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White Sox Minor League Update: July 31, 2021

It’s all about Birmingham, with a doubleheader sweep, one win with the bats, one with the arms

By Brett Ballantini
A homer and a double in the same inning? For Carlos Pérez, no sweat.
Tiffany Wintz/South Side Sox

On a night where Jonathan Stiever got back on track nicely, with five innings of two-run (one earned) ball, in line for a no-decision as his hook came with the game tied 2-2, the bullpen coughed this one up, and hard. Over the next three innings, Nik Turley, Will Carter, Zack Burdi and Hunter Schryver lost all semblance of the plate, tossing eight walks (against four Ks) and giving up eight runs to turn nail-biter to laffer. Stretch-run White Sox hopefuls Luis Robert and Jake Lamb sat 1-2 atop the Knights order and combined for a 5-for-6 day, reaching base in 7-of-8 plate appearances. Lamb got the better of Panther, however, with a double, homer and three RBIs in the loss.

Poll

The Charlotte bullpen got slapped around, 10-4, on Saturday. Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 15%
    Jonathan Stiever: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R/1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, WP
    (18 votes)
  • 16%
    Luis Robert: 2-for-3, R, BB
    (19 votes)
  • 67%
    Jake Lamb: 3-for-3, R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB
    (78 votes)
  • 0%
    Ofriedy Gómez: IP, K, 6 pitches/6 strikes
    (0 votes)
115 votes total Vote Now

Poll

The Charlotte bullpen got slapped around, 10-4, on Saturday. Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 5%
    Nik Turley: 1 2⁄3 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, LOSS
    (5 votes)
  • 2%
    Will Carter: 1⁄3 IP, H, ER, BB, 15 pitches/5 strikes
    (2 votes)
  • 91%
    Zack Burdi: 2⁄3 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, HR, BALK, 33 pitches/15 strikes
    (80 votes)
  • 0%
    Hunter Schryver: 1⁄3 IP, H, 2 BB, K, 17 pitches/7 strikes
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Mikie Mahtook: 0-for-4, K, 5 LOB
    (0 votes)
87 votes total Vote Now

What ho, Birmingham, a rout in this doubleheader opener was a harbinger of sweeps to come. Emilio Vargas has pitched his way back into the Barons rotation — or maybe it was the trade of Konnor Pilkington and matriculation to Charlotte of John Parke? Eh, Vargas has been dynamite so let’s say it’s the former. But this game ain’t about pitching, it’s all offense, so I don’t even have time to tell you that the relievers, Zach Muckenhirn and Luis Ledo, recorded the last six outs of the game in the sixth and seventh on Ks.

Again, Birmingham is, oddly, mashing at Regions Field, so damn straight they mashing on the road. The mashing here was done in the form of homers: two from Joel Booker and one apiece from Carlos Pérez, Tyler Neslony, Xavier Fernández and Ian Dawkins. Four of the homers came as part of a seven-run seventh, with Pérez and Fernández going back-to-back with one out, Dawkins and Booker doing same later in the inning ... still one out. In fact as the Barons batted around, Pérez added a double in the melee.

Poll

Birmingham trashed the Pandas, 11-1, in Saturday’s opener. Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 10%
    Carlos Pérez: 2-for-5, R, HR and 2B in the same inning, RBI, LOB, 0-for-1 CS
    (8 votes)
  • 12%
    Xavier Fernández: 3-for-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, BB
    (9 votes)
  • 1%
    Tyler Neslony: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 3 LOB
    (1 vote)
  • 25%
    Yolbert Sánchez: 3-for-4, R, RBI, 2 LOB
    (19 votes)
  • 36%
    Joel Booker: 3-for-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI, SB, K
    (27 votes)
  • 14%
    Emilio Vargas: 5 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 4 K, HR, WP, WIN
    (11 votes)
  • 0%
    Zach Muckenhirn: IP, 3 K, HOLD, 15 pitches/10 strikes
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Luis Ledo: IP, 3 K, 16 pitches/11 strikes
    (0 votes)
75 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Birmingham trashed the Pandas, 11-1, in Saturday’s opener. Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 98%
    Romy González: 0-for-5, K, 2 LOB
    (52 votes)
  • 1%
    Joe DeCarlo: 0-for-3, R, BB, 2 LOB
    (1 vote)
53 votes total Vote Now

So, manager Justin Jirschele was heard shouting from the dugout during that seven-run seventh, with the game somewhat in hand already, “dudes, chill those bats, save some for the nightcap!”

Guess what? Birmingham did not save some for the nightcap. And yet, thanks to the pitch stylings for Jason Bilous and Anderson Severino, two runs was enough to win, and sweep, Rocket City. While Bilous has scuffled a bit in Double-A after mauling batters in High-A earlier this year, tonight was a helluva bounce-back, eight K’s in 5 2⁄3 innings. Apparently working up against a 70-pitch cap (Bilous ended with 69 pitches, nice, and 46 strikes), the righthander gave way to Severino. The reliever issued two free passes and no Ks, but also no hits or runs.

The scoring came courtesy of a flaccid tap-single from JJ Muno, and the eventual game-winning RBI, a Xavier Fernández sac fly. But sorry, that’s all the O info you get, the nightcap’s all about the arms.

Poll

Birmingham swept the Pandas in the doubleheader, 2-1, in Saturday’s nightcap. Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 95%
    Jason Bilous: 5 2⁄3 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 8 K, HR, WIN
    (60 votes)
  • 1%
    Jameson Fisher: 1-for-3, R, 2B, LOB
    (1 vote)
  • 3%
    Xavier Fernández: 1-for-2, GWRBI SF, K
    (2 votes)
  • 0%
    Mitch Roman: 1-for-3, R, 3B, K, 2 LOB
    (0 votes)
63 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Birmingham swept the Pandas in the doubleheader, 2-1, in Saturday’s nightcap. Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 10%
    Craig Dedelow: 1-for-3, 2 K, 2 LOB
    (5 votes)
  • 6%
    Tyler Neslony: 1-for-3, 2 K, 2 LOB
    (3 votes)
  • 12%
    Joel Booker: 1-for-3, 2 K, LOB, CS
    (6 votes)
  • 72%
    Justin Jirschele, for worrying that his pitching staff wouldn’t SHUT THE TRASH DOWN in the nightcap
    (36 votes)
50 votes total Vote Now

It might sound like I’m picking on Winston-Salem, but they have gone like 10-30 since last sniffing .500 and that is not a happy trend. Tonight it was another game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. The pitching was just bad, and among batters, AJ Gill snuck up and punched the Grasshoppers with a two-homer effort. Four other Dash had two hits in the game, but seven runs does not beat 11, ever.

Poll

Winston-Salem got its Dash handed to it, 11-7, on Saturday. Who was the MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 6%
    Lázaro Leal: 2-for-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, K, 2 LOB
    (3 votes)
  • 88%
    AJ Gill: 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI, BB, 3 LOB
    (38 votes)
  • 4%
    Brandon Bossard: 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, K, LOB
    (2 votes)
43 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Winston-Salem got its Dash handed to it, 11-7, on Saturday. Who was the Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Isaiah Carranza: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 K
    (0 votes)
  • 84%
    Ryan Williamson: IP, 4 H, 4 ER, BB, K, 2 HR, E
    (32 votes)
  • 5%
    Kevin Folman: 2 2⁄3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, HR, LOSS, BALK
    (2 votes)
  • 2%
    Declan Cronin: 2 1⁄3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, HR, WP
    (1 vote)
  • 7%
    Lenyn Sosa: 1-for-5, 2B, 4 K, 3 LOB
    (3 votes)
38 votes total Vote Now

Tough to say this about a team 27 games below .500, but Darren Black’s prediction that the CBs will win the second-half title passes the smell test on a night like tonight. Kanny up and punched a tough Salem Sox club in the mouf, and Matthew Thompson delivered the wildest haymaker: six innings of one-run ball and six Ks against no walks. It’s Thompson’s first career Low-A win! BOOM.

Four hitters tapped two hits apiece, none better than the high-riding Samil Polanco, who knocked a double and triple in his two-RBI effort. Perhaps most notable among players was Polanco manning shortstop, pushing José Rodríguez to second base. César Hernández’s heir apparent on the South Side? Could be ...

Poll

Kannapolis romped, 7-3, on Saturday. Who was the CBs MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 6%
    Samil Polanco: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, 3B
    (4 votes)
  • 1%
    Bryan Ramos: 2-for-4, R, RBI, K, LOB
    (1 vote)
  • 0%
    Luis Mieses: 1-for-3, 2 RBI, 2B, K, LOB
    (0 votes)
  • 3%
    Harvin Mendoza: 2-for-4, R, 2B, LOB
    (2 votes)
  • 0%
    DJ Gladney: 2-for-4, RBI, LOB
    (0 votes)
  • 88%
    Matthew Thompson: 6 IP, 5 H, ER, 6 K, HR, WIN, 75 pitches/53 strikes
    (53 votes)
60 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Kannapolis romped, 7-3, on Saturday. Who was the CBs Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 58%
    Chase Krogman: 0-for-3, BB, 3 K, 2 LOB
    (23 votes)
  • 30%
    Victor Torres: 0-for-4, K, 2 LOB, picked off runner at 1B
    (12 votes)
  • 10%
    James Beard: 1-for-4, R, 3 K, 2 LOB, SB, E
    (4 votes)
39 votes total Vote Now

The ACL White Sox jumped out to a 1-0 lead against the more vaunted Dodgers, courtesy of a Johnabiell Laureano single. But on the play, Benyamin Bailey was thrown out at third base to end the inning. That’s how Saturday went for the White Sox, and in fact how the season has gone for this ragtag 6-16 crew.

Dilmer Mejía had another nice start, although navigating four innings at any level of baseball in 2021 with just one punchout means you are actually trying not to strike anyone out; curious strategy, D-bone.

Kohl Simas fared worse, a 2021 undrafted free agent making his professional debut tonight, getting tagged with the loss in relief of Mejía. Simas, you say? Why yes, Kohl is the son of former White Sox reliever Bill Simas. Bill was a big fan of the Wisconsin-based department store, you say? Nay nay, as apparently Kohl has a professional-playing brother, Karson. So the guess here is that Bill loved K’s as a pitcher, and loves K-names as a father. The more you know ...

Poll

The ACL White Sox lost, 4-2, on Saturday. Who was the ACL MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 6%
    Johnabiell Laureano: 1-for-3, RBI, BB, 2 K, LOB
    (2 votes)
  • 9%
    Logan Glass: 1-for-3, R, BB, SB
    (3 votes)
  • 51%
    Dilmer Mejía: 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R/1 ER, K, WP
    (16 votes)
  • 29%
    Zach Cable: IP, 2 K in pro debut
    (9 votes)
  • 3%
    Garrett Schoenle: IP, 2 K in pro debut
    (1 vote)
31 votes total Vote Now

Poll

The ACL White Sox lost, 4-2, on Saturday. Who was the ACL Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 7%
    Kohl Simas: IP, 2 H, ER, LOSS in pro debut
    (2 votes)
  • 78%
    Sam Abbott: 0-for-3, BB, 2 K, 2 LOB, E
    (22 votes)
  • 14%
    Deivi Diaz: IP, H, ER, 2 BB
    (4 votes)
28 votes total Vote Now

Sending me to a below-.500 coverage record like the rest of our ragtag Minors Update crew, for the first time this year, are these dastardly DSL White Sox, mustering just one hit in a relative mauling from Seattle’s DSLers. The one hit, from Alvaro Aguero, did not drive in the sole Sox run, so let’s investigate: in consummate DSL fashion, two walks, a wild pitch and another walk loaded the bases for Javier Mora — who lined into a double play. Never fear, with Aguero up, pitcher Lisander Brito balked home a run. Yup, offense in the DSL is like a Boggle game of nutty plays. Disafortunadamente, the DSL White Sox failed to procure four more run-scoring balks this afternoon, ensuring a tie or extras.

Poll

The DSL White Sox ruined my .500 record by losing 5-1 on Saturday. Did they have an MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 17%
    Alvaro Aguero: 1-for-2, BB, LOB, SB
    (5 votes)
  • 0%
    Arxy Hernández: 0-for-1, 2 BB, K
    (0 votes)
  • 57%
    Emerson Talavera: 2 2⁄3 IP, H, 2 BB, 5 K
    (16 votes)
  • 25%
    The Balk Rule
    (7 votes)
28 votes total Vote Now

Poll

The DSL White Sox lost, 5-1, on Saturday. Who was the Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 33%
    Manuel Guariman: 0-for-3, 2 K, 4 LOB
    (9 votes)
  • 0%
    Javier Mora: 0-for-3, BB, K, 3 LOB, CS
    (0 votes)
  • 66%
    Oriel Castro: 2 IP, 5 H, 4 R/2 ER, BB, 4 K, 2 HR, LOSS
    (18 votes)
  • 0%
    Yohemy Nolasco: 1 1⁄3 IP, 2 H, ER, WP
    (0 votes)
27 votes total Vote Now

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