Upon learning that the White Sox promoted Brooks Baldwin to Charlotte Wednesday night, my first reaction was to wonder whether Baldwin's tendency to pounce on first pitches could be exploited by more advanced pitchers. Colson Montgomery described the adjustment to pitchers who are willing to throw breaking balls for strikes, even if they miss on their first attempt, and I could see that characteristic posing some complications for a guy who thrives on not letting pitchers get ahead.
Then he went and homered on the first Triple-A pitch he saw, even though it was a 79 mph curveball.
It's rare to see Baldwin homering from the right side. He came into the game with 21 homers since the start of the 2023 season, and 20 of them were swinging lefty. Then again, he hasn't faced all that many southpaws over that period despite playing pretty much every day:
- 2023: 337 PA vs. RHP, 59 vs. LHP
- 2024: 255 PA vs. RHP, 63 vs. LHP
That's just 17 percent of his plate appearances against lefties, but that should change going from the eight-team Southern League to the 20-team International League. For comparison, Montgomery has faced lefties 27 percent of the time this season, and Carlos Pérez is running a similar rate, if you want a right-handed hitter to filter out the LOOGY-type matchups.
Baldwin came into the game hitting .328/.365/.362 against lefties, so there isn't a reason to think this changes his short-term forecast any, but it's another wrinkle to watch over the second half of the season.
Fellow switch-hitter Edgar Quero also homered off the same pitcher (Patrick Monteverde). He had just 55 plate appearances against lefties with the Barons, but he'd homered twice. Now he has three.
Charlotte 8, Jacksonville 3
- Oscar Colás went 1-for-3 with a triple, HBP and a stolen base.
- Edgar Quero went 1-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout in his Triple-A debut.
- So did Colson Montgomery, except for the last part.
- In his Charlotte debut, Brooks Baldwin went 2-for-3 with a homer and a walk, and was caught stealing.
- Jordan Leasure: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 11 of 15 pitches for strikes.
Highlights:
*Montgomery took a righty deep.
Rocket City 4, Birmingham 3
- Jacob Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with a walk, strikeout and stolen base.
- Terrell Tatum was 0-for-4 with a K.
- Tim Elko, 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Wilfred Veras was 0-for-4.
- Mason Adams: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 1 WP, 1 HBP, 68 of 91 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 8, Fayetteville 4
- Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-5.
- Ronny Hernandez was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a strikeout.
- George Wolkow singled thrice and walked once.
- Ryan Burrowes went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Seth Keener did not have it: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 3 HBP, 23 of 55 pitches for strikes.
- Frankeli Arias recorded the rare four-inning save: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Notes:
*Keener actually got away with three free bases in the first inning, as a double play mitigated the threat of a leadoff walk and ensuing HBP. Then he plunked another batter before getting a popout.
ACL White Sox 7, ACL Reds 1 (7 innings)
- Abraham Nunez singled, walked twice, hit a sac fly, and was caught stealing twice, once by pickoff.
- Adrian Gil went 2-for-3 with a triple, double and walk.
- Stiven Flores was 1-for-4 with a K.
- Luis Reyes: 4 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
DSL Angels 9, DSL White Sox 4
- Christian Gonzalez went 0-for-3 with a walk
- So did Jurdrick Profar, who struck out twice.
- Jesus Premoli went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Orlando Suarez: 4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
