White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 10, 2022
The White Sox couldn’t get Tatis lightning to strike twice, as the organization released Elijah Tatis, younger brother of Fernando Tatis Jr., this week.
To the extent that Elijah Tatis ever peaked, it’s when he hit .187/.300/.213 over 25 games in the DSL as a 17-year-old. The speed and plate discipline numbers (13 walks against 16 strikeouts) were mildly intriguing, but his experience stateside quickly eliminated hope. He hit just .117/.160/.162 over 163 plate appearances with the ACL White Sox, including 19 strikeouts against zero walks over 41 PAs this year.
Tatis received a $500,000 signing bonus as part of the 2019-20 international period, but Marco Paddy’s signing class is otherwise faring OK, as it also included Yolbert Sánchez ($2.5 million), Cristian Mena ($250K) and Wilfred Veras ($200K).
Tatis was one of five players released by the Sox:
Charlotte 2, Lehigh Valley 1
- Romy Gonzalez finally cooled off, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Yolbert Sánchez went 1-for-4.
- Jake Burger and Adam Haseley both were 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Weird game for Carlos Pérez, who walked once and struck out thrice.
- Vince Velasquez: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
Birmingham 5, Pensacola 2
- José Rodríguez went 1-for-3 with a double, two walks and a strikeout.
- Oscar Colás was 2-for-4 with his seventh homer, a walk and a strikeout.
- Yoelqui Céspedes, 1-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Sean Burke with his best start since June: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 52 of 68 pitches for strikes.
- Luke Shilling had an odd Double-A debut: 1 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, and a blown save.
Highlights:
*Colás’ homer:
Colas tacks on one more with his 7th bomb with the Barons 💣 pic.twitter.com/3JqeVSKvjN
— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) August 11, 2022
Bowling Green 6, Winston-Salem 4
- Colson Montgomery went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
- Bryan Ramos, 0-for-3 with an HBP.
- Luis Mieses was 0-for-4.
- Adam Hackenberg was 0-for-3 with a walk.
Kannapolis 7, Salem 6
- Wes Kath went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- DJ Gladney singled twice and struck out twice.
- Wilfred Veras was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer.
- Kohl Simas: 4.1 IP, 1 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 41 of 80 pitches for strikes.
Notes:
*This series features Kohl Simas playing against his brother Karson, and MiLB.com has a story on them.
Author
Glad to see Luke Shilling in AA putting up weird stats. I’m curious to see what his control is like as he recovers.
Lefty on lefty power from Colas, very encouraging
Love the bravado from Colas.
Not sure I’d call Yolbert Sanchez a successful signing at $2.5 mil and little chance of ever making the big club.
Not sure I’d say Sánchez has little chance at ever making the big club, so it seems like we’re at an impasse.
When he’s called up I’ll relent!!
🙂
Now I see why your prospect rankings newsletter was such a big hit.
Hindsight makes for the best prognostication. 🙂
Good point.
Do you see him being added to the 40 man before the rule 5 draft? Do you see him still in the org by this coming spring? I see maybe 6 spots that could be available, who needs to be added this fall to retain them?
Actually I do see a good chance Yolbert gets a spot on the 40 man but I don’t see a path forward unless Sosa fails.
Players get hurt all the time. It doesn’t take that large a stretch of the imagination to see him playing 2B for stretches next year.
I see Yolbert behind Sosa, Romy G, J-Rod, and hopefully the new starting 2B in Chicago for 2B. I also see him behind Mendick, Garcia, Sosa, and Romy G for the UT guy. That’s a lot of guys to get hurt and a lot of guys to hurdle for someone with a .650 OPS in AAA.
Then there’s the question of are you going to keep J-Rod down in Birmingham next year just to keep Yolbert
I wasn’t even talking next year. If Harrison goes down this week, Yolbert may be the next man up.
Probably Romy.
Maybe, but probably Romy.
Call up Colas!
Seriously. I mean what if he is a special player? Vaughn didn’t play one game above A ball before getting called. Colas immediately improves team defense even if he doesn’t hit well right away.
Hell yeah call him up, or promote him to AAA at least. Left handed hitter who plays RF, exactly what they need even if he will probably be a bit raw. I have always been a “defense is over rated guy”, but not to an extreme. League worst defense is not going to get it done, no World Series winners the past 20 years have had team defense near the bottom. That needs to change, and the only way it changes is with different players in the field.
Viva Colas!
But then what would we do with left-handed right fielder Gavin Sheets?!? Ha ha.
(I have nothing against Gavin, who plays harder and with more focus than many on the active roster…but I just don’t understand how he came to have his spot so locked down given that he is not very good). It would be easier to understand if they used him more as a first baseman, allowing Abreu to DH…but…that is not the 2022 Sox.
I used to think this was risky to his development because it’d be moving him too fast and he’d struggle.
But now I think it’s risky to his development because of the coaching staff he’d be listening to if called up.
Just nod and smile and do your thing Oscar.