White Sox Minor Keys: June 19, 2018

Former White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease
Dylan Cease in 2018. (Jim Margalus / Sox Machine)

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:

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.

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:

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.

Great Falls vs. Billings PPD

Take a second to support Sox Machine on Patreon
21 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Trooper Galactus

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+.

asinwreck

Cease’s progress as a starting pitcher is one of the best parts of this season.

oljeto

Cease will end up the best of the bunch.

mikeyb

Are we sure Kiel really had 3 Ks and 1 BB? Those numbers have to be flipped. I refuse to believe it.

evenyoudorn

3 kills, 1 batboy. 

PauliePaulie

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.

GreatjonHumber
GreatjonHumber

Tried to post a pic, failed.

Holland23

This is how you post a pic: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AirTrafficAJ

“Konor Pilkington” sounds like a character in the original British Office.

evenyoudorn

..or maybe a Spinal Tap drummer.

Trooper Galactus

In which case, he’ll spontaneously combust before he even reaches Birmingham.

MrTopaz

Or choking on someone else’s vomit, if we could only somehow dust for vomit.

sausalito pale hose

good info.

Willardmarshall

Its satisfactions are predictably spotty, but Minor Keys is all that’s getting me through the season….

metasox

Good for Booker and Collins

jorgefabregas

I was expecting a bunch of promotion announcements today.

jorgefabregas

Maybe now that the game is over…

Josh Nelson

Tomorrow morning. Chris Getz will be speaking with the media.

sgp2204

Plus, our 2019 #1 pick already has a homer and threw a runner out at second tonight. Looking good.

PauliePaulie

Play Badly for Adley?
Reek for Rutschman?