White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 3, 2023
(Ron Vesely/Chicago White Sox)
George Wolkow came through with his first two professional hits in the Arizona Complex League on Thursday. I mention this up top not because he is from Downers Grove, but because there’s video that shows just how much his 6-foot-7-inch frame stands out against even slightly older competition.
Norfolk 3, Charlotte 1 (10 innings)
- Lenyn Sosa went 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Korey Lee was 0-for-3
- Adam Hackenberg pinch-hit for him and went 0-for-1.
- Jordan Leasure took the loss by giving up a homer to his only batter.
Highlights:
*Leasure’s fastball was middle-middle:
Birmingham 15, Rocket City 10
- José Rodríguez went 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, a walk and two strikeouts.
- Colson Montgomery came a triple shy of the cycle during a 3-for-3 night, walking twice and getting plunked once.
- Edgar Quero went 2-for-5 with a double and a sac fly.
- Alsander Womack, 2-for-5 with a walk.
- Terrell Tatum went 3-for-5 with a double.
- Luis Mieses went 3-for-5 with two doubles.
- Yoelqui Céspedes, also 3-for-5 with a stolen base.
- Nick Nastrini: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 HR
Highlights:
*Montgomery turned around 94 from Troy Percival’s son.
Charleston 6, Kannapolis 4
- Jacob Gonzalez went 1-for-5.
- Brooks Baldwin, 1-for-3 with a triple and a walk.
- Eddie Park was 1-for-4.
- Tanner McDougal: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HBP, 36 of 64 pitches for strikes.
ACL Rangers 3, ACL White Sox 2
- Jordan Sprinkle went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Ryan Burrowes, 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Ronny Hernandez, 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- George Wolkow doubled, singled and struck out twice.
Winston-Salem vs. Bowling Green, PPD
DSL White Sox at DSL Orioles Black, suspended
Author
It’s a small sample for Montgomery, and I know he missed the tacky ball era. But it’s jarring to look at a Birmingham box score and seeing a 1.200+ OPS in a sea of .600s and .700s.
I wonder what his timeline is. He needs to show he can hit in Birmingham for awhile but he’ll—hopefully—have another month and a half to accrue PA. If he stays hot, does he start 2024 in Charlotte? That’s probably on the aggressive side, but he did see some B’ham in 2022, too. Either way, until this dude cools off the ETA is looking like mid-2024—maybe just in time to take over for TA after he’s dealt at the deadline?
These are big ifs, but if he continues to rake in Birmingham for the rest of the season and rakes in the AFL, the only thing potentially holding him back from competing for a spot in spring training could be his defense.
Shew that’d be fun. That feels a little aggressive to me but I wouldn’t complain.
Another factor, though, is Jose Rodriguez. It feels like the Sox are trying to break some kind of record for PAs at one level for a legit prospect, since he’s approaching 800 PAs dating back to 2021. With a 117 wRC+ since May 16 (not counting last night’s bomb), I have no clue why he hasn’t been promoted. But he seems like a good candidate to start at 2B in 2024. It’d sure be nice for the Sox to see what they have in Rodriguez and Sosa before Montgomery arrives.
I’m guessing now that the Rangers series is over, they may be DFAing Andrus, calling up Sosa, and promoting Rodriguez sometime soon.
the last thing this team needs is to overaggressively promote yet another prospect and screw them up
It’s strange but nice to have a prospect raking his way through the minors.
I was going to say TA but not really. He had a decent avg but didn’t show much power and his OBP issues were quite apparent.
I’d have to go back to Carlos Lee. Hitting-wise he was the full deal.
Robert didn’t have the plate discipline, but it was super fun tracking him while he was hitting 32 homeruns, putting up a 1.001 OPS, and stealing 36 bases across three levels in 2019.
It was all one year though. In 2018 he was looking a little busty and of course he was with the Sox in 2020. But yeah it was a fun year and added to the rebuild anticipation.
Avi Garcia was a stud in the minors. Most of that wasn’t with us, though.
Yes I left out guys like that as we weren’t following them progress. I could’ve said Joe Borchard I guess but I was trying to keep things positive…
joey b at age 22 had like a 300/400/500 30 homer 100 rbi season at AA, he probably could of been traded for literally just about anyone in baseball… how did that go so wrong….
I have no idea…it’s why you don’t fall in love with your own prospects though.
The Brewers had a guy like that back in the day, Glenn Braggs, was a monster in the minors and everyone wanted him but the Brewers wouldn’t budge.
Our own favorite coach, Daryl Boston, put up a .312/.390/.533 line in AAA as a 21yo. He also stole 40 bases and played a stellar CF. He and Tim Raines were the best prospects I ever saw come through Denver.
Gordon Beckham
Edit: nevermind. mentioned below. I’ll see myself out.
The second coming,
Konerko’s adopted son,
Gordon Beckham
He could have me trading Timmy in my OPP. He hit that ball hard and got a lot of elevation on it too. Way too many 110 mph ground ball singles on the White Sox right now.
It’s a pretty certain thing that Monty’s gonna hit. The question is where he plays, bc the Sox have him at strictly SS right now, but the scouts almost universally think he’s ending up at 3B. KLaw thinks he can play SS via excellent instincts despite lacking the usual SS lateral quickness, but he acknowledges that he’s mostly alone in that.
The offensive bar at 3B is much higher, but Monty’s showing excellent in-zone contact rates, very good plate discipline, and the power’s likely to tick up over time as he fills out his 6’4” frame with age and strength training. The back issue was worrying but he’s looking like a serious stud right now.
Did he say “Gonzo” Montgomery on that home run call? Is that a nickname?
And Jim, I call BS on the Downers Grove denial – that’s why he’s at the top!
Bloom said on a recent broadcast that he’s still looking for a nickname and that Montgomery doesn’t like obvious name-based ones like Monty or C-Mo.
How about “C’Mon”
I’m always saying that during games anyway – “c’mon, guys, can’t you be better”
Pretty sure that is Curt Bloom’s regular home run tagline.
The White Sox are White Soxing again.
https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/1687564412322795520
As ever, they’ll be like “well we weren’t going to spend that slot money anyway” and we’ll be “THAT’S THE PROBLEM WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS”
Honestly, Marco Paddy can hit the bricks with KW and Hahn.
I have no idea why people here praise him. The two real IFAs that worked out were Abreu and Robert, who everyone and their grandma knew about, and they paid a ton to get. The successes other than that is basically just Tatis who they obviously didn’t know who they had.
The failure to build out an actual international scouting operation, where, you know, you have more than 2 scouts and 1 guy making a decision, is an embarrassment. And it doesn’t even just affect the IFAs they can sign, it impacts how you’re able to scout the DSL and try to get some throw-in prospects in some of these trades (another thing they’ve been utterly incapable of doing) which other clubs have done successfully)
Keep Erin Santana, lose the rest.
Hey Batista is a leading ACL Pitcher up there K’s, WHIP, ERA. The White Sox may have been able to scout position players internationally, but most of the pitchers they pickup are busts. Batista is well ahead of Reyes, who they just spent big on. Martinez doesn’t look intriguing. With 4 months left until the deadline what were the White Sox doing with the money