White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 13, 2018

After spending the first half of the season pushing around younger pitching, Laz Rivera‘s unique brand of baseball is still highly productive at Winston-Salem. It’s just that his flaws are thrown into starker relief:

• At KAN: .346/.395/.502, 3.8% BB, 18.1% K over 265 PA
• At W-S: .300/.335/.500, 1.7% BB, 16.4% K over 177 PA

He’s also been plunked 20 times on the season, but at a lower rate at High-A.

The good news is that his contact has improved, especially in August (10-for-27, two strikeouts). That’s one of two ways a player can avoid being weighed down by such an aggressive approach. The other is defense, and he’s in the right place to improve as a shortstop.

“[Omar Vizquel is] always working with me defensively before and during BP on things that I do that he thinks I should be doing differently,” Rivera said of the first-year Winston-Salem manager. “In this game you have to change things a lot, always take in what other people have to say. Not everything you do, just because it’s comfortable for you, is right. I always listen to him. He had a great career professionally. I love him having him as a manager.”

Buffalo 8, Charlotte 7

• Charlie Tilson went 0-for-4 with a sac fly and stolen base.
• Ryan Cordell, 1-for-5.
• Eloy Jimenez was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer.
• Jose Rondon went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
• Seby Zavala, 1-for-4 with a double and two strikeouts.
• Jordan Stephens: 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP
• Ian Hamilton: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

More:

*Jimenez’s homer was an opposite-field no-doubter:

Wanna see something really pretty? Here's Eloy Jimenez's HR tonight from the open side. pic.twitter.com/WVt3Sahkwm

— Josh Norris 🐻 (@jnorris427) August 14, 2018

Lexington 3, Kannapolis 1

• Luis Curbelo went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Steele Walker, 1-for-4 with a K and a stolen base.
• Carlos Perez, Justin Yurchak and Evan Skoug were all 0-for-3 with a strikeout.

Great Falls 10, Ogden 3

• Lenyn Sosa was 1-for-5 with a triple and a strikeout.
• Bryce Bush went 1-for-5 with a strikeout.
• Amado Nunez, 2-for-5 with a stolen base.
• Gunnar Troutwine went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
• Maiker Feliz singled all four times up.
• Jonathan Stiever: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

AZL White Sox 3, AZL Brewers 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)

• Anderson Comas singled twice, walked once and struck out once.
• Camilo Quinteiro was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Tito Polo homered, walked twice, struck out once and stole a base.
• Lency Delgado went 0-for-3 with a K and a stolen base.
• Harvin Mendoza, 1-for-3 with a double and a strikeout.
• Cabera Weaver went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Bryan Herrera: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K
• Zack Burdi struck out all three batters faced to help with the no-hitter.

More:

*Burdi finally had an outing he liked:

“It felt really good,” he said. “The first three weren’t very good, plain and simple. I wasn’t commanding the zone, falling behind hitters, letting hitters dictating the at-bat and letting them control it. Today, I upped my tempo and really focused on staying down in the zone and working all three pitches to be as sharp as possible, and got the results I wanted.

“The main thing right now is feeling healthy and the results kind of take second to that, but it’s always good to have a clean inning and go out there and compete, so I was really happy with it.”

AZL White Sox 3, AZL Brewers 2 (Game 2, 7 innings)

• Luis Mieses went 0-for-2 with a walk.
• Anthony Coronado went 0-for-3 with a K.
• Sam Abbott was 1-for-2 with a homer and a walk.
• Kleyder Sanchez went 0-for-2.
• Josue Guerrero, 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
• Kelvin Maldonado went 1-for-2 with a sac bunt.
• Brayant Nova, 1-for-2 with a walk and a CS.

DSL White Sox 6, DSL Padres 2

• Sidney Pimentel went 1-for-5 with a strikeout.
• Jose Rodriguez, 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts. He also stole a base.

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