White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 24, 2025

If all Caleb Bonemer had to do was reach double digits in homers in order to earn a promotion to Winston-Salem, then he completed his punch card on Sunday. Bonemer went 2-for-5 with his 10th homer, along with his 26th double and his 27th stolen base, and now he'll spend his off day preparing for a new level.

Bonemer finished the Kannapolis portion of his season hitting .281/.400/.458 with 39 extra-base hits, 68 walks and a respectable 91 strikeouts over 96 games. He'd been even hotter of late, hitting .383/.483/.638 in August, and he'd been dragging down his strikeout over the last couple of months. It's 21.1 percent on the season, but just 17.5 percent since the start of July.

The Dash's season only runs for two more weeks, so whatever Bonemer produces will be processed with the standard small sample size caveats. Perhaps the most instructive aspect of this introductory period involves where he will play. He's made 66 of his 91 defensive starts for Kannapolis at shortstop, but now he runs into third-round pick Kyle Lodise, who has made all 16 of his starts at short.

My guess is that he'll slide over to third, which has been filled by committee all season. Does all the shifting around result in Jeral Perez getting bumped to Birmingham for a similar late-season orientation? I wouldn't mind seeing it.

Norfolk 6, Charlotte 4

• Will Robertson went 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
• Tim Elko was 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Bryan Ramos, 2-for-3 with a walk.
• Jacob Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
• Noah Schultz's return: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 25 of 37 pitches for strikes.
• Peyton Pallette: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 25 of 38 pitches for strikes.
• Jairo Iriarte: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 8 of 25 pitches for strikes.
• Ben Peoples: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 3 of 7 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*Schultz's Statcast data now classifies his breaking ball as a slider instead of a curveball, so that's one sign of progress.

Rocket City 7, Birmingham 4

• Rikuu Nishida went 0-for-5.
• So did Wiliam Bergolla, with a strikeout.
• Sam Antonacci was 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• DJ Gladney went 2-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Wilfred Veras, 2-for-5 with a double.
• Hagen Smith: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 3 K, 39 of 79 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*Smith's start got progressively rockier, and ended when he failed to retire the last four batters he faced, and walked the last two.

Wilmington 10, Winston-Salem 5

• Samuel Zavala went 2-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
• Jeral Perez, 0-for-4 with an HBP and a strikeout.
• Kyle Lodise homered, singled, walked and was hit by a pitch.
• Lyle Miller-Green was 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
• Seth Keener: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HBP, 17 of 26 pitches for strikes.

Highlights:

*Lodise keeps ripping them out to left.

Kannapolis 10, Delmarva 4

• Eloy Brown was 0-for-3 with three walks, a strikeout and a stolen base.
• Caleb Bonemer went 2-for-5 with a homer, double and stolen base in what could be his last game with Kannapolis.
• Anthony DePino was 0-for-5.
• Ronny Hernandez was 1-for-2 with a walk.
• George Wolkow, 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• Colby Shelton went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Adrian Gíl caught, going 0-for-3 with two walks.
• Kaleb Freeman went 0-for-2 with three walks.
• Mathias LaCombe: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
• Pierce George: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 2 WP, 5 of 14 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*The Cannon Ballers walked 12 times, and scored eight runs in the ninth inning.