who potentially can also help you defensively.”

Rutherford batted .281/.342/.391 with two home runs, 20 doubles and 30 RBIs in 71 games at low Class A Charleston before the trade. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound lefthanded batter was assigned to low Class A Kannapolis by the White Sox.

A Yankees fan growing up in Southern California, Rutherford is happy to be a part of his new organization’s promising future. New York selected him 18th overall last year out of high school in West Hills, Calif.

“I definitely have seen all of the prospects they’ve gotten through the draft or trades,” Rutherford said. “I don’t know a lot of players personally, but I know of them and what special talents they are and how good they’re going to be in the future. I’m excited about that.

“Hopefully, I continue to grow with them, and when we all make it up to the major leagues together we can be part of a World Series with the Chicago White Sox.”

With just five home runs through his first 112 pro games, Rutherford faces questions about having the power production to be a corner outfielder in the majors.

“I’m only 20 years old, so I can only imagine I am going to continue to get bigger and stronger, and maybe some of those line drives will turn into home runs,” he said. “But I’m not really worried about the power numbers right now. I’m more worried about learning and developing my swing on a day-to-day basis.”