White Sox Minor League Weekly Update: June 27-July 3, 2022

Big names had a big week: Carlos Pérez, Raudy Read, Colson Montgomery, Wilfred Veras, Hunter Dollander, and Loidel Chapelli Jr

Charlotte Knights

Romy González: (Did not play last week)
Micker Adolfo: .304/.360/.609 — 2 HR, 2 BB, 7 K, 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 SB
Yolbert Sánchez: .286/.318/.281 — 1 BB, 1 K, 2 R, 2 RBI
Carlos Pérez: .385/.448/.654 — 2 HR, 2 BB, 1 K, 6 R, 7 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Lenyn Sosa: .429/.429/.571 — 0 BB, 1 K, 1 R, 1 RBI
Bennett Sousa: 2 IP, 4.50 ERA, 2 BB, 5 K
Kade McClure: 2 IP, 9.00 ERA, 1 BB, 3 K
Davis Martin: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 3.86 ERA, 1 BB, 8 K

If Seby Zavala was not producing offensively (aside from ... base-running) or defensively for the White Sox right now, there would be a bit more clamoring for Carlos Pérez to get that MLB time behind the plate. Pérez adds another good week to what has been his best professional season since 2015. The walk rate is up near 2019, when he was in Winston-Salem, and would be the best mark since 2015. Strikeouts are actually high for him (8%), but for anybody else, that would be a terrific rate. His .266 BABIP is much lower than average, and Pérez is a slow runner, but the BABIP is an indicator he should be even better than the 115 wRC+ he is sporting right now. It is difficult to measure defensive ability statistically, but he his 15-of-50 in throwing out runners, with just two passed balls. In Charlotte, the Sox did basically choose to give Zavala’s innings at catcher to Pérez, but maybe that was a mistake with how Zavala is doing right now. Will be interesting to see what happens, because Zavala could be DFAed and likely claimed, so Pérez would immediately move to third on the catching depth chart.

Birmingham Barons

José Rodríguez: .464/.500/.571 — 2 BB, 3 K, 9 R, 5 RBI, 4 SB
Raudy Read: .500/.500/1.625 — 4 HR, 0 BB, 2 K, 5 R, 7 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Yoelqui Céspedes: .158/.273/.158 — 2 BB, 6 K, 2 RBI, 3 SB
Jason Bilous: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 6.23 ERA, 4 BB, 9 K
Sean Burke: 3 ²⁄₃ IP, 7.36 ERA, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Caleb Freeman: (Did not pitch last week)

Raudy Read had quite the week, and it earned him a Southern League Player of the Week honors. He had four homers of his 12 hits. The Sox acquired him this season as one of many signings of former cup-of-coffee MLBers. Double-A just seems too easy for Read, at least from an offensive standpoint. He catches more than Zavala did in Charlotte, but Read is still splitting his time at first base and catcher; six passed balls in 20 games spells out why. More like Zavala though, Read is a fantastic bat who needs to play. Read had a 159 wRC+ based on a great plate discipline and terrific power. His .310 batting average is nothing to sneeze at, but a 13.7% BB-rate is great, and a .281 ISO is Herculean.

José Rodríguez would have been the MVP if Read did not go off last week. Popeye had a much better batting average week, but he is still coming up short in power. A .277 batting average looks great, but the .351 slugging to go with it doesn’t. Get some spinach to Birmingham, stat!

Winston-Salem Dash

Oscar Colás: .235/.350/.235 — 2 BB, 5 K, 1 R, 3 RBI
Bryan Ramos: .238/.304/.524 — 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 K, 4 RBI
Colson Montgomery: .368/.455/.632 — 1 HR, 3 BB, 4 K, 5 R, 3 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Luis Míeses: .316/.381/.632 — 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 K, 3 R, 5 RBI
Terrell Tatum: (Did not play last week)
Duke Ellis: .318/.464/.409 — 6 BB, 10 K, 4 R, 1 RBI, 3 SB
Adam Hackenberg: .250/.368/.313 — 2 BB, 2 K, 5 R, 1 RBI
Drew Dalquist: 3 IP, 12.00 ERA, 1 BB, 1 K
Cristian Mena: 4 IP, 6.75 ERA, 1 BB, 4 K
Matthew Thompson: 6 IP, 1.50 ERA, 1 BB, 5 K

You can pretty much tab Colson Montgomery as a perpetual MVP of the week wherever he is, as his 41-game on-base streak continues. Sometimes Oscar Colás will interrupt that MVP streak, but not last week. If Montgomery was even close to hitting like a normal batter, Luis Míeses probably gets that MVP, but nope, Montgomery is not a normal hitter and is now a Top 100 prospect in all of baseball. That will probably climb a lot when the season ends, even if he somehow doesn’t reach base one day. In a little more than a week of High-A, Montgomery has a 203 wRC+ with an increase in walks and power, and a decrease in strikeouts. He is even sporting more walks (six) than strikeouts (four) right now. Not sure what is the most impressive aspect of Montgomery’s hitting ability is at the moment, but he has become the clear top prospect in the White Sox organization.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Wes Kath: .158/.261/.316 — 1 HR, 3 BB, 8 K, 2 R, 3 RBI
Wilfred Veras: .304/.360/.826 — 3 HR, 2 BB, 8 K, 4 R, 4 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Jared Kelley: 4 IP, 6.75 ERA, 2 BB, 3 K
Norge Vera: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 6.75 ERA, 4 BB, 4 K
Kohl Simas: 1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0 BB, 2 K

Raudy Read had the best week of any batter, but Wilfred Veras was right there, with three homers. After a good start to the year, Veras has struggled. The plate discipline has faltered this season, with walks down 3% and strikeouts up about 5%. The power is slightly down, even after a three-homer week, because Veras’ non-homer extra-base hits are down. Last year in 46 games, Veras had 18 of those, but so far this season in 65 games he has 11. The weird thing is that he is actually hitting fewer ground balls and infield flies, but for whatever reason, he is not finding open grass. Whatever his issue is, the best possible answer is Veras’ swing. An increase in strikeouts to a rate not that far off from 30% in Low-A is not something to behold. It could be that he is trying to sell out for more power and is just not barreling up enough pitches (and when he does, it is out of the park). Hopefully Veras can fix himself, because the home run power is impressive.

ACL White Sox

Victor Quezada: .125/.222/.313 — 1 HR, 2 BB, 12 K, 2 R, 2 RBI
Manuel Guariman: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 1 K (one game played)
Dario Borrero: .154/.214/.154 — 1 BB, 0 K, 2 R
Yohemy Nolasco: 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0 BB, 2 K
Hunter Dollander: 6 IP, 1.50 ERA, 2 BB, 8 K **Weekly MVP**

DSL White Sox

Erick Hernández: .111/.273/.222 — 2 BB, 3 K, 1 R
Loidel Chapelli Jr.: 3-for-6, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 R, 2 RBI (two games played) **Weekly MVP**
Guillermo Rodríguez: .077/.143/.077 — 1 BB, 3 K
Ryan Burrowes: 1-for-2, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 R (one game played)
Marcelo Valladares: (Did not pitch)