Farm Fortnight: White Sox looking better in minor league standings

Say what you will about White Sox's major league product, but it's not preventing their affiliates from winning games. The four full-season clubs held serve over their past two series, winning three series, losing one, and splitting four. Depending on your general outlook, Birmingham's six-game sweep of Pensacola was either wiped out by Winston-Salem going 0-6 in Brooklyn, or vice versa, but two affiliates were able to slide into first place over the last week, and that's something the Dash can't take away from them.

Before we dive in to the performances at each of the levels, let's take a moment to highlight the latest standout hitting and pitching performances from the last two weeks with the...

Fortnight's Finest for May 13-25

Position Player -- Kyle Teel: He won International League Player of the Week by hitting .500 with three homers in five games against Round Rock, but his work in the previous series wasn't bad, either. Over the two weeks, Teel hit .406/.525/.781 across nine games, with three homers, three doubles and eight walks against eight strikeouts over 40 plate appearances. You can read all about his recent improvements here:

Pitcher -- Jake Palisch: The 26-year-old's scoreless streak ended at 21 innings on Wednesday, but that was the only run he allowed over six innings, or 16 innings since he stepped up to fill one of the vacancies in Birmingham's rotation. He went undrafted out of Texas A&M in 2022 because he's a lefty who tops out at 91 mph and doesn't miss bats, but he has a 0.90 ERA and just 23 baserunners allowed over 30 innings. He's struck out just 57 batters over 80⅓ innings at Birmingham the last two years, but he throws a lot of strikes, so for the time being, he's living proof that succeeding in the Southern League isn't as hard as top-100 pitching prospects have made it look at times this year.

Now let's take a look at how more than other 40 prospects have fared over the last two weeks.

Charlotte Knights

• Last two series: 3-3 @Gwinnett; 3-3 vs. Round Rock
• Record: 25-26
• Next two series: @Buffalo, vs. Lehigh Valley
• Individual stats

It's pretty remarkable that the Charlotte Knights have spent most of the season hovering around .500 despite Sergio Santos essentially making up the rotation as he goes along. They just split a six-game series with Round Rock both in terms of games and run differential, as both teams scored 42 runs. The difference is that the Express scored more than half of them in one game, a 22-13 Russian slap fight on Thursday. Thank goodness Adrian Houser has worked out better than anybody could have possibly imagined through two starts, but his presence is partially a reflection of Chris Getz looking at what's happening in Charlotte and seeing nothing in the cupboard.

At least the lineup got a whole lot deeper, with a rejuvenated Colson Montgomery coming up from Arizona and Brooks Baldwin, Tim Elko and Andrew Vaughn all being optioned down from Chicago. They can slug with just about anybody, and they pretty much have to.

Position Players

*Kyle Teel matched his uniform number with a 19-game hitting streak, which is maybe why it came to an end on Saturday, but he can test that theory in a few weeks. He started a new one on Sunday by going 1-for-2 with a double and two walks.

*Colson Montgomery reversed his slide with the Arizona reset, hitting .341/.413/.634 with two homers, six doubles and five walks against just 10 strikeouts over 46 plate appearances. He avoided striking out in three of 10 games, which is noteworthy since he struck out in all 23 games with Charlotte before the sabbatical. He's not really talking about his changes right now, but Ryan Fuller filled everybody in on some of the details.

*Tim Elko returned to Charlotte in time to play two games against Round Rock, going 1-for-10 with five strikeouts. We'll see if it's a little bit of a Chicago hangover.

*Bryan Ramos can probably be called "up to speed" now after hitting .273/.400/.485 with two homers and a double over 40 plate appearances against Gwinnett and Round Rock. He struck out just five times while drawing seven walks.

*Brooks Baldwin has hit safely in all five games since being optioned to Triple-A. That includes a couple of homers, both of which came as Charlotte's first batter of the game. He's played three games in center, one in left, and one at third base.

*Andrew Vaughn is here, which is strange.

Pitchers

*Nick Nastrini in his last six games since moving to the bullpen: 10 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 16 K, 2 HR, 1 HBP. All five of those walks occurred in the same game against Gwinnett on May 17, so he might've found his role.

*Tyler Schweitzer has given up at least one homer in each of his six starts with Charlotte, or 10 over 23⅔ innings with the Knights. That's the most pressing fire to put out right now.

*Wikelman González is Charlotte's vulture, as he's picked up the winning decision in five of his seven relief appearances. It pays to throw a couple of scoreless innings in the middle of a bullpen game. He's walked 10 batters and plunked another over 12⅔ inings while allowing just three hits, so he's thriving on the effectively wild plan for now.

Birmingham Barons

• Last two series: 4-2 vs. Chattanooga; 6-0 @Pensacola
• Record: 25-18
• Next two series: @Knoxville, vs. Rocket City
• Individual stats

On one hand, the Barons aren't nearly as complete as the team that won the Southern League championship last year, but warts and all, their six-game sweep of Pensacola puts them atop the Southern League North with a 3½ game lead over Chattanooga at the moment. Parity (or mediocrity) reigns in the Southern League right now, as Knoxville has the second-worst record in the eight-team league at 20-23, and only because the Smokies have lost four straight.

The Barons remain dead last in the Southern League with 20 homers over 43 games, but they're compensating somewhat with the league's best batting average ... at .237. That's not much, but when paired with the league's best team ERA (3.08), it's been enough to win as of late.

Position Players

*Jacob Gonzalez suddenly started hitting for power, with three homers, a triple and two doubles over his last 12 games. That's good for a .318/.340/.614 line, so he's not dead yet.

*Wilfred Veras had three hits against Chattanooga on May 15, and three total hits in the other 10 games over the last two series. He's hitting .183/.359/.217 in May, and he's yet to have an extra-base hit against a lefty in 41 tries this year.

*DJ Gladney has only fared a little bit better than his partner in the outfield, hitting .214/.298/.310 agaisnt Chattanooga and Pensacola, striking out nearly a third of the time.

*William Bergolla has cooled off considerably, going 9-for-46 with just one extra-base hit over his last 11 games. Regression was coming for him at some point due to the lack of power, and sure enough, his BABIP is now at .296.

*Rikuu Nishida shook off a 1-for-19 slump with six hits over his last three games, but he's gone 26 without an extra-base hit.

*Ryan Galanie wasn't as dynamic in his second fortnight in Birmingham, hitting .268/.311/.366 over 11 games. Perhaps only one Baron is allowed to hit for power at any given time, and it's Gonzalez's turn.

Pitchers

*Noah Schultz has alternated good starts with pedestrian ones, which explains the less than stellar overall season line. He's coming off five shutout innings against Pensacola, where he was able to iron out the strike-throwing after walking the first two batters he faced. It'd be cool to see him get on a hot streak when pitching every five games at some point.

*Hagen Smith hasn't pitched since May 10, and the reason for his absence keeps evolving. First, the severe weather delay was the reason he was limited to two innings. Then the Sox revealed fluctuating velocity, and now they've added a sprinkle of elbow soreness. The MRI came back clean, but he's still scheduled for "biomechanics work" on the side in Birmingham, versus pitching in actual games.

*Grant Taylor is too good for Double-A hitters when he's only throwing an inning at a time. He's done so his last four appearances, and the line says it all: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K. Now the question is whether he's going to return to Birmingham's rotation or start pitching single innings in the majors, because this current arrangement probably isn't providing him much in the way of useful feedback.

*Riley Gowens improved to 5-0 on the season by going 3-0 over the last two weeks, completing at least five innings in all three outings. His six shutout innings against Chattanooga on May 14 stand as his strongest start of the season.

*Peyton Pallette has thrown 10 consecutive scoreless outings. His line over this stretch: 12.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 20 K.

Winston-Salem Dash

• Last two series: 0-6 @Brooklyn; 3-3 vs. Hudson Valley
• Record: 15-30
• Next two series: @Hub City, @Asheville
• Individual stats

The other three full-season affiliates are a combined 11 games over .500, but the Winston-Salem Dash are dragging the group as a whole back in the red after a six-game sweep at Coney Island.

While they're the least successful team in the system, they most closely resemble the major league team, because they're dead last in the South Atlantic League despite a -36 run differential that's comfortably better than three other teams. What sets them apart? A 2-12 record in one-run games, which looks an awful lot like the 3-13 record the actual White Sox sport in such situations.

Position Players

*Braden Montgomery is in a little bit of a slump, hitting .196/.302/.326 over his last 12 games between the Brooklyn and Hudson Valley series. He's still hitting .295/.388/.534 with the Dash overall, so perhaps this is merely regression at play, but it's worth pointing out that he's started at DH in 11 of his last 13 games, so perhaps he's playing through something, too.

*Sam Antonacci hasn't played since May 11, when he jammed his finger diving into second on a stolen base attempt. It didn't cause him to immediately exit the game, but he departed after a defensive substitution a couple innings later. He is expected to get into some ACL games by the end of this week, which would put him in position to return to the Dash the following week.

*Jeral Perez dealt with a 1-for-27 slump over eight games that extended into the first half of the Brooklyn series, but he's back to his usual production over his last eight games (.242/.324/.485).

*Samuel Zavala is still hitting over .200, but the strikeouts ticked back up on him with 12 strikeouts over 38 plate appearances, limiting him to a .212/.316/.364 line over 11 games.

Pitchers

*Lucas Gordon finally gave up more than three runs in a start when he yielded four over five-plus innings against Hudson Valley on Thursday, but even then it started with four scoreless innings.

*Christian Oppor got dinged up a little bit in his High-A debut against Brooklyn, which wouldn't be cause for particular concern had he made his next start on schedule. Instead, he hasn't pitched since May 14, but the White Sox say he's supposed to start on Wednesday.

*Tanner McDougal has had some nice starts this season, most recently six strikeouts over five innings of two-run ball against Hudson Valley on Sunday, but there still isn't a string of them, or anything resembling real momentum.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

• Last two series: 3-3 @Hickory, 4-2 vs. Columbia
• Record: 25-20
• Next two series: vs. Myrtle Beach, @Columbia
• Individual stats

By winning the series against the Columbia Fireflies, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers regained sole possession of first place in the Southern League, at least for the time being. They hold only a half-game lead over both Columbia and Augusta, so they could theoretically be in third place by the end of the day.

The Cannon Ballers no longer lead Minor League Baseball in stolen bases, or even the Carolina League for that matter, as they're now running behind Lynchburg by a significant margin (130-116), and tied for fourth in the minors overall. You can take solace in the fact that the Cannon Ballers pitching staff tops the leaderboard in HBPs with 57 in 45 games, with only Inland Empire within 10 plunkings of the top spot (53).

Position Players

*Caleb Bonemer broke out of his brief rut with a seven-game hitting streak across the Hickory and Columbia series, hitting .303/.467/.576 with 11 walks over 10 games. Six of his 10 hits went for extra bases.

*Javier Mogollón hasn't played since May 8 after stepping on a base wrong, but he's supposed to be activated this week.

*Ronny Hernandez started hitting for power, with two homers and two doubles over the last two weeks. He's hit safely in his last five games, so perhaps he's figured out how to add some pop without sacrificing his approach.

*George Wolkow also tapped into his power, homering in three straight games during the Hickory series and missing a fourth by a couple feet. He's since cooled down, but he's still hitting .254/.317/.437 this month, which is more like it. Here's what Wolkow told James about his season, if you missed it:

*Ryan Burrowes hit his first two homers of the season against Hickory, and he's tamed the strikeout issue as well. He's also looking more like he should in May, although it's still not what you'd call impressive (.226/.347/.323).

*Lyle Miller-Green has gone 12 games without an extra-base hit, part of a large slump that dragged his batting average down to .186 in May. He went 5-for-17 in five games against Columbia, so maybe he's emerging from it.

*Abraham Nuñez is starting to find his sea legs at A-ball, hitting .293/.362/.341 over the last 11 gmes, including a five-game hitting streak.

Pitchers

*Seth Keener was demoted to Kannapolis, and while he's thrown five innings in his first two starts back at Low-A, the peripherals are still lagging (10.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 6 BB, 9 K, 1 HR, 2 HBP).

*Luis Reyes destroyed his ERA with two consecutive ghastly outings, in which he allowed 11 runs over two innings, but he rebounded with four scoreless innings against Columbia on Saturday, so he keeps finding ways to recover.

*Pierce George continued his own idiosyncratic, self-defeating trend. Nine of his 15 outings have been scoreless, and he's given up at least three runs in each of the other six outings. That includes three runs over two-thirds of an inning against Columbia on Friday, which sent his ERA back over 10.00.

*Blake Shepardson returned to the roster for the Hickory series, and it sure seems like he benefited from his time on the Development List:

• Before: 5 G, 2 IP, 4 H, 11 R, 8 ER, 11 BB, 3 K, 5 HBP, .440/.800/.667 allowed
• After: 4 G, 4 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 HBP, .000/.200/.000 allowed

ACL White Sox

• Record: 7-9
• Individual stats

Baseball-Reference.com didn't immediately update its affiliate pages to track this year's rookie league teams, but the 2025 ACL page is up now, and it confirms something I suspected entering the season: The ACL White Sox have one of the oldest rosters in the league.

The ACL White Sox have the most mature crop of position players at 21.3 years (average age: 19.7). Their pitching staff, with an average age of 21.5 years, is closer to the league average of 21.1, but it's the fourth-oldest in the ACL. It'd skew even older if D.J. Snelten appeared in a game, but the 32-year-old Lake Villa native was released, so the White Sox won't have another Cam Booser story in the pipeline.

This is all another reason why the White Sox needed to overhaul their international system, but given that they're still sending out pool money instead of bringing it back in, the turnaround isn't going to be a quick one.

Position Players

T.J. McCants missed a week before returning to action over the weekend, but otherwise everybody else is where we left them, for better or for worse.

Pitchers

Jairo Iriarte pitched his first game in a month on Friday as he attempts to enjoy the same Charlotte-to-Arizona-to-Charlotte resurgence that Colson Montgomery from which Colson Montgomery is benefiting. Iriarte gave up a run on two hits in an inning of work, but Montgomery didn't light up the ACL himself, so there's that to consider.

Mathias LaCombe garnered some attention from Baseball America last week as a pitching prospect impressing early in the ACL, but Bello hasn't pitched since giving up four runs in an inning on May 13.

White Sox Minor Keys

ACL Royals 10, ACL White Sox 7

• T.J. McCants went 2-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Adrian Gíl was 1-for-4 with a double, walk and two strikeouts.
• Jurdrick Profar was 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.