Sox Populi on the Farm Podcast 39 — 2023 Birmingham Barons preview

If Project Birmingham didn’t ensure it, the roster heading into 2023 sure does: The Barons are the centerpiece minor league organization for the White Sox.

With so many promising players starting the year at Birmingham, Darren Black hopped on with Brett Ballantini to discuss all of the promise residing in Double-A this year:

• Cristian Mena and Matt Thompson may be starters headed in a different direction; the former has his sights set on the South Side this summer, while the latter faces a make-or-break season in the rotation
• The heart of the bullpen has been injured over the past few seasons, as well as Spring Training invitee Edgar Navarro
• The offense is really where it’s at, with Colson Montgomery, of course. But we talk at length about Bryan Ramos, and how his success would be a rare, non-high pick win for the White Sox
• José Rodríguez shouldn’t be long for the Barons, but he does start here, and needs not only to mash, but to stay healthy
• We struggle through technical difficulties, making this a rare audio-only podcast
• Still to come, previews and podcasts on both Single-A clubs, leading up to Opening Night for AA-A clubs on Friday

Listen below, on our built-in Megaphone player:

or follow along with every episode at Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or wherever you consume your podcasts. Or, you can watch the podcast on the Sox Populi YouTube channel. (Technical difficulties prevented a video this time, but there’s a lot of good stuff at the channel!)