Glendale Desert Dogs Weekly Review (October 24-30, 2022)

Moises Castillo: .364/.462/.727 — 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 K, 3 R, 3 RBI
Adam Hackenberg: .100/.308/.400 — 2 BB, 2 K, 1 R, 2 RBI
Terrell Tatum: Did not play last week
Chase Solesky: 4 IP, 4.50 ERA, 0 BB, 3 K
Sammy Peralta: 3 IP, 3.00 ERA, 2 BB, 3 K
Lane Ramsey: 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, 3.86 ERA, 2 BB, 3 K
Declan Cronin: 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, 7.71 ERA, 0 BB, 2 K

The White Sox prospects never have a good week up and down, but this might be their best collective week of the AFL season. Declan Cronin and Adam Hackenberg were the only prospects who truly did not do well. Even then, you can still point to Cronin’s run all coming from one hit (a two-run homer) while still showing good command. For Hackenberg, he still reached base in 30% of his plate appearances but still isn’t showing any skill when he actually swings. This is similar to the Desert Dogs’ season overall, not very good at 10-11-2 (yes there was another tie this week), but they are still in the green for run differential, and one good week easily puts them in second and qualifying for the championship game.

Some better performances from these two could help, or an appearance from Terrell Tatum, as he did not play again last week. But frankly, Moises Castillo alone might right the Glendale ship.

Yes, after one bad week, Castillo is back to his Fall League good self. This time, he hit a homer to put his OPS at .939 on the season. It was his first homer of the fall campaign, and fourth overall in 2022.

The bullpen beyond Cronin was effective enough. Lane Ramsey and Sammy Peralta appeared in multiple games. Ramsey (1.71 WHIP) and Peralta (2.00 WHIP) did put themselves into some jams, with two walks each and a combined six hits allowed, but they escaped with just one run allowed. Peralta is still the best-performing Sox pitcher, with a 3.75 ERA in 12 innings. Chase Solesky has not had a good fall season, but he did put something together this past week he can build on: Four innings, showing good command for the first time. He is missing some bats, but not enough, and isn’t really inducing bad contact, either. It was another start with a high batting average against, .313 (five hits). They were all singles, so it was easier to deal with, and Solesky left with the lead — that is the point of a starting pitcher, in the grand scheme of things. Cronin just helped Glendale lose that lead in the eventual tie.

All-in-all, it was a better week with a big Castillo highlight. Soon we’ll find out, can Glendale make a playoff run, and can Castillo get into the AFL All-Star Game?