White Sox Minor Keys: April 10, 2022
After eight years together, the White Sox couldn’t get of Micker Adolfo if they tried.
And it sure seems like they tried, but four days after designating Adolfo for assignment in advance of setting the Opening Day roster, the White Sox announced that Adolfo cleared waivers and was outrighted to Charlotte.
For all we know, this is great news for the White Sox, who could stand to benefit after a 2021 season and 2022 spring that could be best describe as the Mickest Adolfo possible.
- 2021: .245/.311/.520, 31 BB, 138 K over 405 PA
- 2022: 10-for-23, 3 BB, 9 K over 28 PA
What we don’t know is whether the White Sox were close on a deal that could’ve applied Adolfo’s talent to a position of greater need. As nice as it is to have Adolfo around, his situation makes it difficult to give him a chance.
First, there’s the situation at the MLB level. Even if AJ Pollock is out longer than a few days, the White Sox have Adam Engel, Andrew Vaughn and Leury García to rotate in that corner. Meanwhile, Adolfo can’t really be used to bridge a roster gap in the short term, because the Sox would have to outright Adolfo a second time in order to send him back to Charlotte, and Adolfo only has to accept the assignment after the first one. He could declare free agency if he wanted to.
Basically, he needs a team that can afford to give him a long leash, and that team might not exist, at least when a roster reduction looms at the end of the month. As for the task now at hand, Adolfo can resume thumping at Triple-A while cutting his strikeout rate below 30 percent, he and the White Sox might eventually find that taker.
Charlotte 5, Norfolk 4
- Adam Haseley went 1-for-4 with a double.
- Romy Gonzalez was 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Carlos Pérez, 1-for-5 with his fourth double.
- Kade McClure: 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 2 HR
- Andrew Perez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K
Rocket City 4, Birmingham 1
- Jose Rodriguez wore the silver sombrero during an 0-for-5 day.
- Yolbert Sánchez went 1-for-3 with two walks, but was picked off twice.
- Yoelqui Céspedes went 2-for-4 with a double.
- Lenyn Sosa drew a walk! Also, he went 1-for-2 with an HBP.
- Luis Curbelo stranded six during an 0-for-4, three-strikeout performance.
- Jason Bilous: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
- Lincoln Henzman’s first outing in forever: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
Hickory 5, Winston-Salem 2
- Oscar Colás went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Bryan Ramos went 1-for-4 with a homer and two strikeouts.
- Luis Mieses, 2-for-4.
- Harvin Mendoza was 0-for-3 with a walk.
Highlights:
Two angles on Ramos’ blast:
Kannapolis 18, Fayetteville 7
- James Beard went 2-for-5 with a walk, an HBP, three strikeouts and a stolen base.
- Colson Montgomery was 2-for-5 with two doubles, two walks and two strikeouts.
- DJ Gladney was 1-for-5 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Wilfred Veras singled, walked twice, got plunked once and struck out twice.
- Colby Smelley’s A-ball debut was perfect: 3-for-3 with a triple, a walk, an HBP and five RBIs.
Highlights:
*The Cannon Ballers drew 11 walks and took three HBPs.
*Kannapolis scored 40 runs over the three games. Only two other teams in the three levels that opened Friday have scored more than 30, with Springfield of the Texas League second at 32.
Author
If Colson Montgomery can truly sustain his early-career BB rates, we may be looking at a legit “guy”. Hopefully his defense can shore up a bit, 3 errors in 3 games is likely not going to win him any gold gloves.
Also, Yolbert Sanchez is continuing to walk a ton like he did in the AFL! That’s a welcome sight. Perhaps he actually has some real offensive upside after the performance he’s put up over the last calendar year.
Nice of Montgomery to hit the ground running, still has years to refine the defense but if he has to slide to 3rd down the road it would be nice to know the bat could carry that.
Perez, Sanchez, and Ramos getting it going early too is nice to see.
There’s a long way to go and a lot of “ifs” here, but the Sox system seems poised to make a sizable leap in the farm system rankings for 2023. They may only graduate a couple from the top 15 or so (Burger, Romy?, Yolbert?, Adolfo?) and could see huge jumps in evaluations for several players (Colas, Montgomery, Cespedes?, Kelley?, Rodriguez?, Vera?, Ramos?). It wouldn’t surprise me if they had 2-4 top 100 prospects at the start of next season.
One big variable, however, is whether there is a move to be made. A trade for Montas, for example, would almost certainly keep them in the basement.
Pretty good bet there will be some kind of moves during the season. Probably the case for any contending team. Last season was a bit distorted with Madrigal and Heuer big pieces to move. But a deal of that size in terms of prospects plus the others they lost – Pilkington, Horn – might be a good place to start in terms of gauging what will happen.
Agreed, but I suspect prospects in that tier don’t move the needle much on where the system ranks. The system will likely rise—or not rise—based almost solely on what those top 10 or so guys do.
Not sure how Madrigal / Heuer would have translated as prospects but am assuming that hits top 10
Oops, yes, fair. I was thinking Pilkington, Horn. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Sox didn’t dip into their top 10 (in the Madrigal tier) this year. But, it wouldn’t surprise me if they did. So, we’ll see.
Either way, I’ve seen a lot of pessimism around the Sox system being ranked 30th. Fair enough. But there’s a way to be 30th. This isn’t your White Sox farm systems of the early-mid 2010’s when Spencer Adams (aka Jared Kelley) was perennially ranked 2nd.