White Sox Minor Keys: March 28, 2026

While we pulled quotes from Paul Janish's season-opening conference call for the Charlotte preview, he also touched upon some White Sox prospects who haven't started their years yet.

*Christian Oppor is indeed starting the season in Birmingham, and like Hagen Smith, he'll be limited early with the idea of finishing strong.

"He’ll be in Birmingham to start the year, and similarly, we’ll take it easy with him early on for the same reasons," Janish said. "We had the governor on him last year and he recovered very well. We want to make sure going into this season he’s in a good spot. You will probably see him in the four inning mark, might get to 5 depending on pitch count as we continue to build him up.

"He’s in a great spot in terms of health and what not. He’s physically had a really good offseason. He’s another one I would point to as being really excited about what he’s going to do this year.""

*Braden Montgomery will be there as well, but Janish set a high bar for initial production.

"He’s definitely going to be in the right frame of mind. I would be very surprised if he didn’t get off to a good start," Janish said. "Again, physically he’s as talented as anybody we have. The other thing I would point to with him again is just the teammate interaction is very telling with just the makeup of the player...

"There are some things we are going to highlight on the baserunning side and the defensive side to try to continue to get him as ready as he can be to play at the major league level hopefully at some point."

*Mathias LaCombe was supposed to start the season in Winston-Salem, but Janish cited a "blip" that might delay him out of the gate.

*Javier Mogollón will return to Kannapolis after a strained hamstring (and a re-aggravation or two) disrupted his 2025, but he'll be playing mostly second base since Billy Carlson will own shortstop there.

Charlotte 2, Durham 1 (11 innings)

• Sam Antonacci is Mr. Three True Outcomes: 1-for-4 with a homer, walk and a strikeout.
• William Bergolla Jr. delivered the walk-off single to cap off a 3-for-4 night. He also walked, struck out, stole a base and was caught stealing twice.
• Tanner Murray and Jarred Kelenic both were 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout; Kelenic stole a base.
• Jacob Gonzalez DH'd, going 0-for-3 with a sac bunt and a strikeout.
• Tanner McDougal's Triple-A debut: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 1 HBP, 1 WP, 49 of 82 pitches for strikes.
• Tyler Schweitzer is off to a better start at Charlotte: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Notes and highlights:

*Antonacci's homer registered a distance this time: 389 to right field.

He also survived a close call on the warning track for a catch that tested him.

*McDougal topped out at 100.2 mph and averaged 98.1 mph with his fastball, even into his final inning of work. Statcast didn't see a changeup, but it did catch three fastballs between 91-93, which might be them.

*During spring training, Bergolla spoke through an interpreter, so it's cool seeing the 21-year-old handle the postgame interview.