White Sox Minor Keys: June 19, 2018
Dylan Cease was among the numerous White Sox prospects who made an appearance in an All-Star game today, and he held up his end of the bargain by striking out two during a scoreless inning.
Baseball America’s Josh Norris caught up with Cease as he approached the end of the first half, and he painted a picture of a pitcher who is becoming more than a huge fastball-curve guy.
Winston-Salem pitching coach Matt Zaleski was with Cease last year in low Class A Kannapolis, too, and has seen Cease make big strides throughout the time they’ve been paired with one another. Cease’s walk and strikeout rates have remained nearly identical at both stops, but the difference has been the improvement and addition of pitches.
“When he came to us, he really only had fastball and curveball,” Zaleski said. “He threw a changeup occasionally and he threw a slider occasionally, but they really weren’t the quality that they needed to be for him to develop and keep going higher and higher. To his credit this year, his changeup’s become a huge, huge weapon. He’ll throw it 15-20 times a game.”
Charlotte 6, Columbus 2
- Leury Garcia doubled, walked and struck out twice. He was replaced later in the game, but said he feels good.
- Avisail Garcia went 1-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout.
More:
*Video of Avi Garcia’s blast:
#WhiteSox Avisail Garcia crushes a 434 ft solo HR to L-CF to give the #CLTKnights a 2-0 lead B3.. pic.twitter.com/FlwPhlLA67
— Jonathan Lee (@followmefor3) June 20, 2018
Southern League South 9, Southern League North 5
- Eloy Jimenez went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Seby Zavala was 1-for-2.
- Zack Collins, 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Danny Mendick played the whole game, going 2-for-4 with a strikeout. He was caught stealing.
- Dane Dunning: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
- Ian Hamilton: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
More:
*Collins won the Home Run Derby.
Nobody comes into our city and takes our home derby trophy. Nobody. #Birmingham @BhamBarons @zackcollins0 pic.twitter.com/318eHu13HP
— #WVTM13 (@WVTM13) June 19, 2018
Carolina League South 7, Carolina League North 6
- Joel Booker went 3-for-4 with a massive homer and four RBIs.
- Luis Alexander Basabe was 0-for-2 with a stolen base.
- Dylan Cease struck out and plunked one in a scoreless inning.
- Bernardo Flores: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
- Matt Foster: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
More:
*Booker won the All-Star Game MVP. Here’s his blast:
One pitch, one homer for @joelbooker28 of the @WSDashBaseball. #MudcatsFUN
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/x8kqC4NVxu
— Carolina Mudcats (@CarolinaMudcats) June 20, 2018
Sally League South 9, Sally League North 5
- Laz Rivera went 2-for-3 with a double and a stolen base.
- Tate Blackman, 1-for-4 with a homer.
- Craig Dedelow singled and walked in his two trips to the plate.
- Jake Elliott: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 WP
- Blake Battenfield: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR
AZL White Sox 5, AZL Cubs2 4
- Kelvin Maldonado went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Kleyder Sanchez was 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Luis Mieses went 2-for-4 with a homer.
- Sam Abbott, 0-for-3 with a strikeout and an HBP.
- Anthony Coronado, Anderson Comas and Brayant Nova all were 0-for-3 with a K.
- Brayan Herrera: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP
- Ramon Pineda: 2.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
- Hunter Kiel: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB ,3 K
DSL Blue Jays 3, DSL White Sox 2
- Jose Rodriguez went 0-for-4 with a K.
If Cease has developed his changeup to be a legitimate weapon and not just a show-me pitch, he may very well dominate AA just as easily as he has A+.
Cease’s progress as a starting pitcher is one of the best parts of this season.
Cease will end up the best of the bunch.
Are we sure Kiel really had 3 Ks and 1 BB? Those numbers have to be flipped. I refuse to believe it.
3 kills, 1 batboy.
Konor Pilkington: 6ip, 6H, 1ER, 2BB, 4K’s. 67 of 110 pitches for strikes.
The pitch count is a little higher than you’d like, but at least he isn’t Jackson Kowar, who threw 121.
M. State plays again on Fri.
Tried to post a pic, failed.
This is how you post a pic: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
“Konor Pilkington” sounds like a character in the original British Office.
..or maybe a Spinal Tap drummer.
In which case, he’ll spontaneously combust before he even reaches Birmingham.
Or choking on someone else’s vomit, if we could only somehow dust for vomit.
good info.
Its satisfactions are predictably spotty, but Minor Keys is all that’s getting me through the season….
Good for Booker and Collins
I was expecting a bunch of promotion announcements today.
Maybe now that the game is over…
Tomorrow morning. Chris Getz will be speaking with the media.
Plus, our 2019 #1 pick already has a homer and threw a runner out at second tonight. Looking good.
Play Badly for Adley?
Reek for Rutschman?