Two Birmingham Barons received honors on Friday before their team's 12th victory in 14 games, and another White Sox prospect might've heard some good news during it.
Drew Thorpe was named the Southern League Pitcher of the Month for April during which he went 4-1 with a 1.20 ERA while averaging six innings over his five starts. He allowed just 26 baserunners against 28 strikeouts, and held opponents to a line of .185/.236/.223.
Thorpe's dominance over Double-A hitters came up in Keith Law's chat on Thursday:
Thorpe: No idea why he’s in AA. I would get him to AAA and see what happens there with his below-average FB. He’s not missing a ton of bats in AA right now, but he’s too good of a pitcher (in terms of feel, mixing pitches, command) for that level. I wouldn’t call him up to the majors now or soon.
The Barons ended up sweeping the April Awards, as Brooks Baldwin was honored with the Southern League Position Player of the Month. He hit .408/.464/.566 with 31 hits over 20 games, and he leads the league in batting average and OBP while second in OPS.
Capping it off, Bryan Ramos is seemingly on the move, as he was lifted from the game after the sixth inning, and not for any apparent on-field reason. With Danny Mendick dealing with a back issue and Lenyn Sosa recently placed on Charlotte's injured list, Ramos is the only other infielder on the 40-man, so he'd be the easiest player to provide roster reinforcement on short notice.
He can be seen in the celebration of Terrell Tatum's walk-off single (wearing No. 10), so it's not like he was airlifted to St. Louis ...
... and while he might end up getting his first days of MLB service time, it's probably premature to expect any kind of proper audition. He's been warming up after a dreadful start to his season, but you'd like to see a little better than .182/.265/.307 in Double-A before throwing him against the best pitchers in the world.
This isn't the way I expected the White Sox to puncture the nice little Birmingham bubble. Personally, I'd rather see the team put Zach Remillard in uniform even if he's not on the 40-man, daring the Cardinals to notice and the league office to care.
Charlotte 5, Memphis 0
- Dominic Fletcher went 1-for-4 with a double.
- Colson Montgomery, 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Carlos Pérez, 1-for-4.
- Adam Hackenberg went 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Zach DeLoach was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Nick Nastrini: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 58 of 84 pitches for strikes.
- Prelander Berroa: 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Notes:
*Nastrini gave up three of his five hits and his only walk in the first inning, but stranded the bases loaded to minimize the damage to a solo shot. His fastball regained some live, averaging 93 and topping out at 95.6.
Birmingham 3, Rocket City 2 (10 innings)
- Terrell Tatum delivered the walk-off single, along with a walk, an HBP, two strikeouts and his 10th stolen base.
- Brooks Baldwin went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Edgar Quero, 0-for-4 with a K.
- Wilfred Veras hit his fourth homer during a 1-for-4 night, striking out once.
- Bryan Ramos was 1-for-2 with a walk before he was lifted.
- Tim Elko went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Jacob Burke walked twice and struck out twice.
- Mason Adams: 6.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 2 HBP. 56 of 80 pitches for strikes.
Highlights:
*Of course Veras homered on the first pitch:
Winston-Salem 13, Greensboro 3
- Loidel Chapelli went 2-for-5 with a walk.
- Samuel Zavala was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, two walks and a strikeout.
- Jacob Gonzalez made it back-to-back homers with Zavala whiule going 2-for-4 with a walk.
- DJ Gladney, 1-for-5 with a K.
- Wes Kath, 1-for-4 with an HBP and a K.
- Juan Carela: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 47 of 73 pitches for strikes.
Highlights:
*The homers from Zavala and Gonzalez:
Kannapolis 12, Lynchburg 6
- Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.
- Rony Hernandez was 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Seth Keener: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HBP, 59 of 78 pitches for strikes.
