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White Sox Minor League Update: July 25, 2021

With one week before the trade deadline, it is the best time for prospects to show out and Micker Adolfo, with two homers, and Matthew Thompson, with five shutout innings, did just that

By Darren Black
Matthew Thompson had his best start of the year, the last one before the trade deadline.
Tiffany Wintz/South Side Sox

Jonathan Stiever’s struggles continued, but Micker Adolfo and Yermín Mercedes went back-to-back with homers in a six-run loss. That back-to-back was the second homer of the game for Adolfo, so he had a very fun day.

Though Adolfo did show a lot of power in Birmingham, it is undeniable that it’s easier to homer in Charlotte, and he already has his first two homers.

Meanwhile, Mercedes has had an interesting week, to say the least. Whether he really thought out what he wants to do in his baseball career, he has and will always mash baseballs — certainly, in the minors. He and Adolfo both had three hits apiece, as they were in a bit of an OPS battle. Right now, Adolfo (1.175) leads Mercedes (1.067) in their limited games in Triple-A. Both have to be on the trade block this deadline, for different reasons, but a good week by either could go a long way to help the Sox in the immediate future and their careers for the long term.

Those were not the only homers, though, it was a very offensive day. Blake Rutherford’s fifth homer of the season started a rally to tie the game.

Nick Williams tied it up later, as he is probably rooting for some outfielders to be moved so he can get a bit more playing time.

That was the offense. The pitching did not do its job.

Stiever got the start, and he just does not have it this season. In 3 2⁄3 innings he allowed seven runs on six hits, with four walks. He has struggled with command all season, and it continues with a 6.41 ERA after this start. Bennett Sousa was not much help, either. He relieved Stiever and allowed two runs, while a third scored as unearned due to a passed ball. The game was still in reach at that point, at 10-8, but Zack Burdi came in to make sure the Knights were not going to win the game. He now has a 7.13 ERA in Triple-A after allowing five runs and only getting three outs in this game. It was an offensive onslaught, but a pitching disaster.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Yermín Mercedes: 3-for-5, 1 HR, 0 BB, 1 K
    (1 vote)
  • 99%
    Micker Adolfo: 3-for-5, 2 HR, 3 R, 5 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (120 votes)
  • 0%
    Blake Rutherford: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K
    (0 votes)
121 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 3%
    Zach Remillard: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 4 K
    (4 votes)
  • 58%
    Jonathan Stiever: 3 2⁄3 IP, 7 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 5 K
    (60 votes)
  • 37%
    Zack Burdi: 1 IP, 5 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 0 K
    (38 votes)
102 votes total Vote Now

A great game from most for Birmingham, as a lot of lower-tier prospects showed up in a big way, especially in the batter’s box. They had 13 total hits, and five walks to go with that. Every batter had at least one hit, while three of them had multiple. Joel Booker came away with two singles, while Jameson Fisher and Ian Dawkins both had homers.

That was Dawkins third homer in Double-A, as he extended the Barons lead to five. For Fisher, he had three hits on the day, and his eighth inning, two-run homer put the game out of reach. It is not the greatest looking lineup now, with Micker Adolfo, Laz Rivera, and Ti’Quan Forbes all in Charlotte, but the remaining Barons still went out and hit.

Meanwhile, the six runs allowed do not look great, but that was because of one pitcher, Peter Tago. He allowed four of the six runs in the sixth inning. Before that, Konnor Pilkington continued his great season with another good start. He went five strong innings, two runs allowed to go with six strikeouts. This makes the fourth straight start for him where he has allowed two runs or fewer. Pilkington really has had just one very bad start all year, and he is not mentioned in trade talks often. But if the Sox have him come August, he should be in Triple-A.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 34%
    Jameson Fisher: 3-for-5, 1 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K
    (24 votes)
  • 21%
    Ian Dawkins: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K
    (15 votes)
  • 42%
    Konnor Pilkington: 5 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 6 K
    (30 votes)
  • 1%
    Luis Ledo: 2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K
    (1 vote)
70 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 100%
    Peter Tago: 1 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 0 K
    (56 votes)
  • 0%
    Nobody
    (0 votes)
56 votes total Vote Now

The Dash had an eight-run third inning, but still lost by four, somehow. Most of that is due to pitching that allowed 12 hits, as four of the five Winston-Salem pitchers allowed two runs or more. That started with Bailey Horn, who has just not been very good since his promotion. He did not have fantastic command in his three innings, so he allowed four runs. Unfortunately, the bullpen was even worse. Wilber Perez allowed two more runs to shave the Dash lead down to two. Then Ryan Williamson gave up the lead in the fifth and then allowed the BlueClaws the go-ahead runs in the sixth. Caleb Freeman would allow the last two runs in the ninth inning. Brian Glowicki was the only pitcher on the day to do well. He went two shutout innings and struck out five.

For the offense, well they had one very good inning and they did not do so well in the other eight. Luis Robert did start off the third-inning rally as he keeps it going during his rehab assignment.

The Dash had a couple of bombs from Luis Curbelo and Lázaro Leal in the third, as well. Curbelo went first with his 15th homer of the season.

Leal went next with a three-run homer, it was his first in a Dash uniform.

That brings us to eight runs, and nothing really happened after that for the offense. Most batters did not even reach base again; Leal did, though, as he reached base in all four of his plate appearances.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 86%
    Lázaro Leal: 2-for-2, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 0 K
    (46 votes)
  • 3%
    Luis Curbelo: 1-for-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (2 votes)
  • 9%
    Brian Glowicki: 2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K
    (5 votes)
53 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 23%
    Bailey Horn: 3 IP, 4 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 K
    (11 votes)
  • 73%
    Avery Williamson: 2 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 1 K
    (34 votes)
  • 2%
    Alex Destino: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 3 K
    (1 vote)
46 votes total Vote Now

Hopefully some scouts from, say, the Pirates or Nationals were at today’s game, because Matthew Thompson was great in his final start before the trade deadline. He went five innings and did not allow a run. His command was very good, and he only needed 57 pitches for those five innings. He has a 7.34 ERA on the year so hopefully, if there were any scouts there, only paid attention to just this one game from Thompson. Unfortunately for the Cannon Ballers, he was really it for great performances on the day.

Samil Polanco and Harvin Mendoza were the two players to collect hits. Nobody else did anything else. So to go on the same notion that scouts were there, hopefully they choose instead to look at José Rodríguez’s and Bryan Ramos’ entire body of work this season. To tie a knot on this rather dreary game, though, once Thompson was removed from the game, the bullpen allowed some runs. Well, Sammy Peralta allowed some runs, two in the sixth inning, and that was all she wrote for the game with how poor the Kannapolis bats were. Pauly Milto did come in after Peralta and had a good outing, going two shutout innings that lowered his ERA to 1.23.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 95%
    Matthew Thompson: 5 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K
    (64 votes)
  • 0%
    Pauly Milto: 2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (0 votes)
  • 4%
    Rick Hahn’s trade talks
    (3 votes)
67 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 24%
    Sammy Peralta: 1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 K
    (11 votes)
  • 4%
    Caberea Weaver: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 2 K
    (2 votes)
  • 71%
    Chase Krogman: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 3 K
    (32 votes)
45 votes total Vote Now

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