White Sox Minor League Update: June 24, 2019

Durham Bulls 7, Charlotte Knights 2

Ross Detwiler: 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
Colton Turner: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (L, 3-4)
Daniel Palka (DH): 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 K
Matt Skole (1B): 0-for-2, 2 BB
Paulo Orlando (RF): 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K, 1 HBP **Co-MVP**
Alcides Escobar (3B): 1-for-4, 1 K
Seby Zavala (C): 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K **Co-MVP**
Ryan Goins (SS): 2-for-3, 1 2B, 1 BB

Charlotte had more or less nothing going for them on Monday night. Starting pitcher Ross Detwiler, the veteran who’s been consistently solid for them since his signing on May 9, was removed for unknown reasons after just two innings (was it because he gave up two runs? Maybe. Because he’s being called up to fill a gaping, bleeding hole in the Sox rotation? Maybe. Because his head fell off? Maybe). Colton Turner was good in relief, going five and striking out seven, giving up two runs, but the game was already out of reach by the time Connor Walsh entered and gave up three runs in the eighth.

The entirety of Charlotte’s scoring for the night came on solo home runs from Paulo Orlando and Seby Zavala, Orlando’s 10th and Zavala’s 11th. Daniel Palka entered today’s game batting .400 over his last 10 games, and hit a double to keep that average high.

[He also spent some time solving some problems involving air travel, fast food, and the time-space continuum after the game:

And we now return you to your regularly-scheduled recapping.]

Ryan Goins is now batting .320/.408/.519/.928 with the Knights after a two-hit game, which, in my opinion, is good.

---

Birmingham Barons 7, Chattanooga Lookouts 5

John Parke: 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 1 WP
Hunter Schryver: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (W, 1-1)
Luis Robert (CF): 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 K, 1 SB
Nick Madrigal (DH): 3-for-4, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 SB
Luis González (RF): 2-for-3, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB
Gavin Sheets (1B): 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 K
Blake Rutherford (LF): 4-for-5, 2 RBI, 1 K **MVP**
Laz Rivera (SS): 1-for-5, 1 R
Alfredo González (C): 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
Ramón Torres (2B): 1-for-4

When Blake Rutherford does well, we all do well, and we are doing quite well tonight. B. Ruth., who’s hitting .359 over his last 10 games and is at .253 overall for the season, picked up another four hits today, complementing his three-hit game from yesterday, two-hit game from the day before, and one-hit game from the day before that. Who knows what kind of incremental increase tomorrow will bring!

In exciting news, all of the other exciting prospects also did exciting things. Luis Robert is cancelled because he’s so good that he’s boring, but here’s the kind of thing you can look forward to in Chicago before long: Luis Robert leads off the inning with a single. Luis Robert steals second base. Luis Robert advances to third on a wild pitch. Luis Robert scores on the pitcher’s error, trying to pick Madrigal off first.

Speaking of Madrigal, he reached base a casual four times, two via single, once via double, and once via walk; he stole his 24th and 25th bases of the year (combined between levels). He is also now hitting .404 — yes, .404 — as a member of the Barons.

Luis González got in on the action with a double of his own. Gavin Sheets and Laz Rivera happily joined the hit parade.

John Parke made his Double-A debut and got roughed up a little bit, but not until the fourth inning. Hunter Schryver allowed practically nothing again, just one baserunner. Danny Dopico gave up a run in his inning, but still earned the save and has been close to untouchable out of the bullpen.

---

Winston-Salem Dash 3, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 1

Jonathan Stiever: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (W, 1-0) **Co-MVP**
Bennett Sousa: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K (H, 2)
Will Kincanon: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K (S, 2)
Mitch Roman (SS): 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 E
Steele Walker (CF): 1-for-3, 1 SB, 1 HBP
Jameson Fisher (1B): 1-for-4, 1 K
Zach Remillard (3B): 1-for-4, 1 K
Craig Dedelow (LF): 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI **Co-MVP**
JJ Muno (2B): 0-for-0, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB
Evan Skoug (C): 0-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 K

It was the Jonathan Stiever and Craig Dedelow show in Winston-Salem on Monday night (Craig Dede-show?). This was Stiever’s first start since being promoted from Kannapolis last week, and it’s hard to make a better first impression. Stiever sat 95-96, going as high as 98 mph, and gave up nothing but scratch infield singles and also two doubles that we’re not going to focus on. His fastball was working, but also, his breaking pitches were working. It was the kind of start that makes pitching in professional baseball look like it’s easy, actually, anyone can do it.

The Dash weren’t too loud at the plate, not that they needed to be. Dedelow made almost all of the noise, both hits going for extra bases. His first was a double that he came around to score on, and his second was a towering donger to right field, bouncing off the concourse and out of this story. The decently exciting error mentioned in the above tweet from an anonymous person was changed to a hit. I was not wrong at the time! I was not wrong!!

---

Kannapolis Intimidators/Greenville Drive — Suspended due to rain

---

AZL White Sox 8, AZL Diamondbacks 0

Avery Weems: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K (W, 1-0)
Vladimir Núñez: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
James Beard (CF): 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 CS
Sidney Pimentel (SS): 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 K, 1 HBP
José Rodriguez (2B): 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 3B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K **MVP**
DJ Gladney (3B): 0-for-4, 1 RBI, 4 K, 1 E
Bryan Ramos (DH): 1-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K
Ivan Gonzalez (C): 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Tyler Osik (1B): 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K
Jonathan Allen (LF): 2-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 1 K

Avery Weems allowed the first two batters of the ballgame to single and then didn’t give up another hit until the fifth inning, as the fifth-rounder made his second start. Between the two, he’s pitched a gem: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K. No walks is always a welcome sign to see. Send Avery Weems your positive, continue-not-walking-people energy.

The AZL Sox ran rampant at the plate — fourth-rounder James Beard hit his first professional double (we’re so proud!!) to start the first inning, advanced to third on a Sidney Pimentel fly ball, and they both scored when José Rodriguez hit his second home run of the season. In the sixth, Jonathan Allen (32nd round) hit a bases-loaded, two-run double, and he also hit a run-scoring double in the seventh. DJ Gladney (16th round) did strike out four times, but he is also 17 years old, and hit a sacrifice fly, so we forgive him. His sac fly scored Rodriguez, who was a double and a single away from the cycle.

---

DSL Diamondbacks 9, DSL White Sox 1

Francisco Benitez: 5 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1 HBP, 1 PO (L, 0-1)
Frander Veras: 1 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Benyamin Bailey (RF): 1-for-3, 2 BB, 1 SB
Lazaro Leál (LF): 0-for-2, 3 BB
Alberto Bernal (1B): 0-for-3, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 E
Johnabiell Laureano (CF): 0-for-2, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 CS
Jefferson Mendoza (C): 0-for-1, 3 BB, 1 K
Cesar Jiménez (2B): 1-for-4, 1 RBI **MVP**

Arizona wreaked its revenge on Chicago by taking the DSL side of this AZL-DSL pairing tonight. The DSL Sox’s two hits weren’t enough, and neither were their absurd 13 walks as they dropped to 8-12 with a loss to the DSL D-backs. Starting pitcher Francisco Benitez, an 18-year-old righty in his second season with the team, had a perfectly alright start, including the requisite wild pitch and hit by pitch that all DSL starting pitchers are contractually obligated to include in each game. Cristopher Valdez, who is four days younger than Benitez, gave up four earned runs over his 1 ⅓ innings thanks to an inning including two wild pitches, two singles, a double, and a walk. Frander Veras, ancient at age 20, would have escaped unscathed if it hadn’t been for third baseman Edwin Peralta’s error.

Seventeen-year-old sensation Benyamin Bailey gathered one of the DSL Sox hits of the day, a first-inning single on which he advanced to third on the outfielder’s error (because DSL) and Cesar Jiménez (of those Jiménezes) had the other, an RBI single in the sixth. Lazaro Leál and Jefferson Mendoza both walked three times, and neither of them scored once.