White Sox Minor League Weekly Update: May 23-29

Charlotte Knights

Romy González: (Did not play last week)
Micker Adolfo: .125/.125/.125 — 0 BB, 7 K
Yolbert Sánchez: .208/.240/.250 - 1 BB, 2 K, 3 RBI
Adam Haseley: .400/.455/.700 - 2 HR, 1 BB, 2 K, 3 R, 3 RBI, 4 SB **Weekly MVP**
Carlos Pérez: .267/.313/.267 - 0 BB, 2 K, 1 R
Kade McClure: 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0 BB, 4 K
Jimmy Lambert: 2 IP, 4.50 ERA, 1 BB, 4 K
Davis Martin: 6 IP, 4.50 ERA, 0 BB, 4 K

Adam Haseley was a late trade addition this offseason, to provide some depth in the outfield. Well, the White Sox do have a lot of guys that can play outfield, but Haseley provides natural outfield depth. He used to be a top prospect, after being drafted eighth overall back in 2017, but he is now just a seventh or eighth outfielder in an organization. He has been fine in Triple-A overall this year, but he has been much better the past two weeks. Since May 17, Haseley has a 146 wRC+ thanks to more power and a much better BABIP. Also, he had been swinging and making more contact during this stretch, as the walks are down about 2% and his strikeouts are down as well. Haseley is not really a three-true-outcome player anyway (7.5% BB-rate and 15.6% K-rate in 2022), but whatever small decision he has made to swing more often is helping. He is not somebody to watch for as a future star by any means, but Haseley has been a really good hitter over the past few weeks.

Birmingham Barons

José Rodríguez: .273/.360/.409 — 3 BB, 1 K, 4 R, 3 RBI, 2 SB
Lenyn Sosa: .231/.241/.462 — 1 HR, 1 BB, 5 K, 4 R, 5 RBI
Xavier Fernández: .455/.478/.636 - 1 HR, 1 BB, 0 K, 3 R, 5 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Yoelqui Céspedes: .333/.250/.438 — 1 HR, 1 BB, 3 K, 2 R, 2 RBI
Jason Bilous: 5 IP, 9.00 ERA, 3 BB, 6 K
Sean Burke: ²⁄₃ IP, 13.50, 3 BB, 1 K
Caleb Freeman: (Did not pitch last week)

Xavier Fernández is pretty similar to the current Haseley, at least in terms of hitting profile. Both are slightly below-average hitters at their respective levels. Fernández also has lower strikeout numbers, just a 17.5% K-rate with a decent walk rate too (8.2%). Without a lot of pop, so Fernández’s .284 batting average and .340 OBP get swamped by a measly .386 slugging. Right now at least, Fernández is just catching depth in the system, and is a good contact hitter. He is 9-of-26 nailing base-stealers, so he shows a decent arm and glove (just one passed ball, though last year he had five in 203 innings caught, which is not fantastic). Fernández just had a really good week offensively, and many other Barons did not.

One little note of hope, José Rodríguez did have a slightly above-average offensive week, and hopefully he can build on that.

Winston-Salem Dash

Oscar Colás: .000/.071/.000 - 1 BB, 6 K, 1 R, 1 RBI
Bryan Ramos: .167/.231/.375 — 1 HR, 2 BB, 3 K, 3 R
Luis Míeses: .217/.250/.217 — 1 BB, 4 K, 2 R, 1 RBI
Terrell Tatum: .174/.208/.522 - 2 HR, 1 BB, 5 K, 4 R, 7 RBI, 1 SB
Duke Ellis: .240/.296/.400 - 1 HR, 2 BB, 5 K, 3 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB
Adam Hackenberg: .292/.292/.542 — 2 HR, 0 BB, 5 K, 5 R, 4 RBI
Jordan Mikel: 9 ²⁄₃ IP, 2.79 ERA, 2 BB, 6 K **Weekly MVP**
Drew Dalquist: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 5.79 ERA, 3 BB, 5 K
Matthew Thompson: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 9.64 ERA, 4 BB, 6 K

Jordan Mikel had two really good starts last week, while the rest of the Dash did not do very well. Maybe if Adam Hackenberg gets on base three or four more times and bumps Mikel off, but he didn’t. Mikel was an undrafted free agent add in 2020 (remember, there were only five rounds that year, so it is possible in a normal draft year he would have been selected). Mikel is probably more of a spot starter or long reliever right now, but he was pretty good as a starter last week, and has been a better starter than reliever this year. As a starter in May, Mikel has a 4.00 ERA. He is not a high-strikeout guy, but his command has been much better this year compared to last. Maybe if that keeps improving, Mikel can get a Spencer Adams-type of reputation, but right now, he is just an an organizational arm who has improved in year two.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Misael González: .091/.333/.091 — 4 BB, 3 K, 2 SB
Colson Montgomery: .294/.400/.588 - 1 HR, 3 BB, 3 K, 4 R, 4 RBI
Wes Kath: .133/.409/.133 — 6 BB, 7 K, 3 R
Wilfred Veras: .200/.391/.409 — 0 BB, 6 K, 3 RBI
Jared Kelley: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 10.12 ERA, 1 BB, 2 K
Cristian Mena: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 12.46 ERA, 4 BB, 3 K
Kohl Simas: 5 IP, 1.80 ERA, 1 BB, 8 K **Weekly MVP**

Kohl Simas was a bit of a late addition in 2021 because he was an undrafted free agent, so it would have taken the old 40-round draft for somebody to select him. From the FanGraphs writeup (and why he climbed so much this year in prospect rankings): “Simas’ velocity climbed about two ticks after signing and was in the 93-95 mph range again this spring on the backfields. He seems to have found a more consistent release and has been pounding the zone so far in 2022. His mid-80s slider and upper-70s curveball are both consistently average and flash better than that.”

Simas is in Low-A, so any semblance of good breaking pitches will give you an arm up, and he has two he can rely on — the slider and curve. He has shown and is still showing really good command, with just a 7.9% BB-rate, so everything is clicking for him right now. It might be time to see what Simas can do in Winston-Salem.