White Sox Minor Keys: March 27, 2025

Welcome to another year of White Sox Minor Keys.

For those who are new to the site, the Minor Keys are a daily digest of the previous night's action on the farm. Each day, we'll run through the box scores tracking the lines of White Sox prospects and other notable performances, sharing highlights, farm system news, and other items of interest from across Minor League Baseball. We'll add and remove prospects we're following based on how things are going, and you're welcome to stump for your own favorites in the comments.

For those who have our coverage for years, you might have noticed this is an earlier-than-usual start.

Typically we don't start the Minor Keys until all the affiliates are underway, because there isn't usually a whole lot of activity from one game in a night. We're making an exception this season, and not just because the Charlotte Knights started their schedule with a nearly ideal demolition of the Durham Bulls Friday night, which you'll read about below.

No, it's because the Knights visit Nashville next week, so I'll have material in the days before the White Sox's other three full-season squads get started. For that matter, Winston-Salem is opening its season in Bowling Green next weekend, so the hope is that the weather holds and will allow me to bounce back and forth. Either way, now's a a great time to subscribe to Sox Machine for an extra month free on all annual plans using the promo code OPENINGDAY2026.

Now, on to the format you all know and might love, depending on the day...

Charlotte 19, Durham 2

• Sam Antonacci made his Triple-A debut, going 2-for-5 with a homer and a walk. He also made his outfield debut and cut down a runner at second base.
• William Bergolla Jr. also succeeded in his first Triple-A game, going 4-for-5 with two doubles (He had 21 XBH all last year).
• Tanner Murray's org debut: 4-for-6 with two homers, four runs scored and five driven in.
• Jarred Kelenic didn't quite join the party: 0-for-4 with a sac fly and three strikeouts.
• Hagen Smith's Triple-A debut: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 33 of 48 pitches for strikes.
• Noah Schultz in relief: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 28 of 40 pitches for strikes.
• Wikelman González is back in action: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Notes and highlights:

*Smith settled in after a leadoff homer, getting 13 whiffs on 26 swings, including eight on 14 against his fastball, per Statcast data.

*Smith averaged 96.4 mph with his fastball; Schultz 96.5.

*Schultz is throwing a cutter again, and this one worked, getting five whiffs on eight swings.

*FutureSox carved up their highlights:

*According to Jesse Borek's story on MiLB.com, the Smith-Schultz pairing isn't fixed in place:

The piggyback plan isn’t permanent. It was Smith’s day to start and Schultz, rather than throw live BPs away from the in-game action, decided to take the mound behind him.

So that'll give me something to ask about next week.

*Antonacci's homer had a launch angle of 45 degrees, and no projected distance, which is a shame since the right field rooftop is closer than it appears. His three-run shot capped off an 11-run fourth.