‘Light tower power’ has White Sox juiced about Oscar Colas

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It’s hard not to get swept up in that annual rite of March, the writing of the spring training love sonnet for a beloved prospect. And with major leaguers locked out of camps across Arizona and Florida right now, the prospects are all there are to love.

Take Oscar Colas, the Cuban outfielder and prized international prospect signed by the Sox for a $2.7 million bonus in January. Let White Sox hitting coordinator Andy Barkett romanticize his potential.

“You see a guy and it’s like, ‘OK show me what you want to do. Let’s try to do it right off the bat,’ ” Barkett said of Colas Monday. “He’s got some explosive power. Some big time, upper deck light-tower power. He can do it to all fields.”

The left-handed hitting Colas, 23, has been an attention grabber at the Sox training complex in Glendale for one week, and his enthusiasm and appreciation for the moment were evident on his first day.

“For every baseball player, for every Cuban baseball player, the dream is to play in the majors and be part of a minor-league organization,” Colas said through translator Billy Russo. “It was like a dream come true. Now it’s on me to perform and do what I really know I can do — being able to reach my dream.”

Colas projects as a right fielder and the Sox right field picture is not clear – though there are in-house candidates such as Andrew Vaughn, Gavin Sheets and former Gold Glove finalist Adam Engel in the mix, as well as potential bigger name free agents. But the dream won’t be reached this year. Colas’ experience consists of 187 career games between Cuba’s best league, Serie Nacional, from 2016-20, and the Japan Western League, the Japaneese minors, in 2019. Colas owns combined .282/.343/.483 hitting line with 28 homers and 38 doubles.

A run of success against a steady diet of pitching for at least one season in the minor leagues in the U.S. is needed for Colas to move into the Sox big league picture.

“He just needs to play and, we are nowhere near making teams or anything like that,” Barkett said. “But wherever he goes, he’s going to be fun to work with. He’s got a bright personality and secondly he wants to get better and that’s what we are looking for. He looks hungry. He wants to be good.”

Barkett has noticed other Sox prospects from Cuba, such as infielder Yolbert Sanchez and outfielder Yoelqui Cespedes, “kind of go towards him a little bit in a way.”

“He’s got this leadership about him,” Barkett said.

And an “advanced” set of skills, according to Marco Paddy, the Sox’ special assistant to the general manager who serves as the organization’s international talent guru.

Barkett watches Colas work around the cage and he was all eyes, sizing up the left-handed hitter whose left arm was so good that he also pitched – well enough to be known as the Cuban Ohtani for a while.

“First you look for personality, I feel like. And I’ve been doing this a long time,” said Barkett, the Red Sox’ assistant hitting coach from 2017-19. “You are looking for skill and all that, but I figured there was skill. I saw the videos. I just wanted to see what kind of guy he is.”

Fun, and hungry, Barkett said. Colas took to the Sox’ specific hitting drills program instantly and wanted to know the ins, outs and whys surrounding them.

“He’s nodding his head and understanding, and I’m able to speak in two languages so we are communicating and he’s getting it and doing it and it’s really cool to see him embrace the process right away,” Barkett said.

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