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White Sox Minor League Update: May 21, 2021

Knights get two-hit, Barons lose a close one, Dash pitch a three-hitter, Kanny! wins! a game!!

By Julie Brady
Smells Like Teen Spirit: 19-year-old D.J. Gladney went deep for the second time in Kannapolis.
Kim Contreras/South Side Sox

Linescore of Knights/Bulls
Batter performance in box score
Pitcher performance in box score

Box score link

Tonight, the Knights pitched very well and hit very poorly. The Burg hit another bomb, his fifth of the year, with two outs in the first inning and has finally crested the Mendoza line (by “The Burg,” I am of course referring to third baseman Jake Burger; “The Burg” is a nod to the first four letters of his last name being “B-U-R-G”). This was the last hit from the team until the sixth inning, when Mikie Mahtook got the Knights off the hook with a solo shot of his own that put them up 2-1. This, however, was the last hit from the team, full stop. They had two hits. The Knights did not walk in this game, but they did strike out 15 times!

Jimmy Lambert has not been missing bats in the League Formerly Known as International, but today was a bit of a return to form for him, as he went three innings, allowing just one hit and one run (a notable improvement), walking one and striking out five. Tanner Banks, who seems to have fully converted from starting to relief, was even better behind him, also going three innings but giving up no runs, although he did walk three.

Then in came Hunter Schryver, not too far removed from Tommy John and trying to return to the level of pitching he was capable of pre-surgery. He threw one scoreless inning and it was up to Nik Turley in the eighth, who, like Banks, has been mostly a starter in his career and is only more recently exclusively in the bullpen. Turley got up to two outs, allowing a single, then gave up what would be the tying and winning runs, both scoring on a home run by 2016 Rays first round pick Josh Lowe. Wander Franco, the top prospect notably not called up by the Rays today, went 1-for-4.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 57%
    Jake Burger: 1-for-3, HR, R, RBI, K
    (44 votes)
  • 3%
    Mikie Mahtook: 1-for-3, HR, R, RBI, 2 K
    (3 votes)
  • 38%
    Jimmy Lambert: 3 IP, H, R, BB, 5 K
    (29 votes)
76 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 33%
    Blake Rutherford: 0-for-4, 2 K
    (19 votes)
  • 24%
    Brian Goodwin: 0-for-4, 2 K
    (14 votes)
  • 42%
    Nate Nolan: 0-for-3, 3 K
    (24 votes)
57 votes total Vote Now
Linescore between Biscuits/Barons
Batter performance box score
Pitching performance box score

Box score link

Lefty John Parke is weird because he’s not a top prospect, he doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but somehow he’s always cruising. He had a 3.65 ERA in literally 69 innings with the Dash in 2019, despite striking out basically nobody (4.2 K/9) with a WHIP of 1.139. He was actually even better after his promotion to the Barons, showing off a 2.59 ERA in 14 starts covering 76 ⅓ innings. His walks dropped, hits dropped, and strikeouts bumped all the way up to 5.1 per nine innings—in a pitcher’s league, to be sure, but it’s certainly more impressive than those numbers going the other way instead.

And now here he still is with Birmingham after a lengthy layoff (there was a pandemic), and he’s had a very okay start to the year. He was not helped out in the field today by his defense, which made three errors behind him, or his offense, which went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and while it’s not his best line, there are worse than 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 6 K. Three of the runs came in the first (a Romy González error at shortstop contributed) and two more in the third (Ian Dawkins error in center field).

This all leads us to the question: Is John Parke good? I have no idea. In any event, he was relieved by Peter Tago, who gave up a home run to the third batter he faced (2015 Rays first-round pick Garrett Whitley. Lots of victimization by Rays first rounders tonight). Tago gave way to Zach Muckenhirn, a lefty trying to stick with the Sox system after exiting the Orioles, who pitched well, and so did Luis Ledo in the ninth. Ledo throws 99 mph and often has no idea where it’s going, but when he does, he’s a scary man. He apparently did know where it was going tonight, striking out two in his scoreless inning.

The Biscuits’ six runs were too much for the Barons to overcome, although encouragingly, Micker Adolfo went deep for the fifth time this season. JJ Muno also homered, although this was a little less expected, given that he has played now 163 games in his professional career and has hit six dingers. Craig Dedelow reached base via walk and hit and scored both times. Ti’Quan Forbes, playing first base today although he can play pretty much anywhere, singled twice in four at-bats. González returned from a weeklong HBP recovery to go 0-for-4.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 43%
    Micker Adolfo: 1-for-4, HR, R, RBI, K
    (22 votes)
  • 47%
    JJ Muno: 1-for-4, HR, R, 3 RBI
    (24 votes)
  • 3%
    Craig Dedelow: 1-for-3, 2 R, BB
    (2 votes)
  • 5%
    Ti’Quan Forbes: 2-for-4, 2 K
    (3 votes)
51 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 55%
    Ian Dawkins: 0-for-5, 2 K
    (24 votes)
  • 4%
    Romy Gonzalez: 0-for-4, 2 K
    (2 votes)
  • 39%
    John Parke (L): 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
    (17 votes)
43 votes total Vote Now
Dash/BlueClaws line score
Batter box score
Pitcher box score

Box score link

The Dash were able to claw their way (BlueClaw their way?) back up to .500 with absolutely outstanding pitching performances from Davis Martin and Jerry Burke. Martin, a Kannapolis rotation mainstay in 2019 who struggled to the tune of a 5.04 ERA in 27 starts, left this game after five perfect innings and five strikeouts. He threw 54 pitches and located 40 of them for strikes (if I had to guess, he’s still getting stretched out both with the new season and with the yearlong layoff (there was a pandemic)).

Burke is fresh from Kannapolis himself, with today his first appearance at the High-A level, and while he wasn’t perfect, he left little room for complaint. He walked the first batter he faced, ending the perfecto, and immediately erased him on a double play. He walked another batter in the seventh inning, nestled in between three strikeouts. He didn’t lose the no-hitter until the leadoff batter of the eighth inning (single), and gave up two more singles in the ninth to give the BlueClaws a relatively respectable three total. Burke actually ended up throwing eleven more pitches than Martin in one fewer inning, but you can’t argue with the results.

Dash bats were hot in a way they have not necessarily been so far, a third-inning Lenyn Sosa double scoring center fielder Duke Ellis, who singled and stole second to put himself in scoring position. They exploded for four runs in the seventh, and it would have been more, but Sosa was thrown out at home trying to score on a bases-loaded Yolbert Sánchez double and first extra-base-hit of his White Sox career.

Lázaro Leal continues hitting well, picking up two hits tonight, as did Ellis and Luis Curbelo. Sosa reached twice and Tyler Osik walked.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 89%
    Davis Martin (W): 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
    (34 votes)
  • 0%
    Jerry Burke (S): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K
    (0 votes)
  • 5%
    Yolbert Sánchez: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI
    (2 votes)
  • 5%
    Lenyn Sosa: 1-for-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K
    (2 votes)
38 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 27%
    Alex Destino: 0-for-4, K
    (8 votes)
  • 72%
    Luis Mieses: 0-for-4, GIDP
    (21 votes)
29 votes total Vote Now
Fireflies/Cannon Ballers linescore
Batting box score
Pitching box score

Box score link

Extremely good news from Kannapolis!! The Cannon Ballers started what I can only hope will be a 14-2 stretch by winning their second baseball game of the year, improving their record to 2-14. This wasn’t a squeaker like their previous victory, a 1-0 win last weekend; this was a comfortable four-run margin of victory. D.J. Gladney hit his second home run of the year in the first inning! Victor Torres and Caberea Weaver each hit their first! James Beard walked, stole second, was balked to third, and then scored on an error!

In the eighth inning, Gladney also walked, went to second when AJ Gill was hit by a pitch, then scored on the vaunted Torres single/left fielder error combo. José Rodriguez, the only Baller hitting better than .200, went 0-for-4 to tug his average back down below .300. Benyamin Bailey and Lency Delgado picked up a much-needed hit apiece.

It was 20-year-old Andrew Dalquist’s start, just his seventh overall with the Sox since being drafted out of high school in the third round of the 2019 draft. Dalquist gave up two runs on four hits, a walk, and a hit by pitch. Angel Acevedo came on in relief for his first appearance of the season, throwing 3 ⅔ impeccable innings, giving up one hit and striking out six. Rigo Fernandez, in Kannapolis after repeating Great Falls in 2019, also pitched well, with 2 ⅓ hitless innings, walking three and striking out two.

Oh, it hasn’t been easy for this team, they’re so young and so inexperienced, but maybe they’re starting to figure out … something. It’s hard to imagine them continuing at a .125 winning percentage, in any case.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 19%
    D.J. Gladney: 1-for-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K
    (8 votes)
  • 0%
    Caberea Weaver: 1-for-5, HR, R, RBI, 3 K
    (0 votes)
  • 43%
    Victor Torres: 3-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, E
    (18 votes)
  • 36%
    Angel Acevedo (W): 3 ⅔ IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
    (15 votes)
41 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 65%
    José Rodriguez: 0-for-4, K
    (19 votes)
  • 34%
    AJ Gill: 0-for-3, 2 K, HBP
    (10 votes)
29 votes total Vote Now

Bonus Poll

Poll

Julie Brady has just dashed right in here and injected FULL box scores to the Minor League Updates. What’s your preference?

This poll is closed

  • 53%
    Just White Sox affiliate box scores/pitching lines
    (26 votes)
  • 40%
    Box scores/pitching lines for both teams
    (20 votes)
  • 6%
    I hate box scores and prefer to rely solely on the prosaic prose of Brett Ballantini, Darren Black, Julie Brady, Joe Resis and Year of the Hamster.
    (3 votes)
49 votes total Vote Now

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