White Sox Weekly Minor League Update: Week 12

Charlotte Knights

Eloy Jimenez: .308 BA, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K ***MVP of the Week***

Seby Zavala: .083 BA, 0 BB, 5 K

Matt Skole: .364 BA, 1 HR, 4 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K

Jose Rondon: .182 BA, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K

Michael Kopech: 5 IP, 5.91 FIP, 10.80 K/9, 7.20 BB/9

Jordan Stephens: 6 IP, 1.81, 13.50 K/9, 4.50 BB/9

Carson Fulmer: 7 IP, 4.31 FIP, 14.14 K/9, 1.29 BB/9

Spencer Adams: 6 ¹⁄₃ IP, 4.89 FIP, 8.53 K/9, 4.26 BB/9

Miguel Gonzalez: 3 IP, 3.64 FIP, 3.00 K/9 3.00 BB/9

Thyago Vieira: 2 IP, 2.81 FIP, 9.00 K/9, 4.50 BB/9, 1 save

Aaron Bummer: 2 IP, 3.31 FIP, 13.50 K/9, 9.00 BB/9

Ian Hamilton: 1 ¹⁄₃ IP, 3.31 FIP, 20.25 K/9, 6.75 BB/9

Carson Fulmer is coming off his best start of the season, with seven innings pitched, 11 strikeouts and only one walk. It is tough, both statistically and competition-wise, to compare a player’s stats from one level to another when there is a demotion; obviously, a pitcher should be better at AAA than in the majors, and Fulmer is. However, he is not doing much better than his 2017 numbers in AAA. Where there is improvement is in Fulmer’s home run/fly ball rate and in his line drive rate. However, he is not inducing more ground balls, and he has a 10% increase in fly balls in 2018. The reason why his ERA and FIP are better in 2018 is because of an inordinately high infield fly rate, at 29.3%. That is a 15% increase from Fulmer’s 2017 in Charlotte, and will most likely regress back down to the mid-teens. In other words, Fulmer might really only be showing improvement because the lineups are far inferior in AAA than in the majors. He had a great start last time out, but he needs to string together multiple starts like his latest.

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Birmingham Barons

Joel Booker: .444 BA, 1 HR, 6 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB ***MVP of the Week***

Luis Basabe: .250 BA, 3 R, 3 BB, 4 K

Alex Call: .133 BA, 1 HR, 1 BB, 6 K

Jameson Fisher: .182 BA, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K

Zack Collins .222 BA, 1 R, 1 RBI, 6 BB, 3 K

Dane Dunning: 3 ²⁄₃ IP, 4.57 FIP, 9.82 K/9, 9.82 BB/9 — getting an MRI on his Elbow on Saturday

Jordan Guerrero: 3 IP, 4.15 FIP, 6.00 K/9, 3.00 BB/9 — a relief appearance

Alec Hansen: 4 IP, 6.73 FIP, 13.50 K/9, 9.00 BB/9

Bernardo Flores: 7 IP, 4.20 FIP, 2.57 K/9, 1.29 BB/9

Matt Foster: 1 IP, 1.48 FIP, 9.00 K/9, 0.00 BB/9

This excerpt will not be a normal, one-person analysis. These are all guys people write about often, but something interesting on several fronts happened last week in Birmingham. Alec Hansen started a game and went four innings, the starting pitcher Jordan Guerrero came on in relief for three innings. This was Hansen’s second start of the year, so his stuff and conditioning is not up to par yet, but with Guerrero’s struggles, a move to the pen is not farfetched. In Guerrero’s previous four starts, he had a 6.08 FIP and was getting crushed, allowing five home runs. His walks and strikeouts are normal for him, but he is getting hit harder recently. But again, Guerrero’s last start was a quality start, so this is where promotion conspiracies come to play. Donn Roach is having a great season in Charlotte, with a 3.26 FIP, but there is an open spot for Hansen in AAA once he gets back into the groove of the season. This is something to monitor, because Birmingham piggybacked the game, with seven innings covered between Hansen and Guerrero. However, this could be Sox pitching depth showing its face and forcing pitchers to the pen.

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Winston-Salem Dash

Luis Gonzalez: .429 BA, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB

Laz Rivera: .154 BA, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 6 K

Luis Robert: .286 BA, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 SB

Micker Adolfo: .313 BA, 2 HR, 3 R, 6 RBI, 0 BB, 5 K

Gavin Sheets: .313 BA, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K

Blake Rutherford: .333 BA, 2 HR, 4 R, 5 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 SB ***MVP of the Week***

Jimmy Lambert: 8 IP, 3.90 FIP, 12.38 K/9, 0.00 BB/9

Tyler Johnson: 1 IP, 1.40 FIP, 9.00 K/9, 0.00 BB/9

Lincoln Henzman: 1 IP, 3.40 FIP, 0.00 K/9, 0.00 BB/9 — relief appearance

Blake Rutherford was the odd man out in the outfield with regard to a promotion to Birmingham. However, this does not mean Rutherford did not deserve it; the older players will just get a look first in AA. Meanwhile, Rutherford stuck it to the Sox player development staff by hitting two bombs this week in only three games. He is starting to show more pop as the season goes along. He already has 24 extra base hits in 59 games, when last season he had 29 in 101 games. He is actually hitting fewer fly balls but his contact has been exponentially better as his infield fly ball rate is at 8.3%, meaning that most of his fly balls are getting into the outfield. He has also raised his line drive rate compared to when he was with the White Sox last season. His pull percentage is up above 40% for this first time since rookie ball. That probably correlates with the increase in power, but it is also a sign Rutherford is getting around on pitches. His walks are down to 5.2%, so the selling out for power is keeping him off the bases, but power was what Rutherford wanted to improve and he has done that. That makes it a great win so far for the player development staff people complain about.

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Kannapolis Intimidators

Craig Dedelow: .211 BA, 2 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

Evan Skoug: .143 BA, 0 BB, 2 K

Tate Blackman: .100 BA, 2 R, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 4 K

Luis Curbelo: .368 BA, 1 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K ***MVP of the Week***

Justin Yurchak: .300 BA, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

John Parke: 7 IP, 3.20 FIP, 1.29 K/9, 0.00 BB/9

Will Kincanon: 2 IP, 3.98 FIP, 4.50 K/9, 4.50 BB/9

For the next few weeks, Kannapolis is going to start to look as barren as Charlotte was to start the season, in terms of their number of highly-rated prospects: Six players were promoted, but there are just fewer Intimidators to follow until 2018 picks from Great Falls join them. A 2016 sixth rounder, Luis Curbelo, will do his best to keep eyes on Low-A ball, though. The 20-year-old got most of his fanfare out of college as a hitter with some pop, as FanGraphs has his raw power potential graded at 60. This past week, he hit his first homer in Kannapolis. Curbelo got off to a very slow start at the end of May but so far in June, he is slashing .286/.342/.429 for an ISO at .143 and a wRC+ at 119. He does not have a lot of game experience because of injury — only 71 games, in about two years of eligible game action. This batting average of .368 over the past week will not hold, but more consistent weeks already are a good sign for the young middle infielder.

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Great Falls Voyagers

Lenyn Sosa: .407 BA, 1 HR, 6 R, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K ***MVP of the Week***

Logan Sowers: .333 BA, 1 HR, 5 R, 3 RBI, 5 BB, 9 K, 1 SB

Gunnar Troutwine: .333 BA, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K

Romy Gonzalez: .278 BA, 2 R, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K

Ramon Beltre: .211 BA, 1 HR, 3 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Bennett Sousa: 3 IP, -0.01 FIP, 18.00 K/9, 0.00 BB/9

Andrew Perez: 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, 2.12 FIP, 8.44 FIP, 0.00 BB/9

Jason Bilous: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 4.91 FIP, 2.08 K/9, 2.08 BB/9

Jonathan Stiever: 3 IP, 1.99 FIP, 18.00 K/9, 3.00 BB/9

Codi Heuer: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 9.99 FIP, 5.40 K/9, 8.10 BB/9

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AZL White Sox

Camilo Quinteiro: .500 BA, 8 R, 3 RBI, 7 BB, 6 K, 3 SB ***MVP of the Week***

Luis Mieses: .379 BA, 1 HR, 7 R, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K, 2 SB

Harvin Mendoza: .385 BA, 1 R, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K

Cabrera Weaver: .313 BA, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 6 K

Lency Delgado: .273, 1 HR, 8 R, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 7 K

Kelvin Maldonado: .111 BA, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K

Kleyder Sanchez: .083 BA, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

Nelson Acosta: 5 IP, 2.60 FIP, 12.60 K/9, 1.80 BB/9

Brayan Herrera: 10 IP, 4.70 FIP, 4.50 K/9, 2.50 BB/9

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DSL White Sox

Jefferson Mendoza: .231 BA, 1 R, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 3 K

Omar Martinez: .125 BA, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Jose Rodriguez: .200 BA, 1 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K

Hector Acosta: 4 IP, 3.98 FIP, 9.00 K/9, 2.25 BB/9 ***MVP of the Week***

Francisco Benitez: 3 IP, 4.40 FIP, 6.00 K/9, 3.00 BB/9