White Sox Minor Keys: April 26, 2018

Dane Dunning pitching for Winston-Salem in September. (Jim Margalus)

The White Sox made three notable moves in the minors Thursday.

No. 1: Promoted Dane Dunning to Birmingham.

This looked like it was in the works when the White Sox promoted previous Birmingham starter Matt Tomshaw to replace Chris Beck in Charlotte. The White Sox just waited until the same day as Dunning’s Double-A debut to announce it.

Dunning fared well enough for the Barons his first time out, picking up the win with a quality start against Biloxi.

The Barons made room by promoting Colton Turner to Charlotte. The 27-year-old lefty reliever gets another crack at Triple-A after taking a beating with Charlotte last season. He’s done all he can in Double-A.

No. 2: Outrighted Casey Gillaspie to Birmingham.

In anticipation of calling up a 26th man for Saturday’s doubleheader from off the 40-man roster — probably Donn Roach — the White Sox opened a spot by removing Gillaspie from the proceedings.

Gillaspie continues to lose his wrestling match with Triple-A pitching, hitting .214/.263/.229 with just one extra-base hit and five walks to 29 strikeouts over 76 plate appearances this season. His struggles last year knocked him off all top-100 lists, and now he’s in an unfavorable organizational position since Daniel Palka officially secured his status as a prospect of interest by getting MLB playing time.

No. 3: Acquired Todd Cunningham from the Pirates for a player to be named later.

After losing Ryan Cordell to a broken collarbone and Palka to the majors, the Knights were down to three true outfielders. The 29-year-old Cunningham helps patch a spot, as he’s the quintessential AAAA outfielder. He has 2,196 plate appearances at Triple-A alone, but only 130 in the big leagues. His presence won’t block Eloy Jimenez or Tito Polo from receiving a promotion in due time, but both still haven’t entirely hit their strides yet.

Birmingham 7, Biloxi 3

  • Tito Polo went 0-for-4 with an HBP and a strikeout.
  • Zack Collins is still on the way up: 1-for-3 with a walk, HBP and a strikeout.
  • Eloy Jimenez went 2-for-5 with a double.
  • Seby Zavala continues to thump: 1-for-2 with his sixth homer and two walks.
  • Jameson Fisher went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
  • Dane Dunning was a winner in his Double-A debut: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

Lynchburg 7, Winston-Salem 3

Delmarva 4, Kannapolis 3

  • Justin Yurchak went 0-for-2 with two walks.
  • Evan Skoug went 0-for-2 with a walk, strikeout and sac fly.
  • Carlos Perez was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a strikeout.
  • Kade McClure: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 0 K, 1 HBP
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gooch

From Kiley McDaniel’s Fangraphs chat yesterday.

John Oleruds Helmet: Mr Kiley oh honored chatter! oh wisest of prospect knowledge! Please enlighten thou! Who sticks in a future White Sox rotation? Hansen, Cease, Dunning??

Kiley McDaniel: Dunning by far the most likely for me

I guess we will just have to see how Hansen fairs after he comes back.

Eagle Bones

Not really surprising

gooch

It’s not all that long ago that Hansen was dominating in Winston-Salem just like Dunning, was it?

PauliePaulie

recurring forearm issues and future ‘pen arm concerns can be effective wet blankets.

Eagle Bones

It’s an upside vs. certainty thing. He’s not saying Dunning is better, he’s saying he’s a better bet to stick in the rotation. I’ve seen both Kiley and Longenhagen mention on a couple of occasions that they both like Dunning as a near certain #4 starter. Not a really wide range of outcomes for him. Hansen on the other hand…

Evenflow

From the same chat:

Len: Any new buzz in the top 10 since your mock and rankings updates last week?

2:08
Kiley McDaniel: yep, hearing 2-3-4 will go Swaggerty-Bohm-Madrigal now, with Cincy at 5 being the first wild card where people don’t really have a beat on it. Bart seems to be the favorite with Singer as the cut rate option. Then after that it’s still shrug emoji

MadManx

I can’t remember if they matter at all. But, BP actually like Seby’s pitch framing this year. If that’s the case, I think he still has to clean up his pitch blocking and has a below average arm. But, being an above average framer would help a lot

stanleygoober

Assuming Dane is still on the team, I have Aug 19-23 circled on my calendar since Dane is from Jacksonville. Will be fun to check him out in person and maybe it’ll be a homecoming-style game?

John SF

Kind of late to this comment thread, but how did Basabe go 1 for 5 with a homer and a stolen base?

Did he walk or get HBP or dropped third strike or make it to base on an error or hit into a fielder’s choice or what? Some of those good ways to get on base and some are less meaningful.

Like, if he reached on a fringe-call error the SS made while trying to field it too quickly b/c of Basabe’s reputation for speed… that’s essentially the same as infield single, yah feel?