Brooks Baldwin to get the call-up

White Sox surprise, promote ascendant middle infielder

No sooner we had reported on the roster maneuverings of one day ago, the White Sox hit us with a surprise in filling out their 40-player roster:

Of all the possible options, and as merited and needed as Baldwin’s call-up is, this one is a shocker. Several moves will still be forthcoming:

• Yoán Moncada will presumably return to the South Side in the near future, necessitating a 40-player roster move as he is on the 60-day IL
• A return of the most detestable pitcher in the organization would appear forthcoming, forcing a demotion or release of someone on the current active roster
• The DFA of Martín Maldonado leaves the White Sox with one catcher, Korey Lee, and with Edgar Quero new to Triple-A and not on the 40-player roster it would seem Chuckie Robinson is on his way to the South Side — forcing another demotion or release

As for Baldwin, he more than any other player, including the white-hot Quero, has set the White Sox system on fire. After being drafted in the 12th Round in 2022, Baldwin started his first full professional season just last year, in Low-A Kannapolis —the last stop in his career where he didn’t outright kill it. His push to High-A Winston-Salem was as much draft-driven as merit, but once Baldwin put on a Dash uniform he started to crush the ball, finishing out 2023 slashing .327/.375/.495 over 28 games.

With just a short (albeit successful) audition in Winston-Salem, Baldwin’s assignment to start 2024 in Birmingham was seen at the time as somewhat aggressive. Yeah, right: Baldwin mashed .322/.386/.441 over 74 games while playing strong defense at shortstop, second and third. In his eight days in Charlotte Baldwin has turned up the heat even hotter, going 10-for-29 with five extra-base hits.

There are a couple of approaches here the White Sox could take. The tepid one is just recognizing Baldwin’s greatness this season and putting him in uniform for a week to hold a seat on the bench until Yoán is ready to return; foolish, but the club has done this with José Rodríguez and Lenyn Sosa, among others. The sensible one is to plug Baldwin right into the lineup and see what he can do.

Problem: Benching Paul DeJong and/or Nick Lopez on any given night will cut trade value. (Yes, I hear that chortle, but even a Robbie Grossman return of a lottery-ticket reliever is something, and DeJong’s power outburst this season alone should fetch a return.)

Additionally, this move, even if a token gold watch honor for Baldwin (given, weirdly, at midyear), indicates a depth chart shakeup. Colson Montgomery, fresh off of the a Futures Game anointing him as The Next if not by performance than reputation, has been passed on the shortstop depth chart. It’s a given that Sosa is, basically, dust in the White Sox organization; he’s proven himself worth of big league reps and no longer necessitating MiLB work, and yet the White Sox just sent (and keep sending) him down to Charlotte. And while he has cooled since settling in at Birmingham, Jacob Gonzalez has made it know he will not yield a future middle-infield spot on the South Side quietly. It could be argued that the most likely double-play combination of the future is now Baldwin-Gonzalez, without Montgomery in that mix.

There will be more to report, as players return healthy to the roster, a catcher is needed, and trades loom. This one was a surprising, but wonderful, news burst. Congratulations to Brooks Baldwin!