White Sox Minor Keys: May 22, 2022

José Rodriguez
José Rodriguez (Sox Machine photo)

José Rodríguez can’t quite get his season off the ground.

After going 3-for-4 with a double and two walks in his best game of the season on Thursday against Rocket City, he finished the series going 2-for-13 with five strikeouts over the final three games.

He’s hitting .236/.286/.319 for the season, and .257/.307/.286 in May despite hitting streaks of five and six games over the month. It’s just that most of the hits are singles, and they’re not augmented by walks (four, against 17 strikeouts).

It’s hard to get too down on a guy who is experiencing his first struggles in professional baseball while turning 21 a month into a season at Double-A. When I was in Birmingham, I asked hitting coach Charlie Romero about what he was seeing.

“He’s struggling a little bit. He’s been over-aggressive with his swing. His direction, he’s going left (trying to pull the ball),” Romero said. “We’re working on that, getting his direction towards the pitcher, and he’s in and out of it. Some days you look good doing it, another day you look a little bit off.”

“I’ve been around him, and it’s unusual to me, because I have seen him, you know, just everything was so easy for him physically. But I think it will come.”

Norfolk 14, Charlotte 3

  • Jake Burger was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
  • Carlos Pérez was 0-for-2 with a walk before being replaced, hopefully because of the game’s blowout nature.
  • Adam Haseley was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
  • Davis Martin had his first rough outing of 2022: 3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR

Rocket City 4, Birmingham 0

  • José Rodriguez went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
  • Lenyn Sosa’s hitting streak ended at 16 games with an 0-for-4 day.

Winston-Salem 11, Asheville 10 (10 innings)

  • Oscar Colás went 1-for-5 with a walk and a strikeout.
  • Luis Mieses was 2-for-5 with a double.
  • Adam Hackenberg and Harivin Mendoza were both 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
  • Andrew Dalquist: 3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 1 WP

Fayetteville 8, Kannapolis 7

  • Wes Kath went 2-for-4 with a homer, walk and strikeout.
  • Colson Montgomery was 1-for-4 with his first triple, a walk and two strikeouts.
  • Wilfred Veras went 1-for-5 with a K.
  • DJ Gladney doubled, singled, walked and struck out twice.
  • Jared Kelley: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
  • Noah Owen: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 3 HR

Notes:

*Kelley’s early departure appeared to be planned. He threw 18 of 29 pitches for strikes and received a firm handshake on his way out.

*Kath’s homer:

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MrStealYoBase

Did I miss something injury-related with Kelley? He’s only thrown 12.1 innings on the year so far.

Last edited 1 year ago by MrStealYoBase
jhomeslice

That’s after only throwing 24 innings last year. Does not exactly bode well for him.

what

I believe he opened the year injuried and I had seen mention in spring training that his conditioning was lacking. He’s a big texan kid who might not have the body stamina built up yet to pitch consistently

jhomeslice

He’s going to wind up having pitched very little for a couple of years the way it looks.

ForsterFTOG

Is Terrell Tatum someone to watch?

joewho112

Any update on the Wes Helms situation?

Right Size Wrong Shape

I think we’re supposed to forget about it now.

FishSox

What’s happened to Burgers bat?