White Sox Weekly Minor League Update: June 13-19

Charlotte Knights

Romy González: 1-for-3, 0 BB, 1 K (one game played)
Micker Adolfo: .200/.238/.350 — 1 HR, 1 BB, 7 K, 3 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB
Yolbert Sánchez: .238/.273/.286 — 1 BB, 3 K, 2 R
Adam Haseley: .313/.294/.375 — 0 BB, 2 K, 1 R, 2 RBI
Gavin Sheets: .417/.462/.833 - 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 K, 6 R, 7 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Carlos Pérez: .176/.263/.412 — 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 K, 3 R, 3 RBI
Bennett Sousa: (Demoted, has not played yet)
Kade McClure: 3 ²⁄₃ IP, 2.45 ERA, 1 BB, 6 K

To start the year, it was choice of Jake Burger or Gavin Sheets to make the Opening Day roster, and the White Sox went with Sheets. Now, Burger is hitting like the first round pick he is, while Sheets struggled to find the groove he had last year. He was demoted after 26 MLB games with a 74 wRC+. Better than some Sox hitters, surprisingly, but not where Sheets was last year, when he had a 125 wRC+. It was the right move to send him down over Burger even if Burger wasn’t hitting out of his mind. Sheets needs to find his swing again. Last week, he seemed to find it. He hit a couple of homers, along with four doubles for good measure. It is just eight games in Charlotte so the plate discipline numbers are incomplete, but he is hitting the ball more, with less walks and strikeouts right now. The Sox are going to need him again, and this was a promising week. Sheets is a talented hitter and proved it last year. This is just a typical sophomore slump that he can hopefully work out of.

Birmingham Barons

José Rodríguez: .360/.385/.400 — 1 BB, 1 K, 4 R, 4 RBI, 3 SB
Lenyn Sosa: .241/.258/.276 — 1 BB, 5 K, 4 R, 2 RBI
Yoelqui Céspedes: .333/.417/.381 — 2 BB, 7 K, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB
Tyler Neslony: .409/.480/.682 - 1 HR, 3 BB, 4 K, 5 R, 5 RBI, 3 SB **Weekly MVP**
Jason Bilous: 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, 0.00 ERA, 4 BB, 6 K
Sean Burke: (Did not pitch last week)
Caleb Freeman: (Did not pitch last week)

Tyler Neslony rode a five-hit day to the MVP. He showed power, with one homer and four extra-base hits, as well as a decent amount of speed and base-running acumen with three stolen bases. Neslony has had a fantastic year so far but he is 28, so his MLB prospects are limited to say the least — though Tanner Banks has found to be a fine option out of the South Side bullpen at age 30. Neslony has a walk rate right at 10% which is pretty good, but he has an even better K-rate of 17.1%. So he is hitting the ball a lot, and still taking walks when he can. When Neslony is hitting the ball, he has a .319 batting average, with a .268 ISO. He is nearing his professional career high in doubles with 21 already, with his most being 24 back in 2018. Neslony has already hit a career-best 10 homers, and that number will only increase. For some reason, Double-A has been his Achilles heel — until his time with the Sox. Neslony has been at Double-A since 2017, but really has not had this amount of extended success (going back to when he was acquired last year). Maybe the White Sox are his lucky charm, and Neslony finally will get to Triple-A, at long last.

Winston-Salem Dash

Oscar Colás: .273/.292/.409 — 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 K, 2 R, 4 RBI
Bryan Ramos: .261/.292/.522 — 2 HR, 1 BB, 0 K, 2 R, 5 RBI
Luis Míeses: .217/.217/.217 — 0 BB, 7 K, 1 R
Terrell Tatum: .091/.091/.091 — 0 BB, 5 K, 1 R, 1 SB
Duke Ellis: .167/.211/.222 — 1 BB, 4 K, 3 R, 3 SB
Moises Castillo: .389/.450/.389 — 2 BB, 2 K, 4 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB **Weekly MVP**
Adam Hackenberg: .154/.250/.154 — 1 BB, 2 K, 2 R, 1 RBI
Drew Dalquist: 5 IP, 5.40 ERA, 2 BB, 2 K
Matthew Thompson: 9 ¹⁄₃ IP, 5.79 ERA, 0 BB, 14 K

It was not a very good week for Winston-Salem, so not a lot of choices for MVP. Maybe if Bryan Ramos reached base a few more times he would have been the MVP with his two homers, but he didn’t. Moises Castillo did reach base quite a bit, though, without that much power. He had been in the St. Lous Cardinals organization since 2016 when he was 16 but he is now 22, in 2022, with the White Sox. Castillo had a cup of coffee in Double-A last year, but his slow crawl up the MiLB system has him in High-A again and doing pretty well. Castillo reaches base, a lot, at least this season: His current 14.2% BB-rate would be the best rate of his career, as it has not been better than 10% since he was in the DSL. Castillo has also had a decent year with contact — maybe not the quality of contact, he does just have a .046 ISO — but a .296 batting average and .370 BABIP is helpful to reach a 115 wRC+.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Colson Montgomery: .444/.524/.556 — 2 BB, 4 K, 3 R **Weekly MVP**
Wes Kath: .250/.348/.450 — 1 HR, 3 BB, 5 K, 2 RBI
Wilfred Veras: .211/.250/.263 — 1 BB, 6 K, 2 R, 2 RBI
Jared Kelley: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 6.75 ERA, 2 BB, 3 K
Cristian Mena: 7 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 BB, 4 K
Norge Vera: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 BB, 5 K
Kohl Simas: (Did not pitch last week)

A 29-game on-base streak is mighty impressive for anybody, but doing it at 20 in your first full pro-ball season is pretty good, and as a result even more outlets will have Colson Montgomery as their top White Sox prospect when their next updates happen. Montgomery has a 151 wRC+, which has only gone up over the last 29 games. His 13.2% BB-rate is very impressive, but again, a 21.1% K-rate is a little high. A .166 ISO is certainly a healthy number, but we should hope it increases as he gets more plate appearances and seasons under his 20-year-old belt. It is not a huge problem right now, but Montgomery has nine errors at shortstop in just 39 games. Again, errors are not everything, but he and Wes Kath are not lighting it up in a good way on defense. That is probably the main reason the top two draft picks from last year might stay in Kannapolis for all of 2022. Tthere is a decent chance Montgomery gets promoted, though, especially once the 2022 draft picks get into the system.

ACL White Sox

Victor Quezada: 1-for-3, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 RBI (one game played)
Manuel Guariman: 3-for-6, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB (two games played)
Dario Borrero: .333/.333/.333 — 0 BB, 2 K, 2 R, 1 RBI
Ben Norman: .500/.538/.917 — 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 K, 4 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB **Weekly MVP**
Yohemy Nolasco: 4 IP, 9.00 ERA, 2 BB, 4 K

DSL White Sox

Erick Hernández: .300/.440/.450 — 4 BB, 7 K, 6 R, 1 RBI
Loidel Chapelli Jr.: .500/.600/.750 — 5 BB, 4 K, 7 R, 3 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Guillermo Rodríguez: 2-for-5, 0 BB, 1 K, 2 R ( One game played)
Ryan Burrowes: .176/.364/.176 — 4 BB, 5 K, 4 R, 1 SB
Marcelo Valladares: (Did not pitch)