White Sox Minor Keys: June 12, 2022
When the White Sox optioned Gavin Sheets to Charlotte, I’d hoped that Adam Haseley would’ve taken his place. Because Sheets set such a low bar for worthiness of left-handed at-bats, Haseley stood a chance of clearing it while providing the ability to actually play across the outfield as well, rather than standing in a corner.
Instead, the White Sox recalled Jimmy Lambert, who threw 2⅓ scoreless innings in high-leverage. Then the Sox called up Tanner Banks, who threw two scoreless innings in high leverage. Apparently, the overtaxed bullpen has taken precedent.
But Haseley keeps hitting. Since the Sox demoted in late April, he’s hitting .295/.361/.561, including his eighth homer on Sunday. He’s also drawn 14 walks over 155 plate appearances while stealing 11 bases in 11 opportunities.
It’s been a few years since Haseley has played this well at any level, and it’s weird that the Sox have managed to hold off on capitalizing on one of the few moves that sought to create upside where there was none in the position-player ranks. Perhaps he’ll get a look when the bullpen emergency abates, although increased offense from left-handed bats is another way to go about solving it.
Charlotte 6, Louisville 1
- Adam Haseley went 2-for-5 with a homer.
- Gavin Sheets, was 0-for-5 with a K in his return to Triple-A.
- Romy González, 1-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
- Yolbert Sánchez was 0-for-4.
Birmingham 7, Pensacola 6 (12 innings)
- José Rodríguez went 0-for-6 with a strikeout.
- Lenyn Sosa, 2-for-4 with his 13th homer.
- Yoelqui Céspedes went 1-for-6 with a strikeout.
- Jason Bilous with his best start in a while: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR
Greensboro 11, Winston-Salem 10
- Oscar Colás went 1-for-3 with two walks and a strikeout.
- Bryan Ramos, 1-for-3 witih a double and two walks.
- Luis Mieses was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
- Harvin Mendoza was 1-for-4 with a double, a walk and two strikeouts.
- Adam Hackenberg struck out in a pinch-hitting appearance.
Kannapolis 12, Down East 5
- James Beard went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Wes Kath, 2-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
- Colson Montgomery was 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- DJ Gladney went 2-for-5 with a stolen base.
- Wilfred Veras, 2-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout.
Ya Think? Weird just begins to tap into whatever thinking is going on in the organization these days.
So bizarre. What kind of 7D chess are you playing to not call up the hot hitter who happens to fit your biggest need?
It’s interesting how preconceived notions and the small sample sizes of game stats can delude you into thinking something is when it isn’t. I was thinking that Wes Kath was doing quite well but in reality he’s barely holding his own and has certainly not put himself in a spot for a promotion. In fact, other than Montgomery for position players and Simas, Mena, and maybe Tommy Sommer for pitchers, the rest of Kanny is pretty much garbage.
Wes Kath is doing quite well. After a really rough first month of affiliated ball, he’s been raking for over a month now.
Ironically, your point about small sample sizes would seem to be in opposition to your commentary on Kath (as Right Size Wrong Shape noted). Kath’s line is actually a fun one to study for sample size framing.
Overall, he got off to a poor start to the year as he only posted an OPS of .503 in April. Since then, he’s been hitting far better. And remember, he’s still only 19 years old.
Maybe I have missed it (or don’t remember) but have the White Sox made any approach or mechanical adjustments to Haseley? I know he has dealt with some injury and mental health obstacles over the last couple seasons so maybe he’s just feeling right both mentally and physically. I just have a hard time trusting a player’s resurgence unless there’s concrete changes to their game (approach and or mechanics). With that being said, I think he can hit better than Sheet’s 73 wRC+ and is a real OFer.
Adam Haseley and Yolbert Sanchez should be on the big league team now. Like you, Jim, I thought Haseley would be called up when Sheets went down. I thought by now Harrison would be DFA’d and Sanchez would step up to the majors with Sosa going to AAA.
The tired arm/whatever that affected the entire bullpen at once seems to have thrown everyone for a loop and cost the sox 1 or 2 games against Texas, even with sleepy and dopey running the team.
All the off-season moves the past two years have had TLR’s fingerprints, so maybe he’s in charge of the roster decisions as well at this point?
God help us
The only player in their minor leagues who appears to have real long term upside other than being a marginal improvement over very poor players is Sosa. He is 22, and I think fair to say killing it at AA. Any chance he could be promoted soon, or possibly get consideration for a call up?
Yolbert might be better than their 2b disaster duo, but has cooled off and probably does not have that much upside, realistically. Calling up Sosa would probably be too big a leap, but seems quite reasonable to promote him to AAA at least. He is like their lone hope for a legitimate plus position player from their minor leagues.
Montgomery and Colas may be two others. The problem is AAA seems bare. Sanchez and Haseley are the best they have to offer. Sosa needs another year and Colas and Montgomery need two and three, respectively.
There is also the question of Sosa’s development. We don’t know if the Sox are concerned that rushing him may have negative effects. If he is the difference in making the post-season, a team more likely makes that move. But how realistic is that
I think the tone is a bit overly dour today. Don’t get me wrong, the system is not good – it lacks depth and prospects close to breaking through. But there are a number of guys with upside: Sosa, Montgomery, Kath, Vera, Ramos, Hernandez, etc.
Always hard to say for us watching thru the box score. Is he doing most his damage by feasting off of mediocre AA fastballs? If so, then you could stunt his development by promoting him too soon. If you have any thoughts of calling him up sometime this year then you’d want him to get 100-150 ABs in Charlotte first and he could easily replace Laz Rivera’s spot. That works out well as Mendick should probably get a 100-150 AB chance at 2B on the Sox to see if he can stick. Yolbert seems more like the kind of asset you flip for a deadline reliever and if that’s the case then you don’t want MLB fail on his resume.
It would be an indictment of the strategy and execution of this past offseason’s bullpen bonanza to go out and trade prospects for relief help at the 2022 trade deadline.
So be it, we still need a real lefty.
Yep…