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White Sox Minor League Update: August 14, 2022

Norge Vera makes his High-A debut, Charlotte almost gets no-hit, and José Rodríguez and Oscar Colás homer for the Barons.

By Darren Black
/ new
Oscar Colás continued his power outburst with another home run for Birmingham on Sunday.
Tiffany Wintz/South Side Sox

A close Charlotte loss, but one of the few instances that bullpening did not go horribly wrong. Eight pitchers up, and they all went out to get three outs — no more, no less. Three of them did not succeed in getting those three outs before somebody scored. On the good end, Tanner Banks, Kade McClure, and Bennett Sousa got through their inning a-OK. Not coincidentally, these are three pitchers who could be back in Chicago one day.

The offense was not great. The lineup was no-hit until the eighth inning. While the no-hitter was avoided, Charlotte only had two hits and struck out 11 times (everybody in the lineup whiffed at least once). Tyler Neslony and Romy González had the two hits. Mark Payton did reach base twice, with two walks.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 15%
    Romy González: 1-for-3, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K
    (7 votes)
  • 35%
    Tyler Neslony: 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (16 votes)
  • 48%
    Andrew Perez: 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K
    (22 votes)
45 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 16%
    Parker Markel: 1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K
    (6 votes)
  • 83%
    Adam Haseley: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 2 K
    (31 votes)
37 votes total Vote Now

A bad loss for the Barons from a defensive standpoint. The Barons allowed 13 runs in 12 innings, and FIVE errors played a role. So much so that the walk-off run came off an error, by Moises Castillo. Matthew Thompson had one of those errors, as part of a poor start. He did not make it out of the third, and got hit around. He allowed two homers, for four runs. Caleb Freeman was one of the good ones, in his second appearance back from the ACL — a clean inning, but no strikeouts. It seems like the Barons ran out of pitchers, or maybe JJ Muno is more and more of a legit two-way player, as he has pitched in nine games. However, Muno gave up the three-run lead the Barons built in the top of the 12th. Birmingham already had used a lot of pitchers because Thompson did not go deep, but it still seems weird.

The offense is where it got fun, if you want to ignore the bad pitching. José Rodríguez had another homer, his third in three games. He had a double today as well, so that power surge over the past six weeks is still going strong. He also stole his 40th bag of the year, so he could become a 10-homer, 40-steal guy shortly.

Oscar Colás homered as well, his ninth. He still has more longballs than Rodríguez in far fewer games. Colás was one of the two players to have three hits on the day, along with Moises Castillo.

DJ Burt had a multi-hit day, as well as a homer, too. He was also pretty active on the basepaths with three swipes, and is up to 36 on the season.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 78%
    Oscar Colás: 3-for-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K
    (48 votes)
  • 18%
    DJ Burt: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K, 3 SB
    (11 votes)
  • 3%
    José Rodríguez: 2-for-5, 1 HR, 3 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 SB
    (2 votes)
61 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 61%
    Matthew Thompson: 2 1⁄3 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (30 votes)
  • 38%
    JJ Muno: 0-for-5, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K — 2⁄3 IP, 2 ER (4 R), 3 H, 1 BB, 0 K
    (19 votes)
49 votes total Vote Now

Norge Vera finally makes his High-A debut, in Winston-Salem’s 4-2 loss. He only went the first two innings, striking out two batters without allowing a hit. Coming off of injury that kept him sidelined for two weeks, Vera was on an innings/pitches limit, as he only threw/needed 20 pitches.

The rest of the pen was fine after Vera. Luis Moncada (three runs) and Chase Plymell (one run) were the two arms to allow any scoring today.

On offense, it was pretty much the Alsander Womack and Bryan Ramos show, with a couple of cameos. Womack and Ramos had two hits each, and Ramos had one of the two W-S doubles in the game. He walked as well, to lead the team in times on base. Tyler Osik and Ben Norman drove in the runs, both of them via single.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 41%
    Bryan Ramos: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 0 K
    (18 votes)
  • 0%
    Alsander Womack: 2-for-4, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K
    (0 votes)
  • 58%
    Norge Vera: 2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
    (25 votes)
43 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 67%
    Luis Moncada: 2 IP, 2 ER (3 R), 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K
    (21 votes)
  • 3%
    Chase Plymell: 1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (1 vote)
  • 29%
    Jason Matthews: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
    (9 votes)
31 votes total Vote Now

It was not a fantastic effort from Jared Kelley, but Kannapolis got through it to get a 4-3 win. Kelley only gave up one run, but five walks in 4 2⁄3 innings is a step back for the young righty. Haylen Green came in after him, and that is where the trouble for Kannapolis pitching started. He allowed two runs, but still ended up with the win. Liam Jenkins got the final six outs for his third save of the season.

It was the middle of the lineup that provided the run production. All four runs came from batters 3-5 in the lineup. DJ Gladney had a couple of singles and one RBI. Wilfred Veras had two RBIs off of his two doubles of the day, including this one:

Veras is getting his batting average up, slowly. His problem is that he is not really walking yet, but he hits Low-A pitching well, so it is working out overall. It might not when he is promoted to High-A, though. Colby Smelley had a perfect day (3-for-3) with a walk and that fourth RBI. Wes Kath had a productive day, too; he just was in the 2-slot. He had two hits, one double and walked.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 12%
    Wilfred Veras: 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
    (4 votes)
  • 81%
    Colby Smelley: 3-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K
    (26 votes)
  • 6%
    Wes Kath: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
    (2 votes)
32 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 46%
    Logan Glass: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 3 K
    (13 votes)
  • 17%
    Drew Thornquist: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 3 K
    (5 votes)
  • 35%
    Haylen Green: 2 1⁄3 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 1 K
    (10 votes)
28 votes total Vote Now

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