White Sox prospect Caleb Bonemer gets center-field reps as organization maps out position work

The White Sox are continuing to sort out how their future lineup and defense could take shape, and one of their most notable experiments involves Caleb Bonemer. In minor-league work described in the organization’s prospect updates, assistant GM Josh Barfield said Bonemer will receive top work in center field as part of his next developmental phase.

Barfield’s description points to a deliberate, multi-month look rather than a one-off cameo. Bonemer will be moved to center field for the work in the minors, with the plan to keep mixing in outfield responsibilities through the end of the Double-A season, and then continue that evaluation during the Arizona Fall League. The Arizona Fall League is commonly used as a concentrated environment for prospects to face high-level competition and to refine specific aspects of their game.

The center-field reassignment matters because Bonemer’s path has been more dynamic than a typical single-position projection. He was a second-round pick out of high school in 2024, and like many premium amateur signees, the organization appears to be weighing both offensive fit and defensive ceiling. Having a prospect handle outfield angles, routes, and varying catch-and-relocate sequences can also help teams decide whether the bat will play at a premium position long-term or whether a more traditional infield route makes more sense.

MLB Trade Rumors also noted that Barfield’s White Sox notes touched on additional prospects, including players named Thorpe and Teel. The same organizational update framed those mentions as part of the broader prospect-development picture coming out of the South Side, even though the center-field emphasis in the report specifically centered on Bonemer’s reps and timetable.

Even with the clarity on what Bonemer will be doing, the broader defensive question remains the point of the exercise. Position switches at the upper minor-league level are rarely permanent commitments on their own. Instead, they function as evidence for talent evaluators to decide which combination of athleticism, reliability, and bat-to-position fit produces the most stable major-league profile.

As the Double-A season winds down and the Arizona Fall League gets closer, the most relevant thing to watch is how quickly Bonemer handles the everyday rhythm of center field compared with his traditional work. Outfield assignments also tend to expose decision-making, including how a player reads the ball off the bat, how they adjust on the move, and how they respond when the ball carries differently than it might in infield play.

For White Sox fans, the practical implication is that the organization is trying to increase optionality. If Bonemer’s outfield work looks sustainable, it gives the club more ways to construct its future infield and outfield without forcing the offense to live with a mismatch in defensive alignment.

If the experiment does not translate as hoped, the fall-work findings can still be useful. Evaluations from the Arizona Fall League often feed into offseason planning, including what specific skills need more repetitions and whether the organization should keep developing a player for an outfield spot or pivot back to infield usage. In either case, Bonemer’s next stretch is likely to carry more developmental weight than a typical late-season cameo.