White Sox Minor Keys: July 8, 2022

Let’s open the Keys with two pieces of good news and one item reflecting the dark side of the business.

*Norge Vera struck out eight of the 11 batters he retired before reaching his pitch limit. He threw 46 of 64 pitches for strikes over 3⅔ scoreless innings.

*Colson Montgomery received another rave review from Keith Law, who said Montgomery was a mild snub from the Futures Game roster.

Montgomery hasn’t had a game where he failed to get on base since April 23, before his brief IL stint, reaching safely in 42 straight games at the time of this writing. The White Sox first-rounder in 2021 has played outstanding defense at shortstop, was incredible in Low A, and earned a promotion to High-A Winston-Salem in late June, which hasn’t slowed him down one bit. Again, it could be a situation of too many shortstops, but he wouldn’t be out of place on this roster, and missing two of the best shortstop prospects in the AL (him and Mayer) is a bit jarring.

*Ryan Burr, who was released by the White Sox in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, opened up about his experience about undergoing labrum surgery, then being unemployed.

Burr isn’t the only White Sox player who experienced this, as Luis Gonzalez, Tyler Johnson and Nicky Delmonico all went through the same thing. Johnson and Delmonico were re-signed by the organization, while the Giants claimed Gonzalez at the end of the waiver order. In the case of Gonzalez and Johnson, they were injured in the minors, so there was no way to move them to the 60-day injured list to free up the roster spot. Based on the timelines, it seems like they would’ve had that option with Burr, who was optioned to Charlotte on May 20 but never pitched there.

Gwinnett 3, Charlotte 2 (Game 1, 7 innings)

• Adam Haseley went 1-for-3 with a double and a K.
• Yolbert Sánchez singled and struck out twice.
• Carlos Pérez was 0-for-3.

Gwinnett 3, Charlotte 0 (Game 2, 7 innings)

• Yolbert Sánchez went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
• Adam Haseley was 0-for-2 with an HBP.
• Lenyn Sosa returned to the lineup, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Birmingham 14, Tennessee 5

• Yasmani Grandal DH’d and went 2-for-3 with a homer and two walks.
• José Rodríguez was 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
• Yoelqui Céspedes went 2-for-5 with a double and two strikeouts.

Wilmington 4, Winston-Salem 1 (7 innings, rain)

• A plunking kept Colson Montgomery’s on-base streak alive, as he went 0-for-2 with the HBP. It’s now at 43 games.
• Oscar Colás went 2-for-3.
• Luis Mieses, 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
• Drew Dalquist: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 3 WP, 1 HBP

Kannapolis 5, Carolina 0

• Wes Kath wore the silver sombrero during an 0-for-5 night.
• Wilfred Veras went 0-for-3 with an HBP and two strikeouts.
• DJ Gladney homered, singled and struck out twice.
• Norge Vera: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K

ACL Padres 11, ACL White Sox 4

• Dario Borrero went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Victor Quezada was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Manuel Guariman, 0-for-4.
• Erick Bello: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
• Luke Shilling is on the comeback trail: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
• Manuel Veloz: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

DSL BAL Black 8, DSL White Sox 0

• Ryan Burrowes went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• Leandro Alsinois, 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Even Loidel Chapelli went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
• Carlos Jimenez, 0-for-2 with a walk and a K.

Notes:

*These highlights aren’t from Saturday, but White Sox minor league hitting coordinator Andy Barkett tweeted some welcome video of various DSL prospects in this thread.

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