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White Sox Minor League Update: June 16, 2021

Starting pitching up and down the system was fantastic, as Jake Burger homers again and DJ Gladney and the Cannon Ballers are starting to get hot

By Darren Black
DJ Gladney hit his fourth homer of the season in the Cannon Ballers win.
Tiffany Wintz/South Side Sox

A trend throughout the system starts here, as the starting pitching was very good. For Charlotte, Alex McRae went five strong innings with just one run allowed. He did have some command issues with a wild pitch, hit-by-pitch, and three walks, but none of that mattered in the end because the offense was doing really well. Once he got lifted for Jace Fry (who had one of the worst-pitched games of his rehab stint), the Knights had a 5-1 lead thanks to some big prospect names. Gavin Sheets, Jake Burger, and Luis González each had an RBI double.

Tim Beckham didn’t want the young ’uns to have all the fun, though, and outdid them all with his seventh homer of the season, and a fantastic bat drop. Somebody was not happy Brian Goodwin got the promotion to the White Sox, and Beckham has taken it out on some baseballs.

Beckham’s homer was just the beginning for the offense. They went on to score eight more runs, one of which was a Burger homer. Beckham would also hit another homer as well, for back-to-back games with two homers.

In total, the offense had 11 hits and three walks. Of those 11 hits, eight were for extra-bases. It was an offensive onslaught, especially in the second half of the game. The bullpen was still pretty good even, if they were overshadowed. Ofriedy Gómez had another scoreless appearance, as well as Hunter Schryve, though in Schryver’s case it was more eventful, with two hits allowed. Even if those hits scored, though, it wouldn’t have been enough to overcome an 11-2 lead.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 8%
    Alex McRae: 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K
    (15 votes)
  • 62%
    Tim Beckham: 2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
    (108 votes)
  • 28%
    Jake Burger: 2-for-5, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (49 votes)
172 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 54%
    Blake Rutherford: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
    (70 votes)
  • 27%
    Nick Williams: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
    (36 votes)
  • 17%
    Jace Fry: 1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K
    (23 votes)
129 votes total Vote Now

This one is a little different than the rest of the slate. No, the starting pitcher still did well, but Konnor Pilkington left with the Barons down 2-1 after his five innings. He allowed two runs in the third inning where he got knocked around a bit, but he recovered to keep the damage at two for the remainder of his outing. His breakout year on the mound continues, as he keeps his strikeout numbers up. Pilkington is still pounding the strike zone, and even when he gets into trouble one inning he can move on and not melt down. It has been a fantastic year for him, while several other MiLB White Sox pitchers are having down years.

Unfortunately, the Birmingham offense could not help him out tonight.

The Barons offense was just not good. They got eight hits, but just one was for extra bases, and they only walked once. Meanwhile, Birmingham struck out 12 times and were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Several players did get two hits on the day though: Zack Granite, Carlos Pérez, and Laz Rivera. Pérez was the hitter with the lone double on the day. Félix Paulino finished the game strong, just in case the Barons decided to score again. He went three perfect innings with four strikeouts to end the game.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 56%
    Konnor Pilkington: 5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 K
    (63 votes)
  • 40%
    Félix Paulino: 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 4
    (45 votes)
  • 3%
    Carlos Pérez: 2-for-4, 0 BB, 0 K
    (4 votes)
112 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 89%
    Romy González: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 3 K
    (79 votes)
  • 10%
    Joel Booker: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 2 K
    (9 votes)
88 votes total Vote Now

A great start from Johan Dominguez set the table for the Dash to win their 18th game of the season.

Dominguez went six shutout innings, and had his typical, great pitching performance. He did not strike out out many batters, but he got outs when he needed them with soft contact. He did allow three hits, but they were all singles, and the only run that he saw cross the plate was due to a Luis Curbelo throwing error. This was a great start even if the Dash had scored a ton of runs, but they didn’t, so Dominguez’s dominance was just that much more important.

The offense first got on the board in the third inning where they scored a couple of runs. Lenyn Sosa had a line shot that scored Tyler Osik and Alex Destino.

After that RBI single, it was mostly on the pitching to hold the lead and win the game, but the Dash did add a crucial run in the sixth on a GIDP for some necessary insurance.

The Dash only had five hits, and just three walks on top of that. They did not have many opportunities with runners in scoring position and they did not take advantage when those happened, but at least the one hit from Sosa was enough. The bullpen took over and did allow one run, but Luke Shilling and Brian Glowicki closed out the game and the 3-2 win.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 85%
    Johan Dominguez: 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 K
    (67 votes)
  • 14%
    Lenyn Sosa: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (11 votes)
78 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 34%
    Yolbert Sánchez: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
    (23 votes)
  • 65%
    Luis Curbelo: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 Error
    (43 votes)
  • 0%
    Johan Cruz: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 2 K
    (0 votes)
66 votes total Vote Now

Andrew Dalquist got the start today and was fine, in the most average game one could have. He went four innings and allowed just two runs, but he allowed a lot of hitters to reach base, seven (five hits and two walks). The command was not fantastic (30 balls in 72 pitches) and he did not have strikeout stuff, but he got the job done and kept the damage at a minimum. The bullpen was much better as a whole, though. In the final five innings, Keyvius Sampson, Sammy Peralta, and Jordan Mikel combined for seven strikeouts in their five shutout innings to keep Kannapolis in the game.

With the game tied 2-2 going into the eighth inning, the Cannon Ballers scored four runs over the final two frames to win the game. Chase Krogman drove in the first two runs in the eighth with a double, his lone hit of the evening. DJ Gladney took the ball all the way out in the ninth with his fourth homer of the season; he had three hits on the day. Luis Mieses and José Rodríguez also collected three hits each as the offense had a hell of a day, and Kannapolis seems to be on a roll right now — at least for a 9-28 team.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 3%
    Sammy Peralta: 1 2⁄3 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 K
    (3 votes)
  • 88%
    DJ Gladney: 3-for-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K
    (77 votes)
  • 8%
    José Rodríguez: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 SB
    (7 votes)
87 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 71%
    Bryan Ramos: 0-for-5, 0 BB, 1 K
    (43 votes)
  • 28%
    Caberea Weaver: 0-for-5, 0 BB, 1 K
    (17 votes)
60 votes total Vote Now

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