White Sox Minor Keys: June 26, 2022
It appears as though Oscar Colรกs has figured out Winston-Salem.
Colรกs wrapped up a six-game series with the Hudson Valley Renegades with another multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. That helped him him clear a .500 average over those six games despite an 0-fer in the middle of it. He finished the week 12-for-23 with a homer, two doubles, three walks, and only one strikeout over 26 plate appearances.
Colรกs struggled in May, hitting .178/.250/.378 with a 26-percent strikeout rate. Some of that was due to a wrist injury, and some of it was attributed to a general impatience to be done with A-ball, anxious to show power that wasn’t quite coming naturally.
It seems like he’s found his flow state in June. He’s hitting .389/.429/.578 over 98 plate appearances, slashing his strikeout rate down to 16.5 percent. If there’s one thing missing from his experience, he hasn’t seen a whole lot of lefties, but he’s hung in well against the ones he’s seen (9-for-25 with two triples, a double and three walks against four strikeouts).
The Birmingham outfield has room for him, especially if the Barons can bump the 28-year-old Tyler Neslony and his .321/.402/.585 line up to Charlotte to see if there’s anything there.
Worcester 3, Charlotte 2
- Eloy Jimรฉnez DH’d and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Carlos Pรฉrez was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Yolbert Sรกnchez, 1-for-4 with a strikeout, and was caught stealing.
- Davis Martin: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K
Birmingham 8, Rocket City 2
- Josรฉ Rodrรญguez went 3-for-5 with a stolen base.
- Yoequi Cรฉpsedes was 0-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout.
- Sean Burke: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 28 of 44 pitches for strikes.
Winston-Salem 4, Hudson Valley 1
- Colson Montgomery went 0-for-2 with two walks.
- Oscar Colรกs was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
- Adam Hackenberg, 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Andrew Dalquist: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 36 of 60 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 6, Myrtle Beach 1
- Wes Kath went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- DJ Gladney, 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
- Wilfred Veras was 1-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout.
Colas needs to be in AA
Eloy has a 461 ops and is a day over 9 weeks of recovery on a 6-8 week timeline…
I’m not really expecting anything from Eloy this season. He’s been broken since he came back from the pectoral tear.
I don’t get as concerned about performance on rehab stints, but my bigger concern about Eloy right now is that he still isn’t able to play in the field at all. He’s DH’d every game in his re-rehab.
Because he’s nothing but a DH. He’s a threat to himself and others in the outfield.
Why subject his frail body to more punishment?
He can be the manager.
Vastly underrated.
I tried to reply to this once but it said that my comment was pending approval or something. So I’ll try again.
My feeling about Eloy is that he has always been a DH. Then the Sox signed Grandal who has often been too hurt to be anything but a DH, re-signed an older first baseman, drafted Sheets and Vaughn who are probably DHs, and traded for Pollock who is a LF/DH. Then they didnโt do anything to reallocate those assets so that we could have a complete team. So it isnโt really about Eloy and his shortcomings. Itโs about all of the decisions/moves made and not made since then that have gotten us to a point where we have 5-6 DHs.
Burger has to be on the list of DH’s. I think a healthy Eloy in left hurts a team less defensively than Burger hurts a team at third. This is largely because of the position difference because they are both bad defensive players.
I’ve been really disappointed in Burgers propensity to Ole’ balls hit to him, rather than moving his feet to get in front of the ball. You’d think that’d be something they could coach out of him pretty eas…oh, wait…I guess we’re stuck with that.
Eloy improved in left defensively both by the eye test and advanced metrics last year. Unfortunately that point is entirely moot if he is 1) DHing only in AAA and 2) not hitting at all while DHing. I donโt know whatโs wrong with him but Iโm worried these injuries are taking a permanent toll
Is it just happenstance that the once discernible skill of White Sox scouting and player development – finding middling pitchers and turning them into decent relief options – has disappeared over the last couple seasons after Coop was fired?
Or am I reading too much into this? Seems like in previous years Martin would be starting depth and there would be someone else who wasnโt from the opening day roster pitching high leverage 8th innings in June.
It seems like they do see Martin as starting depth in general, he was just pressed into high-leverage service at that time due to bullpen emergencies. Heโs probably getting stretched out again in AAA as they say
Montgomer’s OB streak still alive. And holy hell Davis Martin. Somebody was pissed to be back in AAA
I know we’ve talked a lot about Neslony’s situation – being old for AA but also having his momentum stalled by the pandemic and injuries – but at some point the org needs to move him up. Dude had another 3 hits and a walk yesterday, bringing his OPS up to .987.
I’m personally ready to call it on Micker Adolfo at this point and give Neslony his spot.