White Sox Minor League Player of the Week (April 24-May 1): DJ Gladney

Around the System

It’s another news-heavy week for the minors.

First off, three rehab assignments started last week. Tim Anderson and Hanser Alberto played over the weekend in Charlotte and are now back in Chicago. Garrett Crochet appeared in his first minor league games, ever, for the Barons.

The Knights moved around a lot of guys: Starter Garrett Davila is back in Birmingham after Luke Farrell was placed in Triple-A. Swingman Tanner Banks is back in Charlotte as well. Outfielder Stephen Piscotty was placed on the IL, while the Sox signed outfielder Clint Frazier and placed him in Triple-A. The two biggest moves, though, were pitcher A.J. Alexy getting outrighted, so he is off of the 40-man roster. Presumptive Sox sixth starter Davis Martin was also placed on Charlotte’s IL. Bryan Shaw was also signed this week, though not with an affiliated team yet; it will be Charlotte once he is ready.

Andrew Pérez and Chris Shaw were sent down to Birmingham this week. Meanwhile, Alsander Womack and Jerry Burke saw promotions from Winston-Salem to Double-A.

Beyond that for the Dash, not much happened, seems to be more of a Charlotte-heavy news week. Jared Kelley was activated from the IL and started a game, two innings.

Same down in Kannapolis, the only activity was outfielder Chase Krogman getting activated from Arizona to the Cannon Ballers.

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White Sox Minor League Player of the Week

DJ Gladney .450/.476/1.100, 4 HR, 5 R, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K

DJ Gladney finally had his breakout week. Last season was a breakout, of sorts, for him. It was his first season with a wRC+ of better than 100. He showed big strides in power, and that is continuing this season in Winston-Salem. He currently sports a .346 ISO — no, not batting average, isolated power! Gladney’s biggest improvement is probably the drop in strikeout rate so far. It is down a little more than 6% compared to his High-A numbers in 2022. The walks are down, too, but strikeouts have been his biggest issue. With the power Gladney has, more batted balls are not necessarily a bad thing. He is certainly seeing it well these past seven days! Gladney is 21, and this is his first full season with the Dash, so maybe a promotion to Birmingham is out of the question early on ... but somebody needs to move up to Birmingham when Tim Elko gets promoted.

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Charlotte Knights

Davis Martin IL
Sean Burke 4 IP, 2.25 ERA, 2 BB, 3 K
Franklin German 1 1⁄3 IP, 6.75 ERA, 1 BB, 1 K (designated for assignment)
Nicholas Padilla 1 1⁄3 IP, 27.00 ERA, 0 BB, 2 K
Carlos Pérez .467/.500/.933, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K

Before we get to Carlos Pérez, Sean Burke made his second start this week and it was much better. With Davis Martin now on the IL, that sixth guy in the rotation may not exist right now, but hopefully Burke puts together a couple more starts like this one to ease some depth worries.

Now, to Pérez, who had a fantastic week at the plate.

Power is one of Pérez’s better assets as a hitter, that and his low strikeout rate. He hit six homers in April and saw a big jump in ISO, to .256. His BABIP (.232) is probably a little low for a really slow power hitter, so maybe there is room for improvement. Unfortunately for Pérez, unlike a typical White Sox season, the big club is set at catcher.

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Birmingham Barons

Matt Thompson 9 1⁄3 IP, 3.86 ERA, 3 BB, 12 K
Cristian Mena 6 IP, 3.00 ERA, 2 BB, 10 K
Adam Hackenberg .200/.200/.200, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Bryan Ramos IL
José Rodríguez IL
Yoelqui Céspedes .278/.350/.278, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 6 K
Luis Mieses .273/.304/.364, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K
Taylor Snyder .333/.333/.833, 2 HR, 4 R, 5 RBI, 0 BB, 7 K

Taylor Snyder was brought in this year to the White Sox organization after spending 2016-22 in the minors for the Colorado Rockies. He is an older player, and an age-28 season in Double-A is quite old. He’s playing third base for the Barons, and this was his best week of the young season, with his first two homers of the 2023 campaign coming in the past seven days. Snyder is walking a lot right now, 16.2%, but that seemed to sap some of his power. There’s not much to read into here, Snyder has almost 100 Triple-A games under his belt in 2021-22, so he should be doing well back in Double-A.

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Winston-Salem Dash

Jonathan Cannon 5 1⁄3 IP, 5.06 ERA, 2 BB, 3 K
Drew Dalquist 3 IP, 9.00 ERA, 1 BB, 3 K
Jared Kelley 2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 BB, 2 K
Kohl Simas 4 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 BB, 6 K
Norge Vera IL
Loidel Chapelli Jr. .133/.278/.333, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K
Wes Kath .000/.071/.000, 1 BB, 8 K
Colson Montgomery IL
Wilfred Veras .238/.227/.333, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 6 K, 1 SB
Terrell Tatum .300/.364/.400, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 SB
DJ Gladney White Sox MiLB player of the week

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Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Shane Murphy 5 IP, 1.80 ERA, 0 BB, 5 K
Tanner McDougal 2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 BB, 3 K
Peyton Pallette 3 2⁄3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 BB, 4 K
Tyler Schweitzer (Did not pitch last week)
Jordan Sprinkle .200/.333/.200, 3 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 SB
Tim Elko .400/.444/.800 - 3 HR, 4 R, 9 RBI, 2 BB, 8 K

Shane Murphy as an at-slot ($125,000) bonus pool draft pick last season out of Chandler-Gilbert Community College. The lefty appeared in a handful of games last season after the draft, and has returned to his starter role with the Cannon Ballers this year. He could not be off to a better start, with 15 innings under his belt and a 2.40 ERA. The lefty is showing fantastic command right now, with two walks and two HBPs. That comes out to a minuscule 3.3% BB-rate. The K-rate, just more than 30%, is at a peak level as well. Murphy is allowing more batted balls in the air and the pull rate might be a little high, so it is possible his .246 batting average against is an indication that this first month is a bit of a mirage. If the strikeouts fall or walks rise, maybe Murphy starts to skid. Then again, you could look at the very high .351 BABIP at its face and imagine an even better start. At the very least, our eyes should be on Murphy now.

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Writer Standings

Darren Black continues with a commanding start to this season’s coverage, including a stellar four-game streak to start the year and seven straight later on in April. Julie, well ... Thursdays and Fridays have been tough in the system.