This Week in White Sox Minor League Baseball

This week:

• The end of another minor league season is upon.  Bristol completed their season last Tuesday.  The full season affiliates finish their regular seasons on Monday, while Great Falls wraps up on Thursday.  Winston-Salem and Great Falls are the two affiliates who qualified for the playoffs.  The Dash will begin their best of five series on Wednesday and the Voyagers begin their best of three series on Friday.
• The onset of September also means call-ups.  Interestingly, while originally announced as joining the White Sox for the start of the Boston series, Dayan Viciedo remains in the minors.  In his stead, Brent Morel made the jump to the majors a few days earlier than expected. Erik at Pale Hose Pariah suggests that Morel is third on the depth chart for next season at third base, behind Mark Teahen and Viciedo.  While the switch may simply have been the result of concern over Gordon Beckham's ability to play - Beckham confirmed he would have been unavailable for Friday had they played - and wanting a better defender in reserve, it certainly begs the question of how the White Sox view Viciedo.  Obviously Viciedo's a poor defensive third baseman and Morel is a very good one. But if you don't trust Viciedo to be fourth string in September, would you trust him to be first or second string in April?  Then again, perhaps they just wanted Viciedo to get regular PAs to find his stroke again.  Since his demotion: .245/.260/.439.
  
• Andre Rienzo: 101 IP, 95 H, 32 BB, 125 K.
  
• The White Sox announced their participants in the Arizona Fall League: RHP Anthony Carter, LHP Charlie Leesman, RHP Henry Mabee, RHP Johnnie Lowe, C Josh Phegley, SS Eduardo Escobar and OF Jared Mitchell.  They've been assigned to the Peoria Saguaros. Play begins October 12.
• Speaking of Leesman, he received some press this week from Baseball America.  An organizational favorite, he struggled at Winston-Salem but still received a promotion to Birmingham mid-season.  He's repaid the organization's faith in his abilities: "Leesman has regained his command of his 88-92 mph fastball and shown a plus slider with late, sharp bite, which he uses to both righthanded and lefthanded hitters. He threw seven shutout, one-hit innings in his last start against Carolina to improve to 5-2, 2.81 with a 45-to-19 strikeout-to-walk ratio for the Barons over 57 2/3 innings. With a changeup that flashes average potential, Leesman has a chance for a four-pitch mix and can be a fourth starter if his command holds up."
• 2010 top picks round-up: Addison Reed: 29 IP, 17 H, 5 BB, 41 K for Great Falls. Hard-throwing collegiates with good control usually don't have trouble in the Pioneer League. Jacob Petricka: 44.1 IP, 38 H, 15 BB, 48 K between Bristol and Kannapolis. He found A-ball a bit tougher, throwing 9.2 IP, 8 BB and 10 K. Thomas Royse: 34.1 IP, 28 H, 6 BB, 28 K. Slowed recently by elbow issues, probably shut down for the season and may be headed for Tommy John surgery.
  

With the completion of the MiLB season, this will be the last weekly update.  The Minor League Update fanpost will continue to be updated as long as there is minor league news. I'll go to monthly updates for fall/winter league and miscellaneous coverage.  Season wrap-up pieces, including the top ten prospects list, will appear over the next month or so.