This Week in White Sox Minor League Baseball

This week:

Brian Omogrosso was the last man sent to the minors prior to opening day. This led me to assume that he would be the guy if the White Sox needed a right-handed reliever. Despite being rested, the club instead chose Deunte Heath. If we wanted to shoehorn a narrative onto this, Omogrosso didn't respond well. The soon-to-be 29 year-old pitched the same day Heath got the call-up and he gave up five runs on six hits (including two home runs) in two innings of work. Given the plethora of bullpen options the White Sox have stashed in Charlotte, none of them can afford many outings like that.

Courtney Hawkins is learning that High-A isn't quite as easy as he made it out to be with his performance late last season. While he's showing power with three home runs, he's getting absolutely schooled by most Carolina League pitchers so far as he has only one other hit (a single on opening day) and he's struck out in 16 of his 27 plate appearances.

Jake Petricka's move to the Birmingham bullpen has so far been a success: 2 G, 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K.

Jefferson Olacio is off to a rocky start. In two starts for the Intimidators, he's thrown a total of four innings. The big left-hander has given up 13 runs (10 earned) and he's all over the place with his control. He has four walks, two hit-by-pitches and a wild pitch. He's struck out just four of the 28 batters he's faced.

Trayce Thompson's results from the new ballpark in Birmingham suggest that power hitters no longer need to fear playing for the Barons. He has three extra-base hits in four home games and is overall showing a good approach at the plate.

Rangel Ravelo is playing first base for the Intimidators, as the Low-A club doesn't have one until Keon Barnum returns from his hand surgery. While positional flexibility is fine, you usually don't want to see it in practice at the lower levels. Ravelo is far more interesting as a third baseman and hopefully he'll be back there full-time when Barnum arrives.