White Sox Minor Keys: June 8, 2025

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Ryan Galanie entered last winter with some work to do.

The White Sox's 13th-round pick in the 2023 draft laid waste to Kannapolis to open his first full season in 2024, but the jump to Winston-Salem in early June exposed some weaknesses. The 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound first baseman went from hitting .346/.432/.582 in Low-A to .213/.338/.378 in High-A, and even the latter line masked how he tended to go hitless more often than not:

• Games with 2+ hits: 13
• Games with 1 hit: 19
• Games with no hits: 36

"Last year was a huge learning opportunity for me," Galanie said. "I definitely struggled in Winston, whether it was letting things snowball, trying to do things that weren't going to be successful at the next level or seeing things that I've never seen before.

"Coming from a mid-major program in college (Wofford College in South Carolina), you don't get the opportunity to see all the plus pitchers. For me, I didn't get attacked a lot, so then when I get to Winston-Salem and guys have plus fastballs that I've never seen before, and they're attacking me there, they're exposing a lot of holes that get created over time."

Galanie received some input from the White Sox, then went to work with his core group of trusted hitting coaches on how to better cover the inside part of the plate. He ramped up his machine training into while working out at a Cincinnati gym with Mets prospect A.J. Ewing, and then reported early to spring training, where he gained the attention of new White Sox hitting director Ryan Fuller.

"Ryan Galanie has been fantastic so far," Fuller said on Memorial Day Weekend. “You see him, he came on his own to Arizona early in spring training. He's working out in the cages every day on his own dime."

That work has paid off so far. Galanie, who turns 25 in 11 days, returned to Winston-Salem, where he hit .315/.356/.565 over 21 games before the White Sox promoted him to Birmingham. He's hitting .302/.353/.457 while striking out in just 13.7 percent of his 139 plate appearances, and that slugging percentage is good enough to lead the Barons in a season where pitching is dominating the Southern League.

"He's made a nice adjustment," said Birmingham manager Guillermo Quiroz, who held the same position at Winston-Salem last year. "Swing is a little earlier into the strike zone, path is a little shorter to the ball, he's swinging at better pitches, his swing decisions are better."

One specific area where you can see improvement is against left-handed pitching. The right-handed Galanie has historically sported reverse splits, and while that's still the case in 2025, he's closed the gap considerably:

Galanie traced this disparity back to his days at Wofford.

"In college, we hit a lot of righty sliders. I wouldn't say the Southern Conference is not talented," Galanie said, noting a No. 6 RPI ranking before the postseason this year, "but it's a little bit different."

"If you're getting a lefty pitcher, they're few and far between. The majority of what you're seeing is righty sliders, righty pitchers that are throwing sinkers, that aren't throwing great heaters. So in practice, that's something that Wofford was really good at was preparing you for the game. Everything we worked on was righty sliders. My swing kind of fell into habits and patterns.

"I used to use the right side of the field almost solely, and now that I've kind of moved out to (using) center field, I feel like I've had a lot of uptick in-- I mean, I hope the production numbers are saying it, but I feel like my average exit velo has jumped off of lefties, my barrel percentage has gone way up, I'm having way better at-bats.

Galanie said that he could handle lefty changeups that move away from a right-handed hitter, but hadn't had much exposure to good lefty sliders, or other pitches that beat his barrel to spots inside, causing him to get jammed, roll over into groundouts, or miss entirely.

"This year, I've been able to stay inside of it a lot better, and I feel like the uptick in production has really shown."

It's also helped him against velocity from either side, as evidenced by his grand slam against Knoxville back on June 1.

"That's the first time I've accidentally pulled a homer on a fastball in a really long time," Galanie says he told Birmingham hitting coach Nicky Delmonico.

Like Tim Elko the year before him, Galanie was drafted after his senior season, although the White Sox had to sign him away from a transfer to Tennessee, where he intended to pursue a graduate program and a fifth season. Elko was able to make up for the late professional start and break into the big leagues this season despite the lack of a traditional prospect profile, and Galanie is hoping to do the same.

"I think the work that I've been putting in, I'm starting to see the benefits of it," Galanie said. "I'm really excited to keep training and honing those things because I think that can really develop me in the future. I don't even know how good I can be with that process and that mindset."

Charlotte 10, Lehigh Valley 9

• Brooks Baldwin was 0-for-4 with a walk and three strikeouts.
• Andrew Vaughn homered, singled, walked and struck out.
• Bryan Ramos went 1-for-3 with a two-run sac fly and a strikeout.
• Tyler Gilbert: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 5 of 7 pitches for strikes.
• Peyton Pallette: 0 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 2 HBP, 11 of 21 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*Charlotte led this one 10-0 after two.

*Here's Ramos' sac fly, for those wondering how it happened.

Birmingham 3, Rocket City 2

• Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
• William Bergolla and Jacob Gonzalez both were 2-for-4 with a double.
• Ryan Galanie and Wilfred Veras both finished 0-for-4.
• DJ Gladney was 1-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
• A very Jake Palisch line: 6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 61 of 81 pitches for strikes.

Winston-Salem 10, Asheville 6

• Sam Antonacci boosted his OBP 20 points by reaching base all six times -- four walks, a double a single, and two stolen bases.
• Jeral Perez went 2-for-6 with a double and two strikeouts.
• Braden Montgomery broke out: 4-for-6 with a double and a strikeout.
• Samuel Zavala homered, singled twice, struck out twice and was caught stealing.

Kannapolis 5, Myrtle Beach 4

• Javier Mogollón went 2-for-5 with a homer and a stolen base.
• Caleb Bonemer, 1-for-5.
• Ronny Hernandez was 2-for-3 with two walks, and was picked off.
• Lyle Miller-Green went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
• T.J. McCants, 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
• Ryan Burrowes, 1-for-3 with a walk and a K.
• Abraham Nuñez, 1-for-4 with a strikeout, and was picked off/caught stealing.
• Pierce George: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 18 of 27 pitches for strikes.
• Blake Shepardson: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 9 of 21 pitches for strikes.