White Sox Minor Keys: July 22, 2021
Micker Adolfo is still looking for his first Triple-A hit after two games with Charlotte, but wearing the Knights uniform is an accomplish enough for now. Adolfo is the first traditional international signing in the Marco Paddy era — meaning a teenager signed for an amount of money that would be permitted under today’s rules — to advance to Triple-A. No, he can’t count Fernando Tatis Jr.
It’s been a long road for Adolfo, who signed as a 17-year-old for $1.6 mllion way back in 2013. He persevered through a series of significant injuries and surgeries to merit a call-up to Charlotte. He hit .249/.318/.525 with 15 homers and 15 doubles over 242 plate appearances. Take out a terrible first week-plus, and he hit .267/.335/.556 over his last 209 PA.
He was the rare hitter to not be fazed by Regions Field:
- Home: .285/.358/.624
- Road: .207/.270/.414
So he should make Truist Field look tiny when he plays his first home game for Charlotte. The bigger key will be his strikeout rate, which was 35 percent at Birmingham. He can turn around and lift a fastball, but breaking stuff still causes him to expand his zone. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a lengthy adjustment period, but it could very well be the case that strikeout rates are hard to iron out at lower levels when the production around whiffs is that loud.
The good news is that Adolfo shouldn’t be the only one of his kind for long. Carlos Pérez, a $50,000 signing out of Venezuela in 2014, is on the cusp of graduating from Birmingham. He homered and doubled during a 2-for-5 night with the Barons on Thursday, raising his slugging percentage above .400 for the first time all season with plenty of room to spare. He’s hitting .285/.336/.417 over 60 games with the Barons, including .354/.417/.523 over 17 games in July. There’s room for him behind the plate in Charlotte depending on what the Sox have in mind for Yermín Mercedes, and depending on where Mercedes’ mind is at.
REMINDER: Patreon supporters can see a comprehensive log of Marco Paddy’s signings and international class summaries.
Durham 5, Charlotte 3
- Blake Rutherford wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Eloy Jiménez went 1-for-4 with a double and two strikeouts.
- Micker Adolfo was 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Bennett Sousa’s Triple-A debut: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Birmingham 10, Chattanooga 5
- Romy Gonzalez went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts and a stolen base.
- Carlos Pérez was 2-for-5 with a homer and a double.
- Yolbert Sanchez went 3-for-5 with a double, and was caught stealing.
- Kade McClure: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 WP, 1 HBP
Winston-Salem 3, Jersey Shore 2
- Yoelqui Céspedes went 2-for-4 with a strikeout and a stolen base.
- Luis Robert went 0-for-1 with a walk, and was once again lifted after five innings.
- Luis Curbelo went 3-for-4 with a homer, and was picked off.
- Davis Martin finally reversed course: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Fayetteville 4, Kannapolis 3
- Jose Rodriguez went 1-for-4 with an HBP.
- Harvin Mendoza was 0-for-4 with a K.
- Luis Mieses went 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Caberea Weaver wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- James Beard went 2-for-3 with a double, walk and stolen base.
- Andrew Dalquist: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
ACL Indians 7, ACL White Sox 6 (7 innings)
- Wilber Sanchez went 1-for-3 with a walk and two stolen bases.
- Benyamin Bailey and Logan Glass both were 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, though Bailey got plunked.
- Jefferson Mendoza went 2-for-3 with a homer.
- Elijah Tatis doubled, hit a sac fly and struck out.
- Ronald Guzman: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 1 WP
DSL Padres 4, DSL White Sox 2 (7 innings)
- Victor Quezada went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
Author
I may have missed this, but anyone know what the deal is with Norge Vera? I thought he was supposed to debut in the DSL, but he’s yet to make an appearance.
great stuff. When does Curbelo move up?
Welcome to the AL Central the Cleveland Guardians
I saw that a few minutes ago. I guess it’s for real. What a sad, uninspired name. I was hoping they would revert to the late 19th Century National League Cleveland nickname of “Spiders.” I want them to be the Spiders.
Yeah I guess it is named after a monument on a Cleveland Bridge…pretty boring
I just looked into this and actually love the name now. That’s a freaking cool bridge (“Guardians of Traffic”) and it apparently ends right at Progressive Field.
Knowing that makes it much less generic and if they take the uniforms in the direction of the Architectural theme of the bridge this will end up pretty cool.
Give it a few years and this will be just as normal sounding as the Oakland Athletics
It looks like they’re trying not to veer too far from the present uniforms, though the G in the script looks like something Gaylord Perry would have worn.
I thought they should have gone for an all-new color scheme as a way of encouraging people to buy more merch.
Spiders would have been cool, but there are myriad considerations in choosing a name. Is the domain name available? Does someone already hold the trademark? Do they really want to be associated with the worst team in history? I’m sure there are many others.
The Cleveland Guardians: Less Offensive, Equally Uninspired
You have to admit that’s a pretty catchy slogan though! The marketing team did great here!
I think the Cubs should change their name to the Chicago Water Tower. We got to keep the city history theme going. ????
give them 3 weeks, they will get defunded
Rays getting Nelson Cruz. Will make them a tougher opponent, no doubt.
All the more reason for the Sox to trade for an established RHP reliever. I read they had scouts looking at Tepera of the Cubs. He would be perfect… doing well, good hisotry, and would probably slot in as their 3rd best RHP reliever behind Kopech and Liam. Should be require way less than Kimbrel in trade.
Tepera is an interesting name to consider.
To trade for half a season of Cruz, a 40-something year old DH, the Rays gave up a couple of prospects who are roughly equivalent to Stiever and Dalquist (our #4 and #5).
It’s worth keeping the price in mind given that there is a sense that the Sox should try to pull of multiple trades with the #30 ranked farm system.
Both guys the Twins got are performing very well at AAA and are much better than any of the Sox pitching prospects. To say they are the equivalent of Stiever/Dahlquist is pretty far from accurate, look at the numbers. Dahlquist isn’t even doing well at Kanapolis, Stiever having a poor season at Charlotte. The Rays have the top rated farm system for a reason. Ditto the Sox being close to last.
Comparable to our 4th and 5th ranked pitching prospects insofar as they are pitching prospects with 50 FV and 45 FV by MLB pipeline. So, yeah, I think they’re roughly comparable.
I mean if you think our #4 and #5 aren’t as good as the two guys that were traded for Cruz then I guess we really shouldn’t expect to acquire much via the trade market.
Yeah, the MIN return is definitely a step (or two) up from Stiever and Dalquist. FG has Stiever and Dalquist at 40 FV—both of the pitchers in the Twins return are 45 FV. The Sox only have one 45 FV (or higher): Jared Kelley.
Even Kelly is just a late 2nd round pick that has had elbow issues which makes him a TJ candidate, and has pitched all of 12 innings in 7 starts. How excited would anyone be if the Sox traded for someone with that description, in a year they were rebuilding? I can’t see teams knocking down the door for him, or any of the Sox prospects aside from Burger or Sheets, really. All their minor league pitchers are having awful years, likely to lower their trade/rank value if anything.
I’m very excited about Carlos Perez’s 2021 progress. He looks like an ideal MLB backup catcher between his positive defensive reviews and excellent contact skills at the plate (looks like he could be an Astudillo-lite type hitter)
Yes, but how does his pitching compare to Astudillo?
Ask Yermin when Perez gets promoted to Charlotte.
I hope for more. I don’t get too excited when the ceiling is backup catcher.
I don’t think anyone is legitimately “excited” over Carlos Perez. Looking at the Sox player dev over the last 20 years isn’t exactly a pretty sight. The fact that the Sox signed this kid for $50K and now it looks like he has an actual path to the majors, is a win in it’s own right. Even if he is a back up, if his defense is as advertised, that has value especially when considering he will be cheap for 6 years.
Agreed. I looked up him up about a week ago and was expecting a 27 year old catcher in AA that is hitting but with a K% of 27+. Was happily wrong on both of those things.
Not a bad outing from Dalquist. Not dominant or anything, but for him, Kelley, and Thompson, I’d like to see that level of performance consistently at some point. Given their respective situations (prep signings in their first full season of pro ball), I think showing they can hold their own in Low-A is a good launching point for 2022.