White Sox Minor League Update: July 12, 2022

Yasmani Grandal moves to Triple-A and Colson Montgomery keeps his on-base streak going with his third homer in High-A

A great win for Charlotte, but the even bigger news is that Yasmani Grandal is in Triple-A. He has yet to get behind the plate during his rehab assignment, getting another start at DH. It was outlined that he’d be playing behind the plate in Charlotte after DHing in Birmingham, so that’s not happening, yet. But he’s also about 10 days from seeing action back with the White Sox, so there’s time.

Grandal’s two hits were not exactly inspiring. First, an infield hit:

and then, a tapper against the shift:

But it is better than having no hits, maybe?

For the rest of the lineup, most of the offense came in the first inning thanks to an Adam Haseley three-run shot.

Mark Payton, like the two players above, had two hits as well, both were doubles.

Since the offense only needed one homer in the first inning to get the win, they must have had a decent day on the mound, and well, it’s true. Kyle Kubat was back starting and only the two runs of the game in his four innings. That means the bullpen went five shutout innings, allowed just two hits, and struck out six. Not too shabby, with some decent names involved, like Kade McClure and Bennett Sousa.

It took 10 innings, but a zombie runner scored on a walk-off from Craig Dedelow to get Birmingham the win.

With nine hits, four of them for extra bases, and four walks, the offense should have scored more than five runs. But hey, it worked out in the end for the team anyway. José Rodríguez keeps his hit streak going with a double, and Oscar Colás also goes 1-for-5 in his Double-A debut. Evan Skoug had the big hit of the day, his sixth homer of the season.

Overall the pitching was fine, but if you peer at the box score, there was only one guy that did not do his job, Kaleb Roper. He was going to be the bulk guy in this bullpen game, but allowed all four runs in his 2 ²⁄₃ innings. The last two arms were the best, which is fortunate, because they needed to be perfect. Félix Paulino and Edgar Navarro combined for five perfect innings to end the game to keep the tie and earn the win.

Not a great day for Winston-Salem, especially on the pitching end. They did not really start getting the offense going until the ninth inning, where five of their seven runs were scored. The only notably good thing during the first eight innings was Colson Montgomery, of course. He hit his third homer in High-A in the first inning, which extended his on-base streak to 46. He added a single later in the game. Luis Mieses and Ben Norman hit homers of their own in that five-run ninth.

Alsander Womack led the team in hits, all three were singles that raised his average to .283. Harvin Mendoza had a couple of hits as well, as his lackluster season continues.

However, the hitting was not as bad as the pitching today.

Chase Solesky started and allowed five runs, one of them was due to a Bryan Ramos error but he still did not pitch well. The bullpen just really dug Winston-Salem into a hole. Wilber Perez and Ty Madrigal allowed eight runs (four each) in the next two innings. That really put the game out of reach, as the game was called due to rain with two outs left for the Dash.

Kannapolis was rained out on Tuesday. It’s a doubleheader Wednesday!

Not a great game for the ACL Sox, but then, their Rangers counterpart is much better than them, now at 20-7. Dylan Burns was knocked around for four runs to start. Lane Ramsey and Luke Shilling are on rehab in Arizona, with the latter doing a bit better. In Ramsey’s first action, his command was not there, allowing three runs while getting just two outs. Shilling struggled with command, too, but he still struck out the side to avoid any runs allowed.

The offense was led by Layant Tapia. He was very active, with a homer and a couple of trips to first base on a walk and a single. He stole second on one of those, so his day was full. Luis Pineda got his OPS back up over .700 with his two hits and three RBIs.

The DSL Sox had fantastic pitching in a seven-inning game, which should almost always lead to a win. Juan Jimenez started the game and went three scoreless innings. He only allowed one hit, but his five strikeouts really helped set the tone for this fantastic pitching performance. He lowered his ERA to 1.20, so he is having a nice season for himself. Frankeli Arias, who has not had a good a season and actually pitched more innings today even without starting the game, was just as good on the mound. Arias went the last four innings, of course did not allow a run.

The offense did not need to do much, but all they needed was one run. Guillermo Rodriguez led the team in hits and had the only extra-base hit, a triple. Erick Hernández and Loidell Chapelli Jr. went hitless, but both did get on base with a walk.