White Sox Minor Keys: May 13, 2021

It’s not quite as remarkable as a 13-walk inning, but the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers had their own sequence to forget on Thursday. They raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning on the strength of seven walks and an HBP, only to be held to one hit over the final eight innings.

Normally that would still be enough for the Cannon Ballers to lock down their first win of the season, especially since Matthew Thompson threw five scoreless innings to get them past the halfway point.

Instead, the Cannon Ballers bullpen gave up two in the sixth, one in the seventh, and before they could even record a second out of the ninth inning, four Fayetteville Woodpeckers crossed the plate to keep Kannapolis winless on the season.

Here was the sequence that did them in:

  • One-out walk to load the bases
  • Run-scoring walk
  • Run-scoring infield single
  • Run-scoring HBP
  • Game-ending error by José Rodriguez.

The Cannon Ballers are 0-9.

Charlotte 3, Norfolk 2

  • Blake Rutherford went 1-for-4.
  • Jake Burger, 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
  • Gavin Sheets was 2-for-4.
  • Brian Goodwin, 1-for-3 with a walk.

Birmingham 16, Pensacola 6

  • Ti’Quan Forbes went 1-for-4 with an HBP and two strikeouts.

Winston-Salem 2, Hickory 1

  • Duke Ellis went 0-for-3 with a walk.
  • Lenyn Sosa doubled, singled, struck out twice and was picked off.
  • Luis Curbelo was 1-for-4 with a homer and two strikeouts.
  • Luis Mieses was 0-for-4.
  • Harvin Mendoza, 0-for-3 with a strikeout and an HBP.
  • Jason Bilous: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
  • Luke Shilling: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Fayetteville 7, Kannapolis 6

  • José Rodriguez went 1-for-3 with two walks, and stole a base.
  • Bryan Ramos singled, walked and struck out thrice.
  • DJ Gladney went 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
  • Benyamin Bailey and Sam Abbott both walked once and struck out thrice.
  • Johnabiell Laureano went 0-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout.
  • Matthew Thompson: 5 IP, 4 H, -0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
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Willardmarshall

Is there a minor league Comeback Player of the Year?

asinwreck

Seeing that Winston-Salem played Hickory seems wrong, but that Bilous line seems pretty great.

Soxfan2

Gavin Sheets is intriguing to me as a potential RF at some point this year. Eaton doesn’t seem 100% and is slumping, he will probably have to hit the IL at some point. If Sheets can play a passable RF with what looks like a good approach at the plate, he might might be able to help us.

I’m still not sure why he wasn’t invited to Schaumburg at all last year. I think he is someone to keep an eye on as the season progresses. Most likely, we will have to go outside the org for RF help this year or next year.

GrinnellSteve

If Eaton goes down, right field will go to Lamb.

ParisSox

That’s quite the sacrifice

HallofFrank

Once again, I get so much joy out of thinking about what our 2019 selves would have thought about a Vaughn-Eaton-Sheets 2021 OF. All the more so when you throw in that we don’t hate the idea and it’s for the best team in baseball.

jorgefabregas

I hate the idea of Eaton playing CF. I think Vaughn is passable in LF, but below average (check Outs Above Average) and I suspect Sheets would be similar.

jorgefabregas

It was Jose Rodriguez’s birthday yesterday. He turned 20.

Greg Nix

Some early slash lines I’m watching…

Rutherford: .294/.368/.471
Sheets: .342/.375/.500
Burger: .208/.269/.625
Sosa: .263/.282/.447 (would be his highest ISO by quite a bit)
Rodriguez: .350/.295/.500

I’m probably just high on Yermin juice, but the farm system looks a lot better if one or two of these guys become useful.

HallofFrank

Yep, if 2 of the high school pitchers take a step forward and 2 of these guys look like Major Leaguers, I’ll take that farm system with this team.