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White Sox Minor League Update: July 13, 2021

Every team lost, but there were homers to go around for Luis González, Romy González, Micker Adolfo, and Chase Krogman

By Darren Black
Luis González homered in a loss for Charlotte, as his good July continues.
Laura Wolff/Charlotte Knights

Not a great day for Charlotte, especially if you are a pitcher on the 40-man roster. Jimmy Lambert started the game, and only got through one inning. He allowed one run, while another scored on an error. After that, it became a bullpen game, with three straight bullpeners going multiple innings: Kyle Kubat went three and Danny Dopico threw a couple of innings as well. Tyler Johnson was in the middle of those two, and actually was decent; the only time he had trouble and saw a run cross the plate was because of a Yermín Mercedes passed ball. (Mercedes already has five, so catching is not going great.) Zack Burdi ended the game and just wasn’t good, as he struggled with command.

Mercedes was better with the bat, though. He had a couple of hits, including an RBI double. The offense did not add much overall and that included Eloy Jiménez, who did not record a hit. He got a walk, though, so he keeps reaching base at least.

The big bat of the day — with some good base running as well — goes to Luis González. He took one out to left-center that barely got over the wall.

It would have at least been a double, so he still crushed it. González’s other hit was a single, but he quickly turned that into two bags with a stolen base.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 18%
    Yermín Mercedes: 2-for-3, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (17 votes)
  • 81%
    Luis González: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K
    (73 votes)
90 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 50%
    Matt Reynolds: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 Error
    (39 votes)
  • 32%
    Jimmy Lambert 1 IP, 1 ER, (2 R), 2 BB, 2 K
    (25 votes)
  • 16%
    Zack Burdi: 1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K
    (13 votes)
77 votes total Vote Now

Another losing effort on the farm, but some good guys got big hits; it’s the minors, so that’s what matters. Romy González did this:

and then Micker Adolfo did this:

That was fun! In total the Barons had 10 hits, doubling Rocket City, but Birmingham somehow lost the game. It probably has something more to do with the offense’s 13 strikeouts, but it’s still hard to lose when you double up the opposing team in hits. Adolfo’s lone hit was that homer, but González had a couple more, and then a stolen base, his 14th of the year.

The pitching was not so good, especially the starters. Jason Bilous has mostly struggled in his time in Double-A, with a 5.45 ERA, and that continued tonight with five runs allowed against seven outs. Félix Paulino replaced him and did better, but still pretty bad. He allowed two homers, as Rocket City got three runs off of him against eight outs. The bullpen slowed things down, and that included a good appearance from Bennett Sousa. who had a no-hit ninth inning to lower his ERA to 2.74.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 87%
    Romy González: 3-for-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 SB
    (62 votes)
  • 12%
    Micker Adolfo: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K
    (9 votes)
71 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 92%
    Jason Bilous: 2 1⁄3 IP, 5 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 K
    (52 votes)
  • 7%
    Félix Paulino: 2 2⁄3 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K
    (4 votes)
56 votes total Vote Now

Not a great performance here by Kannapolis, especially the pitching. Only Garvin Alston Jr. was able to keep Carolina from scoring, while every other CBs chucker allowed at least two runs. Angel Acevedo started the game and allowed five runs; he has a 6.55 ERA so that is not really surprising. Same thing with Marcus Evey, who gave up two runs and now has an 11.03 ERA. The surprising appearance came from was Brandon Jenkins; he has a 2.50 ERA but allowed two runs while only getting one out tonight. Alston came in for 2 2⁄3 innings to settle things down.

But scoring more than 10 runs is difficult, especially for Kannapolis.

The hitting was not bad; the offense had nine hits on the day and two walks — nine less runners on base than the Mudcats. Chase Krogman led the way with two hits, including his sixth homer of the season.

Krogman has been struggling a bit getting hits, but his .814 OPS does look good, as the power has been there so far this season. Krogman also had an error today, which seems to be a problem for him (seven, and remember, he missed a few weeks injured). DJ Gladney had two hits as well, but the difference is he had a double instead of a homer. Gladney has the same batting average as Krogman, but the OPS is nowhere close.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 47%
    DJ Gladney: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
    (24 votes)
  • 33%
    Chase Krogman: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 Error
    (17 votes)
  • 19%
    Garvin Alston Jr.: 2 2⁄3 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (10 votes)
51 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 78%
    Angel Acevedo: 4 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 3 K
    (36 votes)
  • 0%
    Marcus Evey: 2 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 0 K
    (0 votes)
  • 21%
    Trey Jenkins: 1⁄3 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 1 K
    (10 votes)
46 votes total Vote Now

Last and not very least, the final loss of the night goes to the ACL White Sox. This time it was a bit of a mixed bag all around. Cristian Mena, one of the better prospects on the club, got the start and was pretty good. He went five innings with just two runs allowed. The command probably was not where Mena wanted it with three walks, so he had eight runners on base in those five innings. However, the seven strikeouts helped him keep scoring to just two. The bullpen was a problem for AC but so was the defense. The pen saw four runs cross the plate, and two of them came because of errors.

The offense was not much better. ACL had six hits, but that came at a cost of 16 strikeouts, so it was not a pretty day at the plate. The ACL Sox were also 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, so they could have made it a better game (maybe even won), but came up short when it mattered.

Wilfred Veras homered in the game, his first of the season, while five other batters had hits. Logan Glass had a double and Jhoneiker Betancourt reached base three times on the night (one single and two walks). This team should be getting draft reinforcements soon, which means promotions in Arizona and everywhere. Without the second rookie league it is still tough to imagine where some of these guys go, but the top two Sox picks were high-schoolers so they may not even get much time in the ACL this season. Whatever happens, maybe a win will actually come soon.

Poll

Who was the ACL Sox MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 17%
    Wilfred Veras: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 0 BB, 2 K
    (7 votes)
  • 10%
    Jhoneiker Betancourt: 1-for-2, 2 BB, 0 K
    (4 votes)
  • 71%
    Cristian Mena: 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 7 K
    (28 votes)
39 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the ACL Sox Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 28%
    Sam Abbott: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 3 K
    (10 votes)
  • 68%
    Anthony Espinoza: 0-for-5, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 Error
    (24 votes)
  • 2%
    Erick Bello: 1 IP, 1 ER (2 R), 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K
    (1 vote)
35 votes total Vote Now

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