This Week in White Sox Minor League Baseball

This week:

• Chris Sale made his professional debut last night for WInston-Salem.  He pitched one inning and retired three of the four batters he faced, walking one.  He didn't strike anyone out but his fastball reportedly reached 94 MPH.  While obviously consistent with the White Sox' apparent intention to have Sale available to the big league bullpen later this year, his assignment to the Carolina League is very aggressive.  While all first round picks are closely watched, each of his outings will be even more scrutinized.  At least he's started off well.
  
• We also saw some promotions and reassignments.   C Josh Phegley returned to Winston-Salem after missing more than two months with ITP, which is a blood disorder that caused him to have low platelet counts.  OF Jose Martinez also joined the Dash.  OF Justin Greene and RHP Gregory Infante both were promoted to Birmingham.
• Tyler Flowers: .223/.316/.476.  Around his putrid May OPS of .456, Flowers put up a 1.045 in April and .919 in June.
  
• Dan Hudson, Carlos Torres and Flowers were all named to the International League's squad for the AAA All-Star Game.  The game will be live on MLB Network on July 14.
• RHP Ryan Buch spent the first month of the season with Kannapolis, working out of the bullpen.  He was decent albeit wild: 14 G, 18.1 IP, 14 H, 10 BB, 14 K.  He was then sent to extended spring training to be stretched out as a starter and he reappeared in that role for Bristol when their season began.  The results have been good so far - though one would expect them to be considering his age and level of competition.  In three starts, he's thrown 17 innings, given up 10 hits, struck out 16 and only walked 2.  He'll return to the Intimidators soon.
• Hudson: 16 GS, 88.1 IP, 78 H, 29 BB, 102 K.
  
• Eduardo Escobar has been extremely hot to start the second half of the season.  The Dash's slick-fielding shortstop has now brought his season line up to .287/.333/.402.  While the small sample size caveat applies, unlike Jon Gilmore, Escobar doesn't appear to be simply benefiting from the favorable offensive environment at Winston-Salem's new home.  His home/away splits are pretty even, with his away numbers actually better.  The 21 year old has long been hyped for his glove so any movement towards respectability with the bat is welcome.  In the shallow White Sox organization that has seen more prospects taking steps backward than forward, he's probably made one of the biggest leaps up the White Sox' rankings.
• Jordan Danks continues to struggle.  In the high minors, he has now put up lines of .243/.337/.356 (AA) and .240/.303/.368 (AAA).  His strikeout rate this year is almost 31%.