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White Sox Minor League Update: May 11, 2023

Barons rained out, Dash take eight daggers to the heart in one inning, Knights and Ballers win

By Julie Brady
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Lucky number seven: Connor McCullough struck out seven, just like he’s done in all but one start this year.
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
Bulls/Knights linescore
Batting stats
Pitching stats
Misc pitching stats

Box score link

In 2022, the Charlotte Knights went 9-14 in April and 9-17 in May, so the fact that it’s now mid-May, 36 games into the season, and the Knights have just reclaimed .500 is a drastic improvement. It’s a mark they’ve been hovering around, buoyed by some heavy hitting to compensate for a thin pitching staff. Of course, some of these heavy hitters have been, for example, Yoán Moncada and Hanser Alberto on minor league rehab assignments, but whatever. Moncada, while still technically on rehab, did not play today (Alberto, of course, is back with the Sox).

Tonight, playing a good Bulls team and top Rays pitching prospect Taj Bradley, a cast of thousands at the plate and at the mound led the Knights to victory, or at least kept them from losing. Jake Marisnick’s promotion freed up a slot for another Jake, Burger starting a rehab assignment himself from an oblique strain. He drew a full-count walk with two outs in the first, soon thereafter scoring the first run of the ballgame on Víctor Reyes’ sixth home run (2-0 Knights).

New Knights pitcher Luke Farrell made his second start and, like his first, didn’t last long. He surrendered a solo shot in the top of the second, though it was immediately matched in the bottom of the inning by Clint Frazier (who now has four home runs in 30 at-bats), 3-1 Knights.

This was immediately matched and then one-upped by the Bulls in the top of the third, Roberto Alvarez and Jonathan Aranda both going deep against Farrell and tying it up at three.

The power abruptly withered entirely for the Bulls, at least for a while, but the Knights kept scoring. They took back the lead after Frazier, Yolbert Sánchez, and Erik González all singled to start the fourth, although they squeezed no more runs from the two-on, nobody-out situation. At that point, they led 4-3.

A quiet fifth and sixth gave way to a loud seventh. Catcher Sebastian Rivero drew a leadoff walk, made it to third on Zach Remillard’s single, and scored on Oscar Colás’ double, somehow already the center fielder’s seventh since his demotion last week (5-3 Knights).

Reyes, who has been enjoying his annual destruction of Triple-A pitching, scored two with a double and was himself scored by Frazier doing the same, 8-3 Knights. Then Sánchez flied out on the first pitch by Zack Burdi to end the inning.

González walked to lead off the eighth and Remillard picked up his second hit of the game to bump him to third. Colás hit a sacrifice fly to make it 9-3; he has 10 RBI in eight Triple-A games and is batting .417/.463/.694.

On the mound, Sammy Peralta, Edgar Navarro, Lane Ramsey, and 35-year-old MLB veteran Bryan Shaw combined for 5 ⅓ beautiful innings in relief of Farrell, combining to strike out seven and allow just three hits and two walks, giving up no runs.

The still-rehabbing Liam Hendriks, unfortunately, threw a not-so-beautiful ninth. After striking out his first batter faced, he was scorched for a solo shot by Kameron Misner, the 35th overall pick from the 2019 draft, cutting the lead to 9-4. Hendriks settled down for a ground out on a full count to the next batter, but consecutive singles and a concourse shot by Rene Pinto made it a two run game, 9-7 Knights.

Declan Cronin was called upon to closer for the closer, which he did with a one-pitch ground out that also bestowed upon him the save.

In nine games with the Knights, Frazier is batting .433/.541/.933 with three doubles, four home runs, and seven walks accompanying eight strikeouts. In 31 games, Reyes is batting .320/.362/.533 with eight doubles, six home runs, and seven walks accompanying 28 strikeouts.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 2%
    Zach Remillard (SS): 2-for-5, R
    (1 vote)
  • 0%
    Oscar Colás (CF): 1-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI, K, SF
    (0 votes)
  • 82%
    Víctor Reyes (RF): 3-for-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI
    (38 votes)
  • 13%
    Clint Frazier (LF): 3-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
    (6 votes)
  • 0%
    Yolbert Sánchez (3B): 2-for-4
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Erik González (2B): 1-for-3, R, RBI, BB, GIDP
    (0 votes)
  • 2%
    Sebastian Rivero (C): 1-for-3, R, BB, 2 K
    (1 vote)
  • 0%
    Sammy Peralta: 2 ⅓ IP, H, 0 R, BB, 4 K (W)
    (0 votes)
46 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 5%
    Jake Burger (DH): 0-for-4, R, BB
    (2 votes)
  • 10%
    Nate Mondou (1B): 0-for-4
    (4 votes)
  • 7%
    Luke Farrell: 2 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K
    (3 votes)
  • 76%
    Liam Hendriks: ⅔ IP, 4 H, 4 R, 0 BB, K
    (30 votes)
39 votes total Vote Now

Gotta tell you, though … if they pick this one up where they left off like a true suspended game, it ain’t looking good for the Barons, who were down 6-0 (all unearned) after one.

Dash/Drive
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The Dash were on the wrong end of a jaws of victory situation Thursday night, whence they snatched defeat in an 11-7 loss to the Greenville Drive. Leading 7-1 after the top of the sixth, they trailed by the eventual final score after the conclusion of the seventh, an eight-run inning. It’s their third loss of May and drops their record to 20-8.

At first, the game proceeded in typical fashion: Terrell Tatum doubled for the ninth time to open the top of the first, Loidel Chapelli Jr. walked from the 2-spot, and DJ Gladney singled in Tatum for a quick 1-0 lead. A wild pitch made it 2-0, Shawn Goosenberg’s boiling-hot May continued with a single and steal, and Chris Lanzilli hit a sacrifice fly that allowed Gladney to tag up and put it at 3-0 Dash.

The romp continued in the third, Gladney showing off both the wheels and the power with an easy triple, scoring when the horrible Goose reached thanks to a fielding error in left, 4-0.

Goosenberg then stole his second base of the game (12th overall) while Michael Turner walked, the first of two for him today and the 10th and 11th of his last six games (26 plate appearances, 15 at-bats).

Runners were still on first and second with one out for Taishi Nakawake, whose ground out scored Goosenberg and bumped the lead up to 5-0.

Starter Kohl Simas was consistent as ever, striking out eight over five innings in his de facto fifth start (one instance of start-replacing long relief). He struck out five of the first six batters he faced and seven of the first 10 before starting to show some shakiness, the first Drive run coming on a trickle-down double-single-walk-sac fly sequence in the bottom of the fourth, still 5-1 Dash.

Rallying in support, Jason Matthews was bravely hit by a pitch in the sixth and tore around the bases to make it safely home on Tatum’s 10th double, 6-1.

Red Sox prospect Chris Troye entered in relief and struck out Chapelli, gave up a run-scoring single to Gladney (7-1), struck out Goosenberg, and struck out Turner. Troye struck out two more apiece in the seventh and eighth for the Drive and now has 28 strikeouts in 13 innings pitched this year, seven of those coming in his three innings tonight.

Simas opened his part of the sixth with a 7-1 lead, but was removed at 92 pitches after failing to record an out. He left with two singles aboard, both coming around to score when the usually-reliable Everhett Hazelwood struggled to get out of the inning, Matthews’ error at short not helping matters and actually hurting them instead. By the end of the inning, it was 7-3 Dash, still a seemingly easy victory.

Hazelwood was given perhaps a few too many shots at redemption in the seventh. He faced five batters, two of them walking, two singling, and one hitting a double (with a wild pitch mixed in as well), departing with nobody out and two on, Dash up just 7-6. The first thing Ernesto Jaquez did in relief was throw a wild pitch. The second thing was give up the game-tying single, and it went downhill from there. A double, single, walk, another wild pitch, another walk, and a run-scoring balk pounded the Dash further into the dirt until eight runs crossed the plate and the scoreboard showed 11-7, Drive. Five runs were credited to Hazelwood, whose ERA rose from 3.86 to 6.60, and three to Jaquez, whose 4.15 became 5.40.

Haylen Green pitched a scoreless eighth!

The don’t-stop-now Dash almost got something brewing in the ninth, Goosenberg picking up walk No. 10 of his last seven games with one out and Turner singling him to second, but Lanzilli struck out and Nakawake flied out to end the game.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 3%
    Terrell Tatum (CF): 2-for-4, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB, K, GIDP
    (1 vote)
  • 3%
    Loidel Chapelli Jr. (2B): 0-for-3, R, BB, 2 K, HBP
    (1 vote)
  • 76%
    DJ Gladney (RF): 4-for-5, 2B, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI
    (20 votes)
  • 7%
    Shawn Goosenberg (1B): 1-for-4, R, RBI, BB, K, 2 SB
    (2 votes)
  • 0%
    Michael Turner (C): 1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 K
    (0 votes)
  • 3%
    Kohl Simas: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 8 K
    (1 vote)
  • 3%
    Haylen Green: IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, K
    (1 vote)
26 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Chris Lanzilli (LF): 0-for-4, RBI, K, SF
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Taishi Nakawake (3B): 0-for-5, RBI, 2 K
    (0 votes)
  • 5%
    Keegan Fish (DH): 0-for-4, 3 K
    (1 vote)
  • 5%
    Jason Matthews (SS): 0-for-2, R, 2 HBP, E
    (1 vote)
  • 80%
    Everhett Hazelwood: IP, 4 H, 5 R, 2 BB, K, WP, 1-of-1 inherited runners-scored
    (16 votes)
  • 10%
    Ernesto Jaquez: IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, K, 2 WP, balk, 2-of-2 inherited runners-scored (L)
    (2 votes)
20 votes total Vote Now
Cannon Ballers/Woodpeckers linescore
Batting stats
Batting stats
Misc pitching stats

Box score link

Connor McCullough keeps unleashing utter devastation upon unsuspecting Low-A hitters and he just keeps getting away with it. In the two starts this year where he’s allowed runs, his combined line is 8 ⅓ IP, 10 H, 6 R, 4 BB, 10 K. In his three other starts, including tonight’s, it’s 17 IP, 9 H, 0 R, BB, 21 K. This all comes out to a 2.13 ERA in 25 ⅓ innings, five walks to 31 strikeouts. He has struck out exactly seven batters in four of those five starts.

Fresh off Carolina League Pitcher of the Week honors, McCullough exited after dominating the Woodpeckers for six shutout innings, scattering three singles and walking nobody. He threw 81 pitches, 59 going for strikes. An undrafted minor league free agent signing last year, all but one of his professional innings have come this season and they have certainly put McCullough on the radar, as firm as any radar can be one month into the season in the low minors.

In support, the Ballers didn’t exactly overwhelm Fayetteville with offense — they ended up with just five hits and two walks, striking out 16 times. However, they made do, Bryce Willits unknowingly making McCullough the winner in the second inning with his fourth blast of the year, putting the team up, 1-0. Willits entered tonight on a nine-game hitting streak during which he was slashing .455/.500/.849 with two doubles, one triple, and three home runs.

Adding on in the third, Caberea Weaver received a boon in the form of a three-base error and scored on Mario Camilletti’s single, 2-0.

Two final Ballers runs made it home in the fourth; Willits walked, Luis Pineda reached on a pitcher error, and after Drake Logan struck out, Weaver’s bunt single loaded the bases. This set up the most exquisite moment possible in this beautiful game, executed to perfection: bases-loaded balk.

Now leading 3-0, Camilletti singled in one run, although Weaver was thrown out at the plate to keep it at 4-0.

Meanwhile, the Chase Krogman Experiment continues out of the bullpen, the former outfielder making his third pitching appearance. It went better than the last one, which was a low bar to clear after four runs scored in a third of an inning. Here, Krogman walked and hit the first two batters, then gave up a single to immediately find himself in a sacks-packed jam, but just one run came in on a sacrifice fly, 4-1 Ballers.

Krogman ceded to Pauly Milto, who missed all of 2022 with an injury that has not been specified but can certainly be inferred from the time spent out. In his seventh outing since his return, he gave up a single, was helpless while the runner stole second and third, and then balked him in. Billy Seidl pinned down the ninth and the 4-2 Ballers lead held.

Poll

Who was the Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Jordan Sprinkle (SS): 1-for-3, BB
    (0 votes)
  • 5%
    Bryce Willits (1B): 1-for-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB, 2 K
    (1 vote)
  • 0%
    Caberea Weaver (LF): 1-for-4, R
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Mario Camilletti (2B): 2-for-3, 2 RBI
    (0 votes)
  • 95%
    Connor McCullough: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K (W)
    (19 votes)
  • 0%
    Billy Seidl: IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K, pitch timer violation (S)
    (0 votes)
20 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Brooks Baldwin (3B): 0-for-4, 2 K
    (0 votes)
  • 89%
    Tim Elko (DH): 0-for-4, 4 K
    (17 votes)
  • 0%
    Jacob Burke (CF):0-for-3, 2 K, HBP, CS
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Luis Pineda (C): 0-for-4, R, 2 K
    (0 votes)
  • 10%
    Drake Logan (RF): 0-for-4, 4 K
    (2 votes)
  • 0%
    Chase Krogman: IP, H, R, BB, K, HBP
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Pauly Milto: IP, H, R, 0 BB, 0 K, balk
    (0 votes)
19 votes total Vote Now

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