White Sox Minor League Player of the Week (April 6-16): Loidel Chapelli Jr.

All the full-season minor leagues are up and running, and this rising star could not have been more ready

Around the System
Over the past week, there’s been a lot of movement, with injuries everywhere.

The latest move(s), the White Sox claimed Nick Solak on waivers and then two days later DFA’ed him before he played a game in the systme, as they added Adam Haseley back to the MLB roster. Daniel Ponce de Leon was signed and assigned to Charlotte as well, as Garrett Davila was sent back down to the Barons to clear space. Tanner Banks was added back to the White Sox, too, with Jesse Scholtens going back down. It seems like the Sox are using their bullpen depth, and the minor-league options therein, more liberally than years past.

For the Barons, the only notable movement was adding Bryan Ramos to the 7-day IL. All the way down to Kannapolis, Tanner McDougal started a game, and was added to the 7-day IL the next day.

This is still really early, not much to read into for a handful of games from Double-A and lower. But still, everybody is pretty much back, unless you count the top bat (Colson Montgomery) and arm (Noah Schultz) due to injury.

Administrative note: Longtime prominent pen arm Tyler Johnson has been battling so much injury in recent seasons he has retired. He ranked No. 16-18 over three season (2019-21) in our Top 100 Prospect Rankings.

White Sox Minor League Player of the Week

Loidel Chapelli Jr. .500/.526/1.000, 2 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 SB

It was a surprise, but a welcome one, when Loidel Chapelli Jr. was placed in High-A. This is his age-21 season, so it is a more appropriate level, and he did very well in the DSL. I would not take a lot of stock in DSL stats, but he did show good plate discipline there, more walks (27) than strikeouts (22). It is just five games, but Chapelli really is hitting the ball well. He has two homers, the batted-ball data indicates really good contact as well (only five grounders), although there’s only 14 batted balls in general. This is a really good start for him. Hopefully he can continue it, and stay healthy.

Charlotte Knights

A.J. Alexy: 3 IP, 6.00 ERA, 3 BB, 4 K
Jonathan Stiever: 2 IP, 13.50 ERA, 2 BB, 2 K
Davis Martin: 6 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 BB, 11 K
Franklin German: 4 IP, 2.25 ERA, 1 BB, 6 K
Nicholas Padilla: 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 BB, 5 K
Lane Ramsey: 2 IP, 4.50 ERA, 1 BB, 3 K
Carlos Pérez: .250/.280/.583, 2 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K

With a postponement on April 17, this bullpen, and maybe even Davis Martin, should see more action in MLB this week. Martin is off to the hottest start of his career, and if the Sox need a starter, he is still the number one internal option.

In the bullpen, Franklin German and Nicholas Padilla are having really good starts as well. On the other hand, A.J. Alexy is not. Once pitchers start coming off the IL like Garrett Crochet and Liam Hendriks, one of those three probably will lose their 40-man spot so an extra outfielder can get on when needed. Alexy is looking like the frontrunner there.

Birmingham Barons

Matt Thompson: 5 IP, 7.20 ERA, 8BB, 6 K
Cristian Mena: 7 IP, 6.43 ERA, 4 BB, 15 K
Adam Hackenberg: .286/.375/.286, 2 R, 3 RBI,3 BB, 4 K, 1 SB
Bryan Ramos: On the Injured List
José Rodríguez: .226/.294/.452, 2 HR, 5 R, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 SB
Yoelqui Céspedes: .241/.463/.517, 2 HR, 5 R, 5 RBI, 9 BB, 11 K, 2 SB
Luis Mieses: .306/.325/.389, 2 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 7 K

The power finally arrived for José Rodríguez about a half a month before his season ended to injury, hitting nine homers in his final 17 games of 2022. In his first week, in seven whole games, he is keeping that trend going. Obviously, it would be better if Rodríguez was getting on base a little more, but the .226 ISO is a good thing to see. He did not hit his second home run of the 2022 season until July 31 (87 games into his season), so this a much better start from a power standpoint.

Winston-Salem Dash

Loidel Chapelli Jr. PLAYER OF THE WEEK (see above)
Jonathan Cannon: 5 IP, 3.60 ERA, 2 BB, 3 K
Drew Dalquist: 1 2⁄3 IP, 21.60 ERA, 1 BB, 3 K
Jared Kelley: On the IL
Kohl Simas: 5 IP, 1.80 ERA, 1 BB, 6 K
Norge Vera: 2⁄3 IP, 13.50 ERA, 4 BB, 1 K
Wes Kath: .182/.280/.455, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 3 BB, 14 K
Colson Montgomery: On the IL
Wilfred Veras: .259/.276/.370, 4 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 SB
Terrell Tatum: .333/.556/.667, 1 HR, 8 R, 5 RBI, 9 BB, 5 K, 5 SB

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Tanner McDougal: 3 1⁄3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 BB, 3 K (On the 7-day IL)
Peyton Pallette: 5 2⁄3 IP, 6.35 ERA, 2 BB, 4 K
Tyler Schweitzer: 10 IP, 3.60 ERA, 1 BB, 13 K
Jordan Sprinkle: .323/.382/.484, 4 R, 7 RBI, 2 BB, 7 K, 2 SB

Even less can be gleamed from the first week of most players first full season of professional baseball. Really, the only thing here is that these guys are, relatively speaking, healthy. There has not been any news on the reason why Tanner McDougal was placed back on the IL, maybe he just won’t be pitching anytime soon and somebody else can pitch some innings. It was also good to see Peyton Pallette in his first games since his Tommy John surgery. All you can hope is that both get through the year with no setbacks. If they look good doing it, that is a plus.

Minor League Players of the Week

Lenyn Sosa (March 31-April 9), 2B-SS, Charlotte Knights
Loidel Chapelli Jr. (April 6-16), 2B, Winston-Salem Dash