White Sox Minor League Update: May 13, 2017

When Baseball America updated its top 100 prospects list on May 11, Lucas Giolito had one of the harder falls on the list.

Baseball America said the “tweaks are relatively minor,” which makes sense. If a month of data/reports on prospects could change the list that drastically, then the season-starting list wouldn’t be worth much of anything (sorry, Carson Fulmer). Given the caution involved, it’s notable that Giolito would fall from 25th to 40th, even with that disclaimer.

He’s taken a backseat to Charlotte’s other highly touted prospects. The frustration has been evident, but he’s trying to leaven it with long-haul perspective.

Giolito said he feels some incremental improvements in his regular throwing sessions, while still struggling to throw his fastball away from right-handers. But there’s only so much comfort he can take from that when he knows that he’s waiting for a night when everything feels different, when he can feel his long arms and legs sync up perfectly and the ball comes out smoothly.

“I think back to high school,” Giolito said. “My sophomore year of high school I didn’t really know where the ball was going. I walked a lot of guys and there was one game where it just clicked and from then on, sophomore, junior, senior year of high school I shot up the rankings and the talent started to show. I’m working as hard as I can to put it all together and hopefully have that one game where it clicks and it’s like ‘Oh, I’m back and I’m good to go.’ If not I can continue to work on it and feel incremental changes and put those together.”

The good news? He finally had a whole outing that he can feel good about, throwing six strong innings against Louisville on Saturday night and coming away with the win to show for it.

Top prospects at a glance

• Yoan Moncada: 0-for-5, 2 K
• Lucas Giolito: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
• Zack Burdi: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
• Luis Alexander Basabe: 1-for-4, K
• Zack Collins, 0-for-3, BB, 2 K

Charlotte 4, Louisville 2

• Yoan Moncada and Nicky Delmonico were both 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Jacob May, 3-for-4 with a triple and a walk.
• Danny Hayes wore the collar.
• Rymer Liriano went 1-for-3 with a walk.
• Adam Engel went 2-for-4 with two doubles and a strikeout.
• Lucas Giolito picked up his first win: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
• Zack Burdi: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K on eight pitches, all strikes.

Chattanooga 9, Birmingham 6

• Jake Peter is hitting over .200 after going 2-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Nick Basto went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
• Trey Michalczewski doubled, singled, walked and struck out twice.
• Matt Cooper: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

More:

*Courtney Hawkins went back on the disabled list. It’s the second time he’s been on the DL during a horrendous slump that has him 3-for-38 with 28 strikeouts over his last 40 PAs.

Carolina 4, Winston-Salem 3

• Luis Alexander Basabe went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
• Zack Collins, 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.

More:

*Aaron Schnurbusch was sent to extended spring training after a rough go of it at Winston-Salem. The 28th-round pick hit just .158/.198/.257 over 107 plate appearances after an excellent pro debut in Great Falls last season.

Kannapolis 11, Rome 2

• Joel Booker went 1-for-4 with 2 HBPs and a strikeout. He was also picked off.
• Micker Adolfo went 1-for-6 with a double and two strikeouts.
• Bernardo Flores: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 2 WP