clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

White Sox Minor League Update: June 9, 2022

Lenyn Sosa, Colson Montgomery, and Jhoneiker Betancourt enjoy three-hit days at the AA, Single-A, and ACL levels, while Norge Vera debuted in Kannapolis

By Julie Brady
/ new
Sosa is batting .349/.395/.577 in 52 games in AA, where he still is for some reason
@TiffW96
Knights/Bats linescore
Batting stats
Pitching stats
Misc pitching stats

Box score link

Buoyed by yesterday’s insane come-from-behind 15-14 win in extras, the Knights again came from behind in slightly less dramatic fashion to beat the Louisville Bats 4-2, assisted by four double plays. John Parke gave up two early runs but pitched seven innings for the win and a much-needed quality start, Will Carter and Zach Muckenhirn both scoreless to close it out. Muckenhirn, a lefty, is up to 20.2 innings on the year with an ERA of 1.74; he’s struck out 22 and walked five.

Charlotte started chipping away at the Bats’ 2-0 lead in the fourth, Adam Haseley walking, stealing second and awarded third on the catcher’s error. Romy González then pounded a ball into the infield for an RBI ground out (call him up).

González made another key appearance in the sixth, his two-out base hit followed by a four-pitch walk to Yermín Mercedes setting the stage for Seby Zavala to hit… not quite a bases-clearing double with Mercedes on base, but at least González scored to tie the game. Blake Rutherford struck out to strand Mercedes at third.

But, how often do you see it, a guy makes the final out of an inning to end the paragraph above and then he comes up right away in the first sentence of the very next paragraph. That’s because in the eighth, after Mercedes and Zavala walked (and Mercedes stole second base, his fourth of the year, I repent!!), Rutherford did hit a bases-clearing double, putting the Knights firmly up 4-2, where the score settled for good.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Adam Haseley (CF): 0-for-3, R, BB, 2 K, SB
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Romy González (2B): 1-for-4, R, RBI
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Yermín Mercedes (DH): 0-for-2, R, 2 BB, K, SB
    (0 votes)
  • 10%
    Seby Zavala (1B-C): 1-for-2, 2B, R, RBI, BB, HBP
    (7 votes)
  • 43%
    Blake Rutherford (LF): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, K
    (28 votes)
  • 0%
    Laz Rivera (3B): 1-for-4, 3B
    (0 votes)
  • 46%
    John Parke: 7 IP, 9 H, 2 R, BB, 2 K, W
    (30 votes)
65 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Zach Remillard (SS): 1-for-5, 2 K, CS
    (0 votes)
  • 18%
    Micker Adolfo (RF): 0-for-4, 3 K
    (9 votes)
  • 82%
    Nick Ciuffo (C): 0-for-4, 4 K
    (41 votes)
50 votes total Vote Now
Blue Wahoos/Barons linescore
Batting stats
Pitching stats
Misc pitching stats

Box score link game one

Emilio Vargas, Sammy Peralta, and Félix Paulino each took three innings of this 5-1 Barons win, although the latter two did it on a different day than the former due to a rain-induced suspension. The quasi-severed three-headed monster gave up six hits (all singles minus a ninth-inning home run), walked none and struck out 10. Paulino earned the save despite the dong; he and Peralta both struck out four and Vargas struck out two.

Six out of nine Barons reached base multiple times tonight, Lenyn Sosa and Raudy Read leading the pack at thrice apiece. Read doubled to drive in DJ Burt and walked twice while Sosa hit his 12th home run, extending his career high for what will not be the last time this season; he is one behind teammate Craig Dedelow for the 2022 system lead. One of his two singles was also of import, as it drove in Read from a seventh-inning walk, making the score at that point 3-0. Later that inning, José Rodríguez, who walked, came home on a passed ball to make it 4-0.

Their final run scored to cap off a two-out rally in the eighth, DJ Burt kicking it off with a single. He stole second, ultimately unnecessarily as Read drew his second walk of the game on four pitches, then stole third, also ultimately unnecessarily as Evan Skoug also walked on four pitches. In any event, Burt did not try to steal home but did not have to as Rodríguez walked on four pitches, allowing him to cross slowly and safely for the Barons’ fifth and final run of the game.

Poll

Who was the Barons game one MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    José Rodríguez (2B): 0-for-3, R, RBI, 2 BB, K
    (0 votes)
  • 95%
    Lenyn Sosa (SS): 3-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, K
    (68 votes)
  • 0%
    Xavier Fernández (C): 2-for-4, K
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    DJ Burt (3B): 2-for-4, 2 R
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Raudy Read (1B): 1-for-2, 2B, R, RBI, 2 BB
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Evan Skoug (DH): 1-for-3, 2B, BB, K
    (0 votes)
  • 1%
    Emilio Vargas: 3 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
    (1 vote)
  • 2%
    Sammy Peralta: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W
    (2 votes)
71 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons game one Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Tyler Neslony (LF): 1-for-5, K
    (0 votes)
  • 3%
    Craig Dedelow (RF): 0-for-4, 2 K
    (2 votes)
  • 96%
    Yoelquis Céspedes (CF): 0-for-4, 4 K
    (59 votes)
  • 0%
    Félix Paulino: 3 IP, 3 H, R, 0 BB, 4 K, S
    (0 votes)
61 votes total Vote Now
Blue Wahoos/Barons linescore game two
Batting stats
Pitching stats
Misc pitching stats

Box score link game two

The Barons also scored five runs in game two of the doubleheader, but this time they allowed eight, which is recognized by most mathematical communities as more than five. Kaleb Roper struggled through another start, finishing five innings and only walking one but still the victim of two Blue Wahoo home runs, one for two runs to the second batter of the game and one for three runs in the third inning. Fraser Ellard is now through five scoreless outings as a Baron, but Declan Cronin is not, taking the loss after giving up a three-run blast in the seventh (a doubleheader ninth).

Birmingham was able to make it close, but two GIDPs (Read, Rodríguez), a caught stealing (Céspedes), and a pickoff (Sosa) quickly ate up their limited outs. Rodríguez and Burt singled to start the first inning, already in a 2-0 hole, and both scored on Sosa and Dedelow’s sacrifice flies. They wouldn’t score again until JJ Muno’s bloop and Ian Dawkins’ blast in the fifth, giving the Barons hope and trailing just 5-4. Read tied it up in the sixth: Céspedes was hit by a pitch with one out, was wild pitched to second, and Read’s base hit knocked him in, a temporary respite until the cruel reality of the top of the seventh.

Poll

Who was the Barons game two MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 20%
    Lenyn Sosa (SS): 1-for-2, RBI, SF, PO
    (9 votes)
  • 0%
    Evan Skoug (C): 1-for-2, BB, K
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Raudy Read (1B): 1-for-3, RBI, GIDP
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    JJ Muno (LF): 1-for-3, R
    (0 votes)
  • 77%
    Ian Dawkins (CF): 1-for-2, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB
    (35 votes)
  • 0%
    Craig Dedelow (RF): 0-for-1, RBI, BB, K, SF
    (0 votes)
  • 2%
    Yoelquis Céspedes (DH): 0-for-1, R, BB, K, CS, HBP
    (1 vote)
45 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons game two Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 2%
    José Rodríguez (2B): 1-for-4, R, K, GIDP
    (1 vote)
  • 2%
    DJ Burt (3B): 1-for-4, R, K, SB
    (1 vote)
  • 44%
    Kaleb Roper: 5 IP, 4 H, 5 R, BB, 3 K
    (17 votes)
  • 50%
    Declan Cronin: IP, 2 H, 3 R, BB, 3 K, L
    (19 votes)
38 votes total Vote Now
Grasshoppers/Dash linescore
Batting and fielding stats
Pitching stats
Misc pitching stats

Box score link

This Dash loss was going to suck but be fairly routine, but then they came back to tie it with a dramatic two-out, two-on home run in the ninth off the bat of Ivan González, so when they lost one inning later it really sucked.

Drew Dalquist added another not-bad start to the list, walking three and taking 64 pitches (32 strikes) to complete three innings, but only giving up one hit and one run. A throwing error by Tyler Osik on a stolen base attempt led to an unearned run for Luis Amaya in his two innings, giving the Grasshoppers a 2-0 lead.

The Dash scraped one back in the bottom of the fifth, but it should have been more: Jason Matthews and Terrell Tatum drew lead-off walks, Moisés Castillo hit a fly ball deep enough for both of them to tag, then Oscar Colás walked to load the bases with one out. Bryan Ramos took ball four as well to force in a run, but then heavy hitters Luis Mieses and Osik struck and grounded out to end the threat.

Cooper Bradford was cruising in relief until the top of the ninth, which is an inning you’d like to continue cruising through. Not all wishes can be granted, though, and Bradford gave up two singles, struck a batter out, then was squeezed with a bunt for a run and another out, putting the Grasshoppers up 3-1. Another single followed and so did a Ramos throwing error at third, scoring another run to make it 4-1.

In the bottom of the ninth, Colás reached on error with one out and Ramos walked to put two on. Mieses was the victim of the infield fly rule, and then it was González, who had just entered the game defensively in the top of the inning. The bomb was his first home run since his promotion to the level and tied the game at four.

Karan Patel had been called upon to finish the ninth for Bradford, and he continued pitching in the 10th, ghost runner on second. A lead-off single pushed the runner to third and a wild pitch scored him—goodnight, folks. The Dash were 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 19%
    Terrell Tatum (LF): 2-for-5, BB, K, outfield assist (2B)
    (9 votes)
  • 19%
    Oscar Colás (CF): 2-for-4, R, BB, K
    (9 votes)
  • 2%
    Bryan Ramos (3B): 1-for-3, R, RBI, 2 BB, K, E
    (1 vote)
  • 6%
    Tyler Osik (C): 2-for-3, BB, E
    (3 votes)
  • 53%
    Ivan González (C): 1-for-1, HR, R, 3 RBI
    (25 votes)
  • 0%
    Jason Matthews (2B): 0-for-4, R, BB, 2 K, GIDP
    (0 votes)
47 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 3%
    Moisés Castillo (SS): 1-for-5, K
    (1 vote)
  • 96%
    Luis Mieses (RF): 0-for-5, 2 K
    (32 votes)
  • 0%
    Harvin Mendoza (1B): 1-for-5, 2B, K
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Luis Curbelo (DH): 1-for-5, GIDP
    (0 votes)
33 votes total Vote Now
Wood Ducks/Cannon Ballers
Batting stats
Pitching stats
Misc pitching stats

Box score link

This was a game started and headlined by Norge Vera, but Brooks Gosswein was the real pitching star, even though he absolutely got the L. Each Sox team has been, on occasion, using an opener or two that gives way to a normal starter throwing an otherwise normal start. Highly touted pitching prospect Vera, age 22, made his first stateside appearance after 19 scoreless DSL innings last year and he lived up to the billing: his 2 ⅔ innings weren’t perfect, but they were indeed scoreless, as he allowed two singles, walking one and striking out three (two swinging, one called).

Christian Edwards was surgically used for the final out of the third inning, the Sox being Vera careful with their usage, then starting pitcher Gosswein came in to technically pitch very long relief. He threw six innings and was not scored upon until the very last one, which admittedly is the most important one. First he was successfully bunt-singled upon, then was stolen upon, threw a wild pitch, and had a single smacked off him into center field to score what was, unfortunately, the only run of the ballgame. He allowed four hits—two in the ninth—walked zero and struck out seven, throwing 51 of 73 pitches for strikes.

As one may suspect from the shutout score, the Cannon Ballers did not have a lot going for them at the plate, unless they were Colson Montgomery, in which case they had 75% of things going for them at the plate. A switch seems to have flipped for the 2021 first-round draft pick in mid-May after he returned from the Injured List; in 20 games since then entering tonight, he was batting .343/.443/.548 with four doubles, a triple, three home runs, 13 walks, and 18 strikeouts. He added a 3-for-4 with a double to that tonight but was stranded each time, despite that double leading off an inning.

Benyamin Bailey was the other offensive standout; he went 1-for-2 with a ground-rule double and two walks, but like Montgomery, obviously was stranded each time.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Wilber Sánchez (2B): 1-for-4
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Colby Smelley (DH): 1-for-4, K, CS
    (0 votes)
  • 53%
    Colson Montgomery (SS): 3-for-4, 2B, K
    (28 votes)
  • 0%
    Benyamin Bailey (LF): 1-for-2, 2B, 2 BB
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Misael González (RF): 1-for-3, K, CS
    (0 votes)
  • 5%
    Norge Vera: 2 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, 3 K
    (3 votes)
  • 40%
    Brooks Gosswein: 6 IP, 4 H, R, 0 BB, 7 K, WP, L
    (21 votes)
52 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 2%
    DJ Gladney (1B): 0-for-4, K
    (1 vote)
  • 0%
    Wilfred Veras (3B): 0-for-4, 2 K
    (0 votes)
  • 97%
    Logan Glass (CF): 0-for-4, 4 K
    (34 votes)
  • 0%
    Victor Torres (C): 0-for-3, K, 2 batters CS (2B), 1 batter SB (2B)
    (0 votes)
35 votes total Vote Now
ACL Sox/Padres linescore
Batting stats
Pitching stats

Box score link

Jhoneiker Betancourt, Elijah Tatís, and the rest of the ACL Sox mashed the ACL Padres in the third contest of the worst-named league’s season. The offense exploded for six runs in the sixth, in which everyone got an at-bat; to start the inning, Layant Tapia singled, Caberea Weaver was hit by a pitch, Victor Quezada walked, Betancourt hit a two-run single with the bases loaded (2-0), and Tatís homered (5-0). Alvaro Aguero was hit by a pitch and stole second base, Cameron Butler struck out for the first out of the inning, Aguero stole third base, Aguero scored on a Jayson González ground out (6-0), and Luis Pineda also grounded out to end the inning.

They added two more in the third, Tapia singling and Weaver walking, both coming home on Betancourt’s triple, then another in the fifth when Betancourt knocked in Quezada from a double. Betancourt, 22, was one of about three catchers on the 2019 DSL team that played absolutely out of his mind (.314/.442/.429) and then continued to play out of his mind in the 2021 ACL, albeit in just eight games at least partially due to injury (.368/.520/.526). After now playing one game this year, he is batting 1.000 with a 2.667 OPS. He started today at first base.

Nineteen-year-old José Jiménez got the start on the mound, surfacing for the first time since 2019, when he threw six low-quality DSL innings. Things went significantly better for him tonight: he went five good-quality innings, the only run allowed unearned, striking out seven and walking just one. Emerson Talavera, also 19, was last seen having a decent year in the DSL in 2021, but tonight he gave up two home runs in the sixth for four runs. Yohemy Nolasco, another 2021 DSL graduate, put the brakes on any ACL Padres hope of a rally with a shutdown seventh (an ACL ninth).

Poll

Who was the ACL Sox MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Jayson González (DH): 1-for-4, RBI, K
    (0 votes)
  • 5%
    Layant Tapia (SS): 2-for-4, 2 R, K, E
    (2 votes)
  • 0%
    Caberea Weaver (RF): 0-for-2, 2 R, BB, HBP
    (0 votes)
  • 71%
    Jhoneiker Betancourt (1B): 3-for-3, 3B, R, 5 RBI
    (25 votes)
  • 5%
    Elijah Tatís (2B): 1-for-3, HR, R, 3 RBI, 2 K
    (2 votes)
  • 0%
    Alvaro Aguero (LF): 0-for-2, R, 2 SB, HBP
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Victor Quezada (3B): 1-for-3, 2B, 2 R, BB, K, E
    (0 votes)
  • 17%
    José Jiménez: 5 IP, 4 H, R (0 ER), BB, 7 K, W
    (6 votes)
35 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the ACL Sox Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 15%
    Cameron Butler (CF): 0-for-4, 2 K
    (4 votes)
  • 3%
    Luis Pineda (C): 0-for-4
    (1 vote)
  • 80%
    Emerson Talavera: IP, 4 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 0 K
    (21 votes)
26 votes total Vote Now
DSL HOUB/DSL Sox linescore
Batting stats
Fielding and pitching stats
Misc stats

Box score link

So far, the DSL Sox are blowing away every other level in terms of record, undefeated so far this season at 4-0. Today, they trailed 8-0 after three to the hated DSL HOU Blue (DSL HOUB in the box and to haters), but scored 10 runs in the last four innings of the seven-inning game to pull out a 10-9 victory.

Frankeli Arias, age 19, made his second start after pitching two scoreless innings in his first. He did the opposite of that today, allowing five runs, including a two-run shot, over 1 ⅔ IP. Francisco Benitez, 21, is on the team for the fourth consecutive year; he gave up three runs in 2 ⅔ innings, only two earned, bringing his lifetime DSL Sox ERA to 6.73 over 91 innings. José Mendoza, age 18 and an offseason signing, gave up a solo home run in the fifth but was otherwise scoreless through three innings to earn the win.

At the plate, the Sox themselves were held scoreless until the fourth, when they started scoring and basically never stopped. Good old Arxy Hernandez, still just 18 in his first repeat year, singled to lead off the inning, Godwin Bennett—another teenage repeater—walked. A wild pitch pushed them both a base up, Randel Mondesi (19, year two) walked, and Juan Oviedo (18, year one) reached base via nobody’s-out-fielder’s-choice to score a run (we love the DSL). Roberth Gutierrez (20 years old, year three) singled in Bennett and Mondesi would later score on a dropped third strike wild pitch.

They entered the fifth still down 9-3, which became 9-4 when Mondesi grounded in Hernandez from another walk and 9-5 after Oviedo doubled in Bennett from a single. Mondesi struck again in a big way in the sixth, his three-run home run scoring Hernandez (single) and Bennett (error) to pull the Sox within one at 9-8.

The seventh-inning walk-off was about as unearned as any such thing could be, the game-tying run scoring on a sacrifice fly that should have actually been the third out. The first two Sox batters of the inning, Ronny Hernandez and Guillermo Rodríguez, reached on error and Hernandez tagged up to score one when the next, Ryan Burrowes, hit a fly ball caught in center. Rodríguez then stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored the winning run on an Erick Hernandez single. Also, there are three guys on the team named Hernandez.

Between HOUB and WSX, there were three stolen bases, one PO/CS, five errors, a passed ball, four wild pitches, two balks, and one hit by pitch. HOUB went 7-for-15 with runners in scoring position, the Sox went 5-for-15. Makes you think!!!

Poll

Who was the DSL Sox MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Ryan Burrowes (SS-2B): 1-for-3, RBI, HBP, SF
    (0 votes)
  • 33%
    Arxy Hernandez (3B): 2-for-3, 3 R, BB, K, E
    (10 votes)
  • 0%
    Godwin Bennett (RF): 1-for-2, 3 R, 2 BB
    (0 votes)
  • 66%
    Randel Mondesi (DH): 1-for-3, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB, K
    (20 votes)
  • 0%
    Juan Oviedo (C-1B): 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, K, E, PB
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Roberth Gutierrez (LF): 1-for-3, RBI, BB, K
    (0 votes)
30 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the DSL Sox Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Erick Hernandez (CF): 1-for-5, RBI, K, GIDP
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Ryan Castillo (2B): 1-for-3, 2 K
    (0 votes)
  • 91%
    Frankeli Arias: 1 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 5 R, BB, 2 K
    (21 votes)
  • 8%
    Francisco Benitez: 2 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 0 K, balk
    (2 votes)
23 votes total Vote Now

More From South Side Sox

Loading comments...