Farm Fortnight: How White Sox prospects are faring after two weeks, give or take

Depending on your White Sox affiliate of choice, the minor league season is either 2½ weeks or 1½ weeks old, but Farm Fortnight will meet you in the middle by saying the first two weeks are in the books.

If this season is your first with Sox Machine, Farm Fortnight is our biweekly review of the White Sox farm system, offering progress reports for dozens of White Sox prospects. It's a macro complement to the each morning's micro view in the Minor Keys, and we'll be adding and subtracting prospects to the tracker as performances start to transcend mere questions about sample size, for better or for worse.

Before we get into the affiliate-level breakdowns, we open by highlighting the hottest prospects on both sides of the ball.

Fortnight's Finest

Position player: Samuel Zavala. There's plenty of competition early, and the encouraging, in-character starts for Sam Antonacci and Caleb Bonemer might register as more significant for the health of the organization, but Zavala is running right alongside them in the early going during his first weeks in Double-A. The White Sox are starved for outfielders, so Zavala materializing a year or two later than hoped can be filed under "better late than never."

Pitcher: Noah Schultz. There's no other choice, and the White Sox must think so, too, as he'll make his major league debut Tuesday night.

Now, what about the teammates he's leaving behind?

Charlotte Knights

• Last three series: 3-0 vs. Durham; 1-4 @Nashville; 3-3 vs. Memphis
• Record: 7-7
• Next two series: @Jacksonville, vs. Nashville
• Individual stats

The Knights entered the season with a pretty lefty-heavy lineup, and that issue became exacerbated when the White Sox came calling for Tanner Murray. Without him slotting into the batting order on an everyday basis at one of a few positions, and with Everson Pereira heading back to the White Sox from his rehab stint, Chad Pinder only has Dru Baker, 29-year-old org infielder Jason Matthews and three catchers -- Korey Lee, Josh Breaux, and the switch-hitting Drew Romo -- who hit from the right side.

Nevertheless, they're staying afloat now, as their very pitching-heavy prospect profile is easing the awkwardness. We'll see what happens after their best arm graduates.

Position Players

*Sam Antonacci isn't on the White Sox ... yet. He might very well be in short order, but it's also OK if the team waits a bit. He's still getting accustomed to left field, including a couple of close calls on collisions, and like Chase Meidroth, his OBP-heavy recipe for success in Triple-A might be tested if MLB pitchers aren't afraid of making him swing the bat. That's not a sufficient reason to keep him in Charlotte, but tempers expectations for his ability to boost an offense with his promotion alone.

*William Bergolla Jr. is on the 7-day injured list after bruising his shin tumbling over a sliding Antonacci after making a catch in shallow left field. It's a shame, because he opened the season as the best possible version of himself at the plate -- at least if you concede that home runs are "unlikely" bordering on "impossible."

*Jacob Gonzalez has finally embraced the Charlotte lifestyle, because he's finally using Truist Field to his advantage:

• Home: .222/.382/.593
• Away: .313/.421/.438

In the games I saw him in Nashville, he looked like the same guy, except he was starting to play first base due to crowding elsewhere. He's hitting the ball harder in the games I didn't see, with an average exit velocity of 89.1 mph, up from 86 mph in his 171 plate appearances with the Knights last year.

*Jarred Kelenic might have a bad line right now, but it was even worse before Sunday, when he went 2-for-5 with a homer, accounting for his first multi-hit game and first homer in Charlotte. Meanwhile, Dustin Harris passed him by in the pecking order.

Pitchers

*Noah Schultz couldn't have looked any better over his first 14 innings of the season, as I wrote several days ago.

*Tanner McDougal opened his Triple-A career with the kind of walk-laden outings that make some evaluators think his stardom will only come in relief, but then he struck out eight over six innings of two-run ball against Memphis on Saturday. Give him time.

*Hagen Smith is limited to three-inning bursts right now, and he's reached that limit in all three outings. His velocity did slip from the first inning to the third inning his last time out, so let's keep an eye on that.

*Duncan Davitt threw a scoreless inning in his major league debut before getting optioned back to Charlotte. Now it's back to resuming his work in the rotation. He'll be well-served to keep at it, because Jonathan Cannon's uncertain status reduces the competition for the next spot start.

*Shane Smith, making his first start for Charlotte since he couldn't be optioned during his Rule 5 season last year, battled through a rocky first to look more like the fastball-attacking pitcher that had no problem holding down a rotation spot for the entirety of 2025.

Birmingham Barons

• Last two series: 2-1 @Knoxville; 1-5 vs. Chattanooga
• Record: 3-6
• Next two series: @Rocket City, vs. Columbus
• Individual stats

After two straight titles, it's strange to see the Barons under .500 at the start of a season. It's even more bizarre to see the team sporting a 5.78 ERA, but after a season in which every Southern League team struggled to score runs, the offenses are in charge at the onset.

• 2025: .230/.321/.340
• 2026 so far: .249/.362/.402

The Barons offense ranks seventh in the eight-team league, but even they're joining the party to a certain extent. After hitting just 52 homers over 138 games as a team last season, they're on pace for 123 thus far, albeit with just nine games in the books.

Position Players

*Braden Montgomery is one of those players who is benefiting from the difference in environments. He went from settling for doubles last year to not being able to hit them, because all of his best contact is sailing over fences this time around. His contact rate is down early (66.7 percent), and he doesn't have much ground to give, if any, but it was even worse before his two-homer game, so maybe the arrow is pointing up.

*Jeral Perez abruptly cut his strikeout rate dramatically in the middle of the 2025 season, and it's carried over to his first two series at Birmingham:

• April-June 2025: 25.2 percent
• July-September 2025: 15.1 percent
• April 2026: 14.3 percent

He's made all of his starts at third base, which is a position he hadn't played in the White Sox organization entering this season.

*Samuel Zavala didn't reach double digits in homers in either of his two full seasons with Winston-Salem, so seeing him hit two at Regions Field over the course of three games grabs attention early.

*Rikuu Nishida has made all eight starts at second base after playing mostly outfield last year. He's here because 1) he's fun, and 2) I'm curious how long he can run a .400 OBP at Double-A without being called up.

Pitchers

*Christian Oppor plunked two guys on top of his three walks in his Double-A debut and barely threw half of his 70 pitches for strikes. If he's looking for inspiration in bouncing back from a rough first outing, he can merely look at...

*Lucas Gordon, who rebounded from a tough 3 ⅔ innings against Knoxville with a quality start against Chattanooga. There were a couple of solo shots in the latter outing, so that column is worth monitoring, especially if the Southern League ball is no longer dead.

*Shane Murphy is the Nishida of pitchers.

*Riley Gowens didn't make a 40th start at Double-A. Instead, he's made his first three relief appearances in earnest at Double-A, and it's going well for him thus far.

*Connor McCullough made a pretty smooth return from Tommy John surgery last year, and his first full season since recovering is off to a strong start.

*Jarold Rosado has pitched one inning over his last two outings, and this is the line: 1 IP, 8 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 5 BB, 1 K 2 HR. 33 of 63 pitches for strikes.

Winston-Salem Dash

• Last two series: 1-2 @Bowling Green; 4-2 vs. Frederick
• Record: 5-4
• Next series: vs. Asheville, @Hub City
• Individual stats

The Winston-Salem Dash entered the season with the deepest lineup of players worth tracking, and that's reflected in the system's best record so far, albeit through just 1½ series.

Another elbow injury for Aldrin Batista lowered the upside for the rotation, as he was placed on the 60-day injured list. Also on the 60-day injured list? Wes Kath, who would be repeating Winston-Salem for a fourth season otherwise. Also, here's a place to mention that Lyle Miller-Green was released last month, and even though he never pitched professionally, he was still labeled as a two-way player.

Position Players

*Caleb Bonemer is striking out a little more than usual thus far -- 28.2 percent, up from 21.2 percent last year -- and he's already made four errors in the field, if you're wondering what sort of development goals lie ahead besides pure production.

*Kyle Lodise is taking his leadoff duties seriously, working a lot of deep counts and choosing the right opportunities to steal base, but counts with two strikes are leading to a lot of strike threes at the moment.

*George Wolkow is running an ISO that's closer to .200 than .100, while the strikeout rate is holding to 30 percent, which is what he posted at Kannapolis last year. That'll play for now.

*Colby Shelton started his pro career 1-for-36 in Kannapolis last year. The early numbers for Winston-Salem are a lot prettier, and he's currently riding a six-game hitting streak.

*Anthony DePino is boxier in person, although maybe it just looked like his vertical rendering was condensed standing next to George Wolkow. In more pertinent information to relay, he's getting more lift than he did last year.

Pitchers

*Gabe Davis accomplished the task at hand in his professional debut, needing only 37 pitches to throw three scoreless innings against Frederick last Wednesday. Anything walkless is noteworthy considering he issued 16 free passes over 24 ⅓ innings for Oklahoma State last year.

*Grant Umberger is finding Sally League hitters a little more discerning than their Carolina League counterparts thus far.

*Seth Keener has only made three appearances, but it's a better three-game stretch than anything he posted last season as the 2023 third-round pick tries to get his professional career untracked.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

• Last two series: 1-2 vs. Hill City; 1-5 vs. Hickory
• Record: 2-7
• Next two series: @Myrtle Beach, vs. Charleston
• Individual stats

The Cannon Ballers scored 19 runs against the Hill City Howlers on April 4, and they've scored a total of 21 runs in their other eight games, is how they've started the season 2-7 despite the third fewest runs allowed.

The strikeout column is a particular pain point, as the Ballers offense leads the league in whiffing. That isn't great when they're also tied for last in the league with three homers over nine games. The good news? It's a long season. The better news? Low-A seasons are even longer. Unless that's bad news.

Position Players

*Billy Carlson enters the fresh week in search of a fresh start, as he went hitless in his last 11 at-bats with six strikeouts over the final three games of the Hickory series. He's drawing his share of walks, at least.

*Jaden Fauske also hit a snag last week, averaging two strikeouts a game over his five games against Hickory. He's 0-for-11 with seven strikeouts against lefties, so let's keep an eye on that line as he wends his way through his first weeks playing regular season professional baseball games.

*Javier Mogollón doesn't have the age/experience excuses to fall back upon, so his rocky start of the season registers as a bigger concern, especially since he burst out of the gate at this same level last season.

*Rylan Galvan provided big power and a lot of strikeouts while catching for the Texas Longhorns, and he's doing the same with Kannapolis so far.

*Boston Smith is sharing time behind the plate, but he's also rotating in left field. His performance is worth tracking as long as Curtis Mead keeps contributing to the Nationals (.259/.355/.444 over 31 plate appearances).

Pitchers

*Blaine Wynk is coming off an injury-marred season during which he walked nine batters over 8 2/3 innings for Ohio State, so it's not out of character when he throws just 26 of 54 pitches for strikes like he did the last time out.

*Truman Pauley was the undercard in the return for Luis Robert Jr., and his first two professional outings are similar to Wynk, just in reverse order -- trouble throwing strikes against Hill City, and then a good number of them against Hickory.

*Max Banks is having the most success out of the Day 3 draft picks out of the gate.

*Pierce George isn't part of the Minor Keys because he's an SEC arm who's repeating Low-A, but he walked 45 batters over 47⅔ innings last season, so going four appearances without a walk is new territory for him. Undrafted free agent Jackson Nove also stands out early for 12 strikeouts over 5⅓ innings.