White Sox Minor League Update: May 4, 2025

Hagen Smith threw a six-inning gem in the Barons win, though the rest of the farm fell flat

Norfolk Tides 9, Charlotte Knights 3 (Statcast box)
The Knights (15-18) were cruising on a seven-game win streak back to .500, but the tables have turned. After Sunday’s loss to the Tides (12-20), they are now riding the struggle bus on a three-game losing streak.

Charlotte decided to go with a bullpen game, which was actually working pretty well until things went completely off the rails in the seventh inning. Adisyn Coffey opened the first two innings and allowed one run — but because the Knights had scored early, it didn’t do too much damage, especially considering Chase Plymell followed that up with two no-hit innings. The rest of the bullpen had a hard time after that, with newly-promoted Keone Kela, and Justin Anderson blowing the lead to allow six runs between them in the seventh inning. And until Dan Altavilla eventually closed out the ninth, only one other pitcher of the seven (Plymell) neglected to give up a run.

Offensively, Charlotte had success early on in the game, scoring two runs in the second and one in the third to take a lead into the seventh. They had plenty of opportunities to score more runs, and put up eight hits as a team. Corey Julks, Tristan Gray, and Zach DeLoach each had two hits apiece, however, the issue was that the Knights went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and they fell flat for the last few innings.

---

Birmingham Barons 4, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3
In his sixth start for the Barons (14-12), Hagen Smith worked through his longest outing of the year (six innings), and was excellent once again to earn the win against the Blue Wahoos (18-9). On his way to his second win of the season, he didn’t allow any runs on four hits and two walks, and struck out six in the process. Smith is now at a 2.28 ERA on the season with a 3.62 FIP, and ideally we see him moving up to Charlotte by June.

Birmingham held a four-run lead behind Smith for six innings — bolstered by two-run bombs from both Mario Camilletti and Jacob Gonzalez in the second and third innings.

Righthander Jordan Mikel, threatened to give away the lead in the seventh, allowing a three-run rally for Pensacola. Thankfully, Jared Kelley was able to come in and get the final out for Birmingham and maintain a one-run lead. Peyton Pallette had the final frame for the Barons, and though he gave up two hits in the ninth to put runners in scoring position, he forced a fly out to end the game with a save.

---

Greensboro Grasshoppers 9, Winston-Salem Dash 8 (Opener, 7 innings)
Due to Saturday’s rainout, Winston-Salem and Greensboro concluded their six-game set with a doubleheader Sunday. Offense was abundant from both teams, with 23 hits between them in just seven innings, though the Grasshoppers (18-8) walked off the Dash (9-17) in the bottom of the ninth to steal the first of the day.

Jeral Perez and Samuel Zavala did the most damage with the bats, accounting for half of the hits (six), and five of the eight Winston-Salem runs, with three and two runs batted in, respectively. Zavala’s RBI in the top of the seventh put the Dash in prime position to get the win after coming back from a five-run deficit, but the pitching staff couldn’t handle the one-run lead.

In fact, every Winston-Salem pitcher that appeared in the game gave up at least one run. Tanner McDougal started, allowing five runs (four earned) right off the bat — the four coming from a grand slam in the bottom of the second. Clete Hartzog came in to hold the lead in the last inning and immediately got two outs, but fell apart after giving up a home run to tie the game. Rather then finally getting the last out, the game-winner scored on an RBI single to right run just a few batters later to end the game.

---

Greensboro Grasshoppers 3, Winston-Salem Dash 1 (Nightcap, 7 innings)
Although they mashed eight runs in the first game, the Dash offense rolled over for the nightcap, only getting three hits — two of them coming in the first, including a Sam Antonacci solo bomb. Winston-Salem (9-18) didn’t put up any additional runs the rest of the game, and provided zero run support for starting pitcher Lucas Gordon, who ended up getting the loss against the Grasshoppers (19-8). A tough break for Gordon, who has been great thus far, and was just named the SSS Dash Player of the Month for April.

Gordon pitched a complete game (six innings), and allowed just three runs on six hits while striking out six batters. The problem was that one-third of the hits he gave up were home runs — one to tie the game 1-1 in the fourth, and another that gave the Grasshoppers a two-run lead in the bottom of the sixth. Even with the home runs, it’s still no excuse that the offense wasn’t able to back him up, and only two players even got a hit (Antonacci and Cole McConnell).

---

Augusta GreenJackets 5, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 1
The Cannon Ballers (16-11) offense was not able to convert on scoring opportunities, going just 1-for-7 with RISP, and ended their five-game win streak with a loss to the GreenJackets (14-13). Lefthander Nick Pinto started the game for the Ballers, but exited the game in the first with an apparent arm injury. Hoping for the best, it really would be sad to see another player in the White Sox org with a serious arm injury.

Wardquelin Vasquez took over for Pinto, and though he gave up just one run in his 2 ⅓ innings, he still got the loss as the offense was not able to back up him or any of the pitching staff. The Ballers had pulled within one after Lyle Miller-Green drove in Arnold Prado in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn’t manage to get the tying run across.

Kannapolis made it even harder for themselves in the top of the ninth, as Grant Umberger came back out in the ninth for his second inning, but ended up with three runs charged to him on five hits.