White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 29, 2021
With a homer on Sunday, Blake Rutherford reached a personal milestone by reaching 10 homers in a season. He’d topped out at seven in each of the previous two years, over 115 games at Winston-Salem, then 118 games in Birmingham, whereas Sunday was only his 91st game of 2021.
It has to be noted that 10 homers in 91 games isn’t as big of an accomplishment with the Knights as it is for other teams. Six other Charlotte players have reached 10 homers, including Cohoes’ Zack Remillard, a jack-of-all-trades organizational player who only has 61 appearances with the Knights after being called up to fill roles around the infield.
But it looked like Rutherford might be stuck at single digits until he homered three times in the series against Durham this past week. He’s only hitting .253/.290/.421 on the season, but he’s trying to finish with a flourish in order to keep hope alive (.295/.320/.558).
Should he complete the strong closing of his season, the conversation will then turn to how much of it was aided by Truist Field. Chris Getz says the White Sox adjust numbers for pitchers based on the environment, so it stands to reason that they wouldn’t get carried away for hitters whose stats might be similarly inflated. Rutherford’s profile on the road looks similar to the guy who topped out at seven homers.
- Home:. 249/.296/.451, 7 HR, 10 BB, 40 K over 48 G
- Away: .258/.284/.392, 3 HR, 7 BB, 52 K over 43 G
He’s 24 and has two options remaining, so there isn’t a rush to reach a verdict. It’s more a matter of whether his spot on the 40-man could be better used on somebody else before the start of next season. There’s a little bit of padding before the conversation turns to him, but not that much.
Durham 5, Charlotte 1
- Billy Hamilton went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Blake Rutherford was 1-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout.
- Jake Burger, 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Gavin Sheets walked twice, struck out twice and was caught stealing.
- Yermín Mercedes was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Romy Gonzalez, 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Micker Adolfo went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Kade McClure: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 40 of 70 pitches for strikes.
Montgomery 8, Birmingham 4
- Yoelqui Céspedes went 2-for-5 with a strikeout and two stolen bases.
- Carlos Pérez was 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Lenyn Sosa went 1-for-4.
Hudson Valley 9, Winston-Salem 6
- Jose Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a leadoff homer.
- Luis Mieses went 1-for-3 with a homer and a walk. He was also caught stealing.
- Luis Curbelo and Harvin Mendoza both were 0-for-4 with a walk.
- Caberea Weaver singled and struck out twice.
Lynchburg 15, Kannapolis 0
- Bryan Ramos went 1-for-3 with two walks, and was the only Baller to avoid striking out.
- Misael Gonzalez singled, walked and struck out twice.
- Chase Krogman wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- James Beard struck out all four trips.
- Wilber Sanchez went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- The Cannon Ballers struck out 20 times overall.
(Photo by Laura Wolff / Charlotte Knights)
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I think that Charlotte score is wrong. Collins also homered in his first game with the Knights this year.
It’s been a long wait for Rutherford to make some noise….
Not excited about a guy with a .710 OPS having a couple good games. I think there is good reason he has dropped to 24th in their prospect rankings.
I’m not excited about him either, but it wasn’t too long ago that he had an OPS that started with 5. So it’s been more than a couple good games.
When the rosters expand on Wed, I assume they will be calling up two players. Sheets is a good bet to be one. Any chance of Romy? I know he hasn’t been there long but is doing so well, and it seems like the Sox could use someone better than Mendick as backup or to give Hernandez a rest. Just seems like Romy is on such a hot streak that he might have a few hits left in his bat.
If not, who might the other be, probably Burger?
Related, any word on when Engel, Hamilton, and Marshall will return from the IL? I know the latter 2 are rehabbing and they said Engel wouldn’t require rehab.
Have not heard. I sure hope Engel can play in October. For whatever reason this year he seems as frail as Eaton in terms of leg health. Such a good player, can only hope he can play.
Will be interesting to see what roster moves they make this week, and toward season’s end.
Highly doubt its romy, 40 man is pretty clogged and he’s not close to needing protection. He would be redundant with Leary back anyway. I kinda of see him has Leury future replacement anyways when he’s ready if he keeps up his progressions… my guess would be a reliever to go with sheets
My guess is Collins.
I could understanding wanting a third catcher but thought Collins needed to stay in the minors 10 days or so, unless that is waived for Sept. Could also bring back Mercedes for a time to at least serve in an emergency role.
Maybe not the first day rosters expand. But I think there is something where they can save an option by bring him up in less than 20 days. But that only matters if they are considering keeping him for next year (or if other teams value that option).
Back of the envelope,
Which is kind of boring. It’d be nice to get a look at some prospects
I wouldn’t expect “sept callups” in the traditional sense. Given the minor league season goes almost all month and the number of injuries across the league this season, including guys to add back in like Hamlton and Engel, the Sox may just float guys back and forth based on need and injury.
Norge Vera has not allowed a hit in 4 appearance and 6 innings, 10 K’s. Any chance they will promote him quickly to Kannapolis to see what he can do in a few outings against better hitters?
I assumed he was in the DSL for tax purposes.
Was not aware of that, thanks. Baseball America had him as the Sox top pitching prospect I think, I hope he gets a chance to move up through their system quickly.
I’m only speculating but I think he’ll be in the DSL for the year to keep good faith among international prospects.
To elaborate, it might mean more to these guys to have a year of relief from taxes than a half season playing below their level of competition.
Across 4 levels—
0 wins and 4 losses
11 runs scored, 37 runs allowed
What a wretched farm system.
Just a bad year for their pitchers. Has not been a wretched year for Burger, Sheets, Jose Rodriguez, or Romy Gonzalez.
It’s quite obvious that Rutherford is using steroids.
In the off-season, they need to change their name back to Intimidators and we all agree to pretend this year never happened.