White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 12, 2025

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- While it hasn't been a banner year for the Winston-Salem Dash on the whole, they've produced a handful of individual successes that have boosted the system's pitching depth.

Prior to the Dash's series finale against the Hot Rods on Sunday, I talked to Winston-Salem pitching coach Blake Hickman about the positive developments he's overseen.

Tanner McDougal

Hickman has been on hand for both sides of McDougal's rebound. As Kannapolis' pitching coach in 2024, he was there when McDougal was unceremoniously demoted to Low-A toward the end of last season. As Winston-Salem's pitching coach this year, he was there to see it all finally come together.

"He understood what type of guy he is and that he needed to kind of hone in some things, as far as whether it's delivery, the pitch mix, and we just simplified it for him and just told him to throw everything in the zone as much as possible," Hickman said. "Beat guys in the zone because you're going to have to do it at the highest level. And I think he accepted that challenge."

McDougal told James back in July that getting demoted was "one of the harder things that I've had to deal with ever playing baseball," but he ultimately used it as a wake-up call, and Hickman saw the growth.

"I think that with the demotion, it just put him into a mindset that he knew he had to change some things," he said. "And it's not necessarily that it was on-the-field stuff -- it was stuff that he had to fix with his character and just improve on, and just put his head down, get to work, and when he does that, he produces what he's producing this year.

"I think there's times we get a little too caught up and wanting to move and stuff like that. We just simplified it and just made the game fun again for him. That was my goal for him this year, and I'm glad we accomplished it."

Christian Oppor

Oppor was throwing a bullpen session with Hickman before Sunday's game, where he was throwing a fair amount of breaking balls. The search a third pitch to go along with his fastball and changeup is still in process.

"Some days it's on, some days it's hit-or-miss ... literally hit-or-miss," Hickman said.

White Sox pitching coordinator Matt Zaleski said back in June that Oppor came into the system with a slurve, and he's trying to sharpen it into a slider by "almost throwing it like a sideways curveball." Hickman said that's still the case, but the emphasis is less on shape at this juncture, and more about finding something that's competitive.

"He's trusting his process with the slider -- keeping it simple, just throw it in the zone as much as possible, because I like our odds when we do that," Hickman said. "Especially for him, with his big fastball, with the changeup, all he has to do is land it and he gets a lot of success."

Lucas Gordon

Like McDougal, Gordon pitched well enough in Winston-Salem to graduate to Birmingham, but his stay in Double-A only lasted a start. He threw six scoreless innings in a dominant debut against Columbus on June 20, only to miss the next month with a back injury. With the Barons rotation teeming with guys capable of throwing five easy innings, the White Sox sent Gordon back to Winston-Salem to build back up, and Hickman says he's back to normal.

Gordon, a sixth-round pick out of Texas in 2023, put himself on the map with a successful 2024 season at both A-ball levels, where he posted a 2.23 ERA while throwing 113 innings over 23 starts. It just wasn't the easiest season to buy into, as he walked 61 batters while striking out 98.

Gordon's ERA has jumped to 3.63 over 18 games and 79⅓ innings, but he's not shying away from the strike zone:

"I think with him last year was a lot of nibbling and chasing chase," Hickman said. "It always would put him in bad spots where he did have those high walk rates.

"This year, we just took it out. Like, 'Hey, you're a guy that can command the baseball and that's what we want you to do. We're not looking for all the chase from the world from you. You're a guy that can spot up.' And I think he embraced who he is as well."

Charlotte 13, Memphis 6

• Tim Elko drove in six with a 3-for-5, two-homer night.
• Bryan Ramos was 1-for-4 with a double and a walk.
• Jacob Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• Dru Baker, 3-for-5 with a triple and a stolen base.
• Jonathan Cannon: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 58 of 89 pitches for strikes.
• Peyton Pallette: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 13 of 20 pitches for strikes.
• Jairo Iriarte: 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 15 of 22 pitches for strikes.

Birmingham 13, Pensacola 2

• William Bergolla went 3-for-6 with a walk
• Sam Antonacci was 3-for-4 with a double, two walks and a sac fly.
• Caden Connor went 5-for-7 with a double, which is not a line you see often.
• Wilfred Veras was 2-for-6 with a double, walk and two strikeouts.
• Braden Montgomery, 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk and an HBP.
• DJ Gladney went 2-for-6 with a homer.
• Tanner McDougal: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 31 of 52 pitches for strikes.
• Tyler Schweitzer still hasn't allowed an earned run at Birmingham: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 46 of 65 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*The Barons notched 21 hits and 10 free bases (nine walks, one HBP), and went 10-for-23 with runners in scoring position.

*Pensacola threw 229 pitches to Birmingham's 143.

Asheville 4, Winston-Salem 1

• Samuel Zavala was 0-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
• Jeral Perez went 0-for-3 with a sac fly and a strikeout.
• Kyle Lodise, 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Ryan Burrowes was 1-for-3 with a K.
• Lucas Gordon: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 41 of 68 pitches for strikes.

Augusta 5, Kannapolis 4

• Anthony DePino went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
• George Wolkow also went 1-for-4, and the "1" was hilarious.
• Adrian Gíl and Colby Shelton both were 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Pierce George: 0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HBP, 8 of 19 pitches for strikes.

Highlights:

*Wolkow's single was on a one-handed swing, deciding "what the hell, why not" after the second base umpire called a balk.

DSL White Sox 5, DSL Cubs Blue 4 (7 innings)

• Frank Mieses was 0-for-3 with an HBP.
• Jose Mendoza, 2-for-3 with a walk.
• Alejandro Cruz went 0-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base.
• Eduardo Herrera went 1-for-4 with a double.
• So did Yordani Soto, with a strikeout as well.
• Diego Perez: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 WP