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White Sox Minor League Update: May 25, 2021

Some poor baseball in North Carolina ... but guess what, the Barons won again! Oh, and Adam Engel is back, too

By Darren Black
MLB: San Diego Padres at Chicago White Sox
Adam Engel homered in his first rehab start.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

This game was very winnable game, but the Knights threw it away with poor play. They had four errors, including two from Jake Burger (whose defensive woes are becoming more of a problem), with Gavin Sheets and Danny Dopico pocketing the other two. The offense was good, but it could not make up for the multiple errors and lackluster bullpen in the eighth and ninth.

Reynaldo López got the start in this one, and his off-and-on starts continue even in Triple-A. This one was pretty good they — López did get hit around a bit, with seven hits allowed and did not have his swing-and-miss stuff — but he still got his job done.

Some interesting things happened at the beginning of the game, like the López start and Gavin Sheets getting an RBI single. It was in the last three innings where everything got weird. The Knights took a 3-2 lead in the seventh, thanks to a Jake Burger double as he tried to offset his poor defense. However, Ryan Burr and the defense gave up the lead an inning later. In the top of the ninth, Adam Engel (who was making his first rehab start) tied the game 4-4 with a homer, but that joy disappeared quickly.

Dopico came in to get the game to extras and couldn’t get an out. He allowed an inning-opening single, and the runner advanced after a passed ball. A batter later, Dopico tried to field a sacrifice bunt but threw the ball away, for the walk-off error.

Again, it was just poor baseball for the Knights.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 25%
    Reynaldo López: 5 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 2 K
    (29 votes)
  • 66%
    Adam Engel: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K
    (74 votes)
  • 8%
    Marco Hernández: 2-for-4, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K
    (9 votes)
112 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 51%
    Danny Dopico: 0 IP, 0 ER (1 R), 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 Error
    (38 votes)
  • 28%
    Ryan Burr: 1 IP, 1 ER, (2 R), 1 BB, 1 K
    (21 votes)
  • 20%
    Luis González: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 1 K
    (15 votes)
74 votes total Vote Now

A promotion, and a legit one at that, for Jason Bilous. He went 14 2⁄3 innings with Winston-Salem and had 26 strikeouts with a 2.45 ERA. And guess what? He continued that success in Double-A. He went five good innings and allowed just one run. Due to the offensive performances early in this game, the Barons needed a good performance from their starter and the bullpen arms that replaced Bilous.

Once Bilous came out of the game, it was lights-out for the Rocket City Trash Pandas (yeah, I don’t know what that means either ... raccoons maybe?). Jake Elliott, Anderson Severino, and Andrew Perez combined for four shutout innings, and Perez was the only arm to allow a hit. It was a dominant pitching performance throughout the game, which was essential because it did take a bit for the offense to get going.

It was a 1-1 heading into the eighth inning, and that was when the offense got started. Ti’Quan Forbes drove in the go-ahead (and eventual winning) run with a single. Carlos Pérez came in and extended the lead to 4-1 with a single for himself. Zack Granite, who’s keeping his OPS over 1.000, had a double to put the game where it would eventually end, at 5-1.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 88%
    Jason Bilous: 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 K
    (72 votes)
  • 4%
    Zack Granite: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
    (4 votes)
  • 4%
    Carlos Pérez: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K
    (4 votes)
  • 1%
    Jake Elliott: 2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
    (1 vote)
81 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 44%
    Micker Adolfo: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 3 K
    (30 votes)
  • 48%
    Romy González: 0-for-5, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K
    (33 votes)
  • 7%
    Jameson Fisher: 0-for-3, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K
    (5 votes)
68 votes total Vote Now

This is where the blowouts begin, in A-ball. The Dash were down immediately in this game and never really got back into it. Isaiah Carranza had the start and allowed seven runs while just recording six outs; to say he didn’t have it today would be an understatement. Of his 60 pitches, 31 were balls, so most of the time Carranza wasn’t even getting his pitches in the zone. It did get better under Dan Metzdorf, who went four innings and allowed three runs, but the Dash were already out of the game.

Luis Curbelo did still want to show off his offensive game, though.

That homer was just one of five hits for the Dash in a rain-shortened game. There was one bright spot on the pitching side, too, in Edgar Navarro. In what was his best outing so far this season, he went one inning and struck out two. That was really it — thankfully the game was called.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 87%
    Luis Curbelo: 1-for-3, 1 HR, 0 BB, 2 K
    (48 votes)
  • 12%
    Edgar Navarro: 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
    (7 votes)
55 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 97%
    Isaiah Carranza: 2 IP, 7 ER, 8 H, 4 BB, 0 K
    (48 votes)
  • 2%
    Dan Metzdorf: 4 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (1 vote)
49 votes total Vote Now

***Do not read this if you like pitching***

Just another very tough day for the Cannon Ballers, with a blowout loss to Carolina. Funny enough, they actually started out well in the top of the first. Bryan Ramos drove in José Rodriguez with a double to take a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, that was the high point for Kannapolis, as Matthew Thompson had a tough day on the mound.

Thompson was only able to get four outs in the game, while allowing seven runs. His command was all over the place, with three walks, and 50% of his pitches were out of the zone. It was his worst start of the season, and his ERA ballooned from 2.70 to 6.75. Ty Madrigal took over for Thompson and was better — not hard to do, but it kind of was. Madrigal went three innings and allowed four runs, which was better, but the game was officially out of reach for the Cannon Ballers while he was on the mound. For good measure, you know, in case the Cannon Ballers wanted to come back, Carolina added another 12 runs, for a total of 23. Rigo Fernández, McKinley Moore, and Brandon Bossard were on the mound for those 12 runs, though four of them were unearned. It was just a really bad pitching day.

The offense was fine, but it clearly was not enough. Rodriguez kept his power swing going with another homer, and James Beard added a three-run homer as well. Lency Delgado and Bryan Ramos had multi-hit days, but nothing could compare to what the Mudcats did.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 52%
    José Rodriguez: 2-for-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 0 BB, 0 K
    (27 votes)
  • 7%
    James Beard: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (4 votes)
  • 39%
    Bryan Ramos: 3-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
    (20 votes)
51 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 94%
    Matthew Thompson: 1 1⁄3 IP, 7 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 1 K
    (52 votes)
  • 0%
    Ty Madrigal: 3 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 6 K
    (0 votes)
  • 3%
    Rigo Fernández: 2 1⁄3 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K
    (2 votes)
  • 0%
    McKinley Moore: 1 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (0 votes)
  • 1%
    Brandon Bossard: 1⁄3 IP, 1 ER (5 R), 4 H, 1 BB, 0 K
    (1 vote)
55 votes total Vote Now

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