It's the All-Star break for the White Sox and their full-season minor league affiliates, although the DSL and ACL teams will continue to play during the moratorium.
With the draft coverage dominating Sunday night/Monday morning, I decided to shift back the Minor Keys until Tuesday, but that didn't stop the Sox Machine community from beating me to the lede, which is that the White Sox purchased Blake Sabol from the Red Sox over the weekend and have assigned him to Charlotte. Nevertheless, I'm proceeding as if you haven't already touched upon it in the comments for purposes of posterity.
It's an interesting time to acquire a 27-year-old catcher with 129 games of big-league experience, if only because they already have Korey Lee, who is 1) 26, 2) a quality third catcher on a 40-man roster, and 3) making good use of the unfettered playing time at Charlotte. But if this report from Padres beat reporter Dennis Lin holds up, the White Sox might find themselves needing a catcher at Triple-A sooner than later.
Their shallow depth was again emphasized Sunday, with Gavin Sheets going on the paternity list and Luis Campusano, recalled from Triple A, going 0-for-3 to extend his streak of big-league plate appearances without a hit to 27.
That’s the longest such streak to begin an individual season since Chicago White Sox catcher Korey Lee logged 28 consecutive hitless plate appearances after being recalled in August 2023. Coincidentally, a league source said, Lee has drawn trade interest from the Padres in 2025. The 26-year-old continues to be a glove-first catcher, but he has shown some utility with his bat, hitting 12 big-league home runs last season and recording a .780 on-base plus slugging percentage this season in Triple A.
Sabol's arrival doesn't instantly spell the end of Lee's tenure with the White Sox in and of itself. Adam Hackenberg and Weston Eberly are the other catchers on Charlotte's roster, and neither are suited for regular work at Triple-A, so perhaps Chris Getz is just gearing up for an eventual move, rather than an imminent one. But this is what it'd look like in either event, so if your smoke detector is chirping, it might not be due to low batteries.
DSL White Sox 7, DSL Giants Black 5 (7 innings)
- Frank Mieses went 2-for-4 with a double.
- Eduardo Herrera was 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Alejandro Cruz, 0-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base.
- Yordani Soto went 1-for-3 with a stolen base.
Sunday's Minor Keys
Charlotte 4, Memphis 2
- Bryan Ramos wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Dru Baker went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases.
- Davis Martin: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 38 of 58 pitches for strikes.
- Peyton Pallette got a popout on two pitches to finish the fourth.
- Tyler Schweitzer: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 10 of 16 pitches for strikes.
- Jairo Iriarte: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 5 of 10 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 4, Biloxi 3
- Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-4 with a walk.
- William Bergolla, 2-for-5.
- Ryan Galanie was 1-for-4 with an HBP and a strikeout.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 1-for-4 with a sac fly and a strikeout.
- Jake Palisch: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Kannapolis 4, Myrtle Beach 2
- Ryan Burrowes went 2-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout, and was caught stealing.
- Ronny Hernandez was 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- George Wolkow, 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and an HBP.
- Abraham Nuñez walked and was caught stealing, then was replaced by T.J. McCants.
