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This Week in White Sox Minor League Baseball

By larry
Courtney Hawkins (Jonathan McCoy/Virginia Intermont College)
Courtney Hawkins (Jonathan McCoy/Virginia Intermont College)

This week:

  • There were a couple major promotions. First, OF Courtney Hawkins was promoted to Kannapolis. He was holding his own at Bristol - .272/.314/.401 - particularly for an 18 year old. But when the league average is .255/.330/.386, that added context doesn't suggest that it's time for a promotion for many teams other than the White Sox. He would have started 2013 with Kannapolis so I guess this just gives him a month head start.
  • The other promotion was a bit more obvious: CF Trayce Thompson will spend the last month with Birmingham. While he was still striking out 28% of the time, he was terrorizing Carolina League pitchers with his power when he did make contact. Double-A will be an interesting challenge for him as Birmingham's home park is not friendly for home run hitters - though given that Thompson's power is of the moonshot variety, it may not affect him as much.
  • INF Tyler Saladino found himself headed in the other direction with his demotion back from Charlotte. I found the promotion to Triple-A odd given that he wasn't particularly impressive in his first go-around at Birmingham and I just assumed the White Sox were thinking he might be infield depth this year. After a 15 game audition with the Knights produced just a .224/.296/.265 line, that notion has been disabused.
  • LHP Santos Rodriguez was with Charlotte briefly earlier this year but didn't make an appearance for the Knights. The power lefty probably will get a chance this time. For Birmingham he was impressive: 64 IP, 33 H, 33 BB, 60 K. He's a decent bet for a September call-up. In any event, he'll need to be added to the 40 man roster at some point to protect him in this year's Rule 5 draft.
  • 1B Andy Wilkins for the Barons: .231/.334/.417. Probably an example of the home run dampening I referred to above.
  • RHP Jake Petricka has had a mess of a year. Between Winston-Salem and Birmingham, he's got 72 walks in 125.1 innings. I'm sure the White Sox will give him a little more rope as a starter but it's becoming increasingly likely that the bullpen will be his future home.

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