Righty White Sox prospect Hansen ‘special’

CHICAGO — One word described the impression made by Alec Hansen during his debut in the White Sox organization last season.

“Special. He’s special,” said Matt Zaleski, who was Hansen’s pitching coach at Great Falls of the Rookie level Pioneer League during the 2016 campaign. “His stuff is pretty much off the charts.”

By the letter of the law, Zaleski’s description surpassed one word. But the general idea quickly becomes clear: the team’s second-round pick in the 2016 Draft out of Oklahoma pretty much overwhelmed the competition.

Hansen, Chicago’s No. 14 prospect as ranked by MLBPipeline.com, made three appearances for the Arizona Rookie League team, with the right-hander yielding one hit over seven innings and striking out 11. He raised the bar at Great Falls with 12 hits and 12 walks allowed over 36 2/3 innings to go with 59 strikeouts.

Against Idaho Falls on Aug. 5, Hansen struck out 11 while giving up one hit in six innings. Against Ogden on Aug. 16, Hansen threw five hitless innings. And on Aug. 21, Helena managed one hit in six innings as Hansen knocked down 13.

After going through ’16 struggles to the tune of a 5.40 ERA with the Sooners, Hansen looked more like the first overall pick that he was projected to be immediately following the 2015 Draft.

“It was great. It was definitely a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be,” a confident …

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