White Sox Minor League Update: July 15

A rough day on the farm, but a nice debut from our brand-new top catcher in the org, Deivy Grullón!

Up 6-1 and then 8-3 by mid-game, the Knights still found a way to lose this one, as the bullpen caved for eight runs in the last third of the game, dropping Charlotte to 25-36 on the year.

The bullpen being so bad meant tonight’s starter, Jonathan Stiever, had to be good, right? Yeah, but could have been better, which is probably the theme of Stiever’s season. He struggled through five innings (86 pitches), giving up three earned and, thanks to Charlotte’s offense, was in line for a win. The firm of (hey Julie!) Turley, Sadzeck, Medeiros & Dopico managed to bury that hope, combining for just three hits but eight earned, 10 (!) walks, three Ks and two homers.

Ten runs in a loss means the offense was doing something right, right? Yep, 13 hits and nine walks — but also 14 Ks and 19 combined LOB. Two hits apiece for Yermín Mercedes (starting at first base, error), Eloy Jiménez (two singles, three Ks), Blake Rutherford, Luis González and Deivy Grullón (25-year-old catcher just traded to the White Sox from Tampa Bay, for cash).

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Rocket City Trash Pandas at Birmingham Barons, suspended, rain

The ballgame got through just seven scoreless outs when Regions Field was inundated with rain. Konnor Pilkington got the start and had a perfect game through 1 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Left fielder Tyler Nelsony, acquired from the Atlanta Braves on July 11, was making his Barons debut tonight. Nelsony was a ninth round pick in 2016, is 27, is appears to be filling the Zack Granite (retired yesterday) role with Birmingham; unlike Granite, Nelsony has never played above Double-A.

The game segues into a doubleheader tomorrow, with this opener remaining nine innings and the nightcap shortened to seven.

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Just not a great effort from Winston-Salem tonight, and a lot of it came down to starter Kaleb Roper, who just hasn’t been good in a rotation role this season. Roper started two of 14 games with Great Falls toward the end of his draft year of 2019, throwing a combined eight innings with two hits and no runs, and seven Ks against three walks. The loss of the 2020 season, where Roper presumably would have been a pure rotation piece in Kannapolis, might have really hurt the righthander, because he’s not righted himself this season: six starts (seven games), just 23 innings, a 9.00 ERA. The strikeouts to walks are still really good, so there is holdout hope that Roper gets better, but a tuneup in Kannapolis might soon be in order.

Alex Destino was really good for the W-S offense tonight, but otherwise the effort for the Dash in the game was pretty meh.

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Speaking of meh, it’s the 2021 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, mehing White Sox org fans since early May! I want to say this is a season-worst 24 games under .500, but I’m new here and it might have been worse a couple of weeks ago.

Kevin Folman saw his ERA jump almost two runs with this abysmal effort tonight. If there was good news, it comes in the form of newly-promoted Karan Patel getting a strong Kanny debut under his belt, solid work from McKinley Moore, and a killer effort from Sammy Peralta, eating four innings up tonight with just two hits of damage, no runs, and six Ks.

Samil Polanco was a monster at the plate tonight, and Chase Krogman continues to flash a swell batting eye. That is all.

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Forgive the Complexions, they know not what it means to lose to the Cubs. Jared Kelley was ... all right (?) ... in two innings of a rehab start. The more seasoned Dilmer Mejía was excellent in relief. And, well, the offense was ... awful (four hits, four walks, somehow 17 combined left on base, no runs). I think the LOB number is an error from a past box score that an Arizona intern simply failed to zero out before inputting tonight.

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Bless the DSL, which kept my Update debut this year from going winless. Keep an eye on this Carlos Hinestroza fella, he’s been lights-out in his pro debut, two appearances in three games, he was warming for his second save but his teammates had to go and put a crooked number up in their last bats. Sloppy play, as is to be expected among these prep-age players, but the offense for WSDSL was really clicking today.