White Sox Minor League Update: June 21, 2024

History repeats itself with duplicate scores for Birmingham and Kannapolis, while it’s a sixth straight win for ... Charlotte?

Charlotte Knights 4, Gwinnett Stripers 0 (Gameday box) (Statcast box)
Welcome to the Nick Nastrini Show, reader.

The Knights social media teams summed up the young righty’s start fairly succinctly in this tweet: Nastrini allowed just three hits in his six innings of shutout ball, though he’d also go on to allow five walks while throwing an even 100 pitches.

Offensively, this Knights team did just enough to keep the Stripers out of comeback contention. Last night’s MVP vote winner Mark Payton added a double and a walk to his season line from the leadoff spot. Relative newcomer and major league veteran Michael Chavis also tallied a double to go along with a single, an RBI, and two runs. Center fielder Rafael Ortega also stayed hot with a 2-for-4 night.

As the Knights record their sixth straight win, the question remains whether or not they can continue their winning ways going forward. Tonight’s win answered that question with a resounding “yes!”

Let’s dole out some postgame rewards!

Montgomery Biscuits 6, Birmingham Barons 1 (Gameday box)
Your eyes don’t deceive you, the Barons lost to the Biscuits by a tally of 6-1 for the second time in two days. This time, however, shoddy starting pitching was NOT the issue.

Six innings of one-hit ball is usually enough to get the job done, but not in this case. This normally rock-solid Barons bullpen faltered as soon as Adams exited. The majority of the night’s damage was exacted on reliever Jake Palisch, who allowed four of Montgomery’s six runs in his two-thirds of an inning of work. Trade acquisition Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa would go on to allow a couple more in the same span.

Despite the hit counter implying otherwise, the Barons actually managed to outhit the Biscuits by three, tallying nine knocks as opposed to Montgomery’s six. Tim Elko stayed hot with another multi-hit effort, driving his season batting average up to a strong .315. Center fielder Jacob Burke secured the only other multi-hit performance of the night, driving in the Barons’ lone run as part of a two-hit day.

The Barons, mere weeks ago if not days a shoo-in for the postseason, remain in first place tonight due to the good grace of the pursuing Tennessee Smokies also losing. Birmingham has stumbled badly enough in the home stretch that a pair of wins over the weekend are a must to ensure the division title once preordained.

Asheville Tourists 11, Winston-Salem Dash 3 (Gameday box)
Despite this awful first half of 2024, I remain a Peyton Pallette fan, which makes writing about his struggles each and every week that much more torturous. Pallette’s record fell to a dismal 1-6 following tonight’s six-run beating by the Tourists. The young starter may well be wearing his rotation spot thin with a number of exciting arms in Kannapolis vying for promotion, as he continues to struggle to the tune of a 6.75 ERA in High-A.

Offensively, last night’s MVP runner-up Shawn Goosenberg made a strong case for receiving an individual honor in tonight’s edition with a three-hit performance that included a double. Young slugger DJ Gladney also contributed, launching his sixth homer of the year in the losing effort. Infielder Taishi Nakawake enjoyed a rare multi-hit game from the 8-spot while fellow bottom-of-the-order mate Eddie Park did the same. When all was said and done, Winston-Salem’s 11 hits would produce just six runs while Asheville’s 12 would led to 11.

Ryan Galanie, who tormented pitching at the Low-A level, has struggled against more advanced pitching in High-A. He went 0-for-5 tonight, driving his average down to .161 with Winston-Salem.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 4, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 3 (Gameday box)
I don’t exactly know if there’s a record for this, but this is the second game of tonight’s recap to have the exact same score as the day before. And the Ballers again found themselves on the right side of tonight’s repeated history.

Tommy Vail, who has been absolutely ELECTRIC for Kannapolis this year, opened the game with 3 1⁄3 innings of one hit ball, striking out eight of the Pelicans he faced. His season ERA lowers to an even more phenomenal 1.53 ERA in 29 1⁄3 innings at the Low-A level. With two starts now in Low-A, Vail has allowed ... one hit.

George Wolkow and Mikey Kane were responsible for the only extra-base hits recorded by Kannapolis, as Wolkow legged out a triple while Kane stroked a double and added two walks to his line.

Reliever Nick Altermatt earned his second save of the season in a perfect inning that included two strikeouts and lowered his season ERA to 2.32.

ACL Guardians 19, ACL White Sox 3 (Gameday Box)

Oh, boy: 19 runs allowed, three errors, and only four hits were the figures that colored the story of how today’s game unfolded in the ACL.

Three separate pitchers allowed at least five runs apiece runs on the ACL Sox side, though to their credit, untimely errors contributed to those inflated numbers and saw to it that a number of the runs on their line scores were recorded as unearned.

In looking for bright spots in today’s matchup, the pickings were slim.

My favorite closer from back in my early days in baseball fandom, Corey Knebel, recorded a scoreless inning of relief in a rehab start at the ACL. Center fielder Leandro Alsinois scored two of the White Sox three runs, recording a hit and walking twice. And second baseman D’Angelo Tejada also recorded his second double in as many days as he looks to improve his paltry .493 OPS.

Let’s uhhh ... Try to find a silver lining in today’s 16-run loss.