There's no big breakthrough to discuss with infield prospect Sam Antonacci winning White Sox minor league player of the month, because last year's fifth-round pick was honored for simply a standard-issue Antonacci performance.
The 22-year-old hit .286/.432/.457 in 22 games with High-A Winston-Salem last month, while mixing between all four spots on the infield. He differed from his norms in the sense that his slugging outpaced his on-base rate thanks to seven of his 20 hits going for extra bases, and his walks (12) didn't quite keep pace with his strikeouts (17), but as usual, he was able to count on six hit-by-pitches to tilt the balance.
Antonacci viewed his June as a month of getting back into form, because he opened it rehabbing in Arizona from a broken finger suffered on a slide in May. But he's used to playing through a requisite amount of pain, because he's already at 18 HBPs for the year, and still hasn't matched the 27 he collected as a junior at Coastal Carolina. He was only a Chanticleer for a season, but an idle question about whether Antonacci enjoyed their 2025 College World Series run quickly revealed that a year in Conway, S.C., was more than long enough for him to take on the program philosophy as his own.
"Understanding how to put we before me," Antonacci said of what he learned from his time there. "How to be selfless and relentless. That was our motto where I went to school at Coastal Carolina. Just being selfless, but taking pride in getting hit by pitches or walking, because ultimately that helps get on base and helps the team out. We kind of get mad if we get out of the way of pitches. Just be selfless and take pride in getting hit by pitches. I don't think a lot of people take pride in that, and I like to take pride in it."
Antonacci feels he's still growing into his body and getting stronger via a regimen that has him lifting through the season, but quickly assures that he won't be tweaking his pesky, contact-oriented swing when a topic as navel-gazing as hitting for more power comes up. It's a bat-first utility profile at present, so Antonacci manning so many positions is a future-focused proposition at present. But even if second base represents the plurality of his playing time at present, it's not clear it would be easy to cement him at one spot if the Sox even wanted.
"I didn't get drafted to play a specific position," Antonacci said. "I came to do whatever I can to help the team win and ultimately bring a World Series to Chicago. If they see me playing left field in that position, I'm more than happy to. Or whether that's shortstop, second base, third base, first base, wherever. I'm all for whatever helps the team win. Just whatever gets me on the field or helps me play the game. I enjoy it. I enjoy the competition at each and every position. I like learning."
When asked what he's learned, Antonacci said the biggest lesson so far has been managing his effort level in practice over the season, and not going "1,000 percent" on pregame grounders every day.
Rarely has a player been so obviously telling the truth.
⚙️⚙️⚙️
On the other end of the minor league spectrum, 19-year-old Dominican right-hander Luis Reyes won White Sox minor league pitcher of the month for essentially his first burst of good statistical results as a professional. The biggest pitcher signing from the White Sox's 2023 international class ($700,000), Reyes made three of the four longest outings of his pro career in June, and allowed a single earned run in 25 innings of work at Low-A Kannapolis.
With where he's at in his career, all of Reyes' focus is on building out his professional routine to a degree he's never encountered before, and being prodded along by the results.
"I think that’s the key for me: to feel the way that I feel, even though I’ve been pitching more this year," Reyes said via interpreter. "I’ve been working more. I’ve been working harder. I’ve been working on my routine with different drills. Attacking more strike zone, trying to command all my pitches in the strike zone. Working on my balance, on my hips. I think everything related to my routine. This is the first time I’ve had to work as much as I’ve been."
Watching Reyes on the mound reveals his age, as he makes all the same movements with a thinly perceptible deficit in certainty in all his movements, compared to your standard big leaguer who simply has thousands more reps. However, a statistical breakdown of his usage more resembles a wily veteran. Reyes credited his success to first-pitch strikes and working ahead in the count, walking just five compared to 18 strikeouts. But he got ahead while frequently pitching backwards, as Reyes throws his low-80s slider nearly half the time, and more often than his low-90s fastball.
It's both a nod to the pitch that's going to carry Reyes' profile, but also a nod to his idol. As a young boy in the DR, Reyes crossed paths with the late Yordano Ventura throwing at the same facility during the World Series winner's offseasons, and has modeled so much of his game off of watching his handiwork.
"I really liked that pitch when Yordano threw it, and ever since my childhood, that was a pitch I really liked just because how effective it was, and Yordano was great commanding and attacking with that pitch," Reyes said via interpreter. "I work a lot on that pitch too, pregames and the days before my outings. That’s a pitch that I don’t hesitate when I have to throw it."
Charlotte 10, Jacksonville 5
- Tim Elko hit a grand slam to top off an impressive 3-for-4 showing. He also drew a walk.
- Bryan Ramos, 0-for-4 with an HBP.
- Dru Baker was 1-for-4 with a double.
- Noah Schultz: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 2 HR, 44 of 75 pitches for strikes.
- Jairo Iriarte: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 6 of 10 pitches for strikes.
Highlights/notes:
*Elko's slam:
*Schultz hadn't given up a homer to a lefty this season before Graham Pauley hit two of them.
Birmingham 2, Chattanooga 1
- Rikuu Nishida was 0-for-3 with an HBP.
- William Bergolla was 1-for-4, and was caught stealing.
- Ryan Galanie went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 1-for-4 with a K.
- DJ Gladney, 1-for-3 with an HBP and a strikeout.
- Shane Murphy: 8 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 59 of 83 pitches for strikes.
Hub City 9, Winston-Salem 7 (10 innings)
- Sam Antonacci was 1-for-4 with two walks and two stolen bases.
- Jeral Perez was 1-for-5 with a double and a K.
- Braden Montgomery, 0-for-4 with a walk and three strikeouts.
- Samuel Zavala went 2-for-5 with a homer and a strikeout.
Hickory 7, Kannapolis 2
- Ryan Burrowes went 2-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Lyle Miller-Green went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Ronny Hernandez was 0-for-4.
- Abraham Nuñez, 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Blake Sheparson: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 13 of 23 pitches for strikes.
ACL Dodgers 7, ACL White Sox 2 (7 innings)
- Adrian Gíl went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Jurdrick Profar singled and struck out twice.
DSL Blue Jays Blue 7, DSL White Sox 1 (7 innings)
- Alejandro Cruz was 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Christian Gonzalez went 0-for-2 with a walk, strikeout and CS.
- Frank Mieses went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Eduardo Herrera was 0-for-2 with a walk.
- Yordani Soto went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. He also stole a base and was picked off.
