Farm Fortnight: Winding down a turbulent first month for White Sox system

The next time we convene for Farm Fortnight, we'll be covering five White Sox affiliates, as the Arizona Complex League White Sox open their season against the ACL Royals on May 2. The unveiling of that roster will address a lot of the remaining questions about season-opening prospect assignments for prep prospects who have yet to make their pro debuts (Landon Hodge? Blake Larson?), and others who have been rehabbing (Alexander Albertus? Mathias LaCombe is healthy and throwing after shoulder discomfort in spring, but the Sox are weighing whether to build him up at the complex so he can start, or scheduled relief appearances at an affiliate).

The other four affiliates are finishing up turbulent first months with a lot of loud performances. That's good news for the hitters, a couple of whom earned Player of the Week honors for their performances in the first series of the two we're covering, but pitchers who aren't Noah Schultz are having a harder time finding their footing.

Before we get granular with the full-season squads, let's highlight the best performances from the last two weeks. This exercise itself summarizes the discrepancy between the system's hitting and its pitching.

Fortnight's Finest

Position player: Colby Shelton. Fellow league honoree Braden Montgomery was matching him stride-for-stride before going hitless in his final two games, so Shelton wins out for hitting .435/.536/.935 over 56 plate appearances. He collected a whopping 20 hits and 12 extra-base hits over 12 games, with more walks (nine) than strikeouts (eight). It may not last for much longer, but take a moment to appreciate that his batting average (.417) is higher than his OPS with Kannapolis last year (.415).

"I wouldn't even call it a hot streak," Shelton told Sox Machine this week. "It's just going up there trying to win every at-bat, every pitch, refuse to lose and try to find a way to put the ball in play, and when you put the ball in play, good things happen."

Pitcher: Connor McCullough. It's pretty slim pickings, but McCullough reached the next stage in his ramp-up by throwing four scoreless innings on just 42 pitches against Rocket City. He allowed just one run on two hits and three walks over seven innings over the last two series, and unlike previous years, it doesn't seem like you can chalk it up to a Southern League environment that suffocates offenses.

Charlotte Knights

• Last three series: 2-4 @Jacksonville; 4-3 vs. Nashville
• Record: 13-14
• Next two series: vs. Gwinnett, @Jacksonville
• Individual stats

The Charlotte Knights are making the most of their contact right now. Over the last two weeks, they posted the third-lowest average among the 20 International League teams (.223), but the third-highest home run total (19), which has allowed them to hang around the middle of the pack despite a shortage of right-handed bats.

The Knights have already used 46 players, and they've had to dip into emergency cross-Carolina assignments for relief pitchers like Morris Austin, Luke Bell, Jake Curtis and Jack Young. It's a reminder that whenever you see the White Sox churning through options for their 26-man roster, the Triple-A manager is the one who truly has to scramble.

Position Players

*William Bergolla Jr. still hasn't played since his collision with Sam Antonacci, so he missed the entirety of the last two series, but the White Sox are still calling it a bruised shin and haven't put a firm timeline on his return.

*Jacob Gonzalez is one home run shy of his professional high, even though the season isn't yet a month old. His average exit velocity continues to creep up, from 89.1 mph two weeks ago to 89.7 now (he was at 86 mph last year). He's striking out noticeably more -- 22.5 percent in the early going, compared to 16 percent in 2025, and 19.9 percent for the Charlotte portion of last season -- but the trade-off is worth it thus far.

*Jarred Kelenic is still repairing his season line, but popping five homers over 13 games is a good way to catch up. He hit .262/.436/.690 over the series against Jacksonville and Nashville, and with a more reasonable 25 percent strikeout rate.

*Rikuu Nishida finally is getting his shot with Charlotte after 137 games with the Barons over the last three seasons, and it's exposing some flaws in his game. He's hitting .278/.333/.361 with 12 strikeouts against just two walks over his first 40 Triple-A plate appearances. That said, he did hit a homer, which is one more than he hit over 115 games with Birmingham last season.

*Ryan Galanie got called up due to an alarming shortage of right-handed bats on the Charlotte roster. It's not going well, as he's 4-for-27 with zero walks and eight strikeouts in his first eight games at Triple-A. He has managed to homer twice, and he's playing right field for the first time in his career, but everything is born out of necessity right now.

*Caden Connor played in 14 games for Charlotte last season out of emergency, and he's back under similar conditions this season. His plate approach is holding up, but he doesn't have an extra-base hit in 12 games, resulting in a .256/.348/.256 line over 46 plate appearances.

Pitchers

*Tanner McDougal had control problems in Jacksonville, walking three and plunking three over 4⅓ innings, but he appeared to smooth it out over 3⅔ innings against Nashville on Thursday before hamstring tightness brought his evening to an early close. It appeared to be precautionary, but his next turn in the rotation will tell.

*Hagen Smith threw four scoreless innings using just 59 pitches against Jacksonville, then lasted only 2⅓ innings while throwing 62 versus Nashville. The season numbers are still OK, but between the sudden control lapses and velocity that tends to drop off, his start is not one that inspires confidence for how he might look by the end of the season. Sox pitching coordinator Matt Zaleski said the velocity and control lapses stem from the same mechanical issue with his lower half.

*Duncan Davitt posted his best start of the season to open the Nashville series, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out five over four scoreless innings. He was then a late scratch on Sunday, the latest blow to a rotation for which Noah Schultz was apparently the glue.

*Shane Smith has walked six batters over 11 ⅔ innings in Charlotte, which isn't great, but he's also plunked five guys, so he's averaged more than one free base per inning.

*Riley Gowens was finally promoted to Charlotte after a Birmingham career that was as successful as it was long. The bulk of his appearances have involved a second inning, and he even pitched into a third frame his last time out. Among other relievers, Wikelman Gonzalez looks worth of a promotion whenever the White Sox look his way (14 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 HR, 5 BB, 20 K), and Ben Peoples has been stingier (14.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 6 BB, 15 K).

Birmingham Barons

• Last two series: 3-3 @Rocket City; 3-3 vs. Columbus
• Record: 9-12
• Next two series: @Chattanooga, @Knoxville
• Individual stats

Last year, the Rocket City Trash Pandas had the worst ERA in the Southern League at 4.26. This year, only two Southern League teams are clearing that bar, and with little room to spare -- Chattanooga at 4.04, and Montgomery at 4.13. The Trash Pandas are still bringing up the rear, but now that number is 6.17.

Scoring on the whole is up dramatically thus far, from 4.01 runs per game in 2025 to 5.48 through the first four series of the season. It's probably a good thing if Regions Field no longer turns homers into doubles, but baseball being the zero-sum game it is, that means Double-A is no longer the ultra-soft landing spot for pitching prospects to build cases for major league auditions.

Position Players

*Braden Montgomery was named Southern League Player of the Week for the first half of his fortnight, and he extended his hitting streak to 12 games before it came to a halt this past weekend. He finished this period hitting .395/.481/.721. The contact rate is still at 68 percent, but the ground-ball rate is down 10 percent, from 49.2 percent last year to 38.9 this time around.

*Jeral Perez opened the Rocket City series by going 1-for-21 with eight strikeouts over the first five games, but looked more like himself against Columbus. The strikeout rate has ticked up, as he K'd 14 times over 11 games.

*Samuel Zavala couldn't quite summon an encore to his Fortnight's Finest performance to open the season, but this version of "leveling off" will still play. He hit .261/.382/.500 over 12 games, including three more homers.

Pitchers

*Christian Oppor finally threw an outing that resembled his 2025 self, posting four innings of one-run, one-walk ball with six strikeouts against Columbus on Saturday, after a visit from assistant pitching coordinator Curt Hasler. His season line above tells you everything about how it'd been going before then.

*Lucas Gordon has been uneven to start the season, but after opening the fortnight by allowing five runs over three innings against Rocket City, he dusted himself off with five decent innings against Columbus on Tuesday, and six good ones on Sunday.

*Shane Murphy might be the best barometer for differences in the way the Southern League is playing from last season to this one. He's completed at least five innings in all four starts, but he's been more hittable this time around.

*Connor McCullough made the next step in his progression, completing four easy innings against Columbus after maxing out at three innings in his first three starts.

Winston-Salem Dash

• Last two series: 5-1 vs. Asheville; 4-2 @Hub City
• Record: 14-7
• Next series: vs. Greensboro, @Hudson Valley
• Individual stats

Scoring is up across this league as well -- maybe not to the degree of the Southern League, but going from 4.30 runs per game to 5.46 still stands out. Even accounting for the leaguewide context, though, the Winston-Salem Dash are hitting the bejeezus out of the ball. They have the South Atlantic League's best team OPS, and the standard podium would not reflect the gap between first, second and third:

1. Winston-Salem, .865
2. Greensboro, .808
3. Bowling Green, .754

They lead the league in runs as well, but they're only second in run differential because ... wait for it ... the pitching is lagging behind. The Dash's 5.41 team ERA is the league's second-worst ERA to Asheville, which almost always has the league's worst ERA due to McCormick Field.

Position Players

*Caleb Bonemer had a rocky series in Asheville, getting plunked twice and beaned once, then striking out four times in his final appearance of the series. He rebounded with three homers over six games against Hub City. The strikeouts remain elevated, but everything else is playing.

*Kyle Lodise exited Wednesday's game against Hub City early, then missed the remainder of the series. He's not yet on the injured list, and if and when he resumes playing, he'll be trying to keep a 12-game walking streak alive. Actually, I'm guessing he'll try to start a hitting streak, but all the walks are a decent consolation prize.

*George Wolkow struck out 19 times over 48 plate appearances the last two series, which is bad. Three of his seven hits left the yard, which is good. I think you'd rather see a player like him oscillating between highs and lows, rather than maintaining "meh" like he did in Kannapolis last season.

*Colby Shelton won South Atlantic League Player of the Week for his performance against Asheville, then made a case for repeating against Hub City by going 9-for-23 with three homers and three doubles, although the honor went to Braves prospect Eric Hartman instead.

*Anthony DePino made a midgame switch to third base during the Hub City series, but he's been exclusively first base otherwise. Perhaps this will change if Shelton earns a promotion to Birmingham. Regarding his hitting, James covered it on Friday.

*Boston Smith was promoted to Winston-Salem for the Asheville series, and he's responded by hitting .387/.457/.935 with five homers over eight games. He's catching most of the time, but still appearing in left field when he doesn't. He might be a 23-year-old in A-ball, but he's still a sixth-round senior signing playing his first 16 professional games, so there isn't much more he could be doing with his first impression.

Pitchers

*David Sandlin started his rehab stint with two brief starts against Hub City. The control is lacking right now, but apparently he's touching 101 mph, so he must be feeling better. The Sox are transferring him to Charlotte this week.

*Gabe Davis is still limited to three innings per start, but his 12 innings with the Dash means he's already halfway to his workload from his final season with Oklahoma State, so the caution is easier to understand here than it is with, say, Hagen Smith. If all goes well, the Sox hope to have him up to five-inning outings in the second half.

*Grant Umberger piggybacked off Sandlin during the aforementioned rehab stint, and his two four-inning relief appearances totaled one good start: 8 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 2 HR.

*Seth Keener overwrote his strong first two series with a pretty ugly line over his three appearances against Asheville and Hub City (5 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 4 K).

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

• Last two series: 2-4 @Myrtle Beach; 2-4 vs. Charleston
• Record: 6-15
• Next two series: @Augusta, vs. Columbia
• Individual stats

The Carolina League is also scoring more, up from 4.49 runs per game in 2025 to 5.40 thus far in 2206. The Cannon Ballers are not partaking at the moment, as they're tied for the league's fewest homers (nine over 21 games) while owning the second-worst strikeout total (249).

That's to be expected when a third of the lineup is composed of prep picks playing in their first professional games. It just makes for some uneven viewing and the system's worst record, even though the oldest pitching staff in the league is producing above-average results.

Position Players

*Billy Carlson rebounded from the first slump of his career with a balanced two weeks against Myrtle Beach and Charleston. He hit .267/.353/.378 with eight strikeouts over 11 games, but none of them were multi-K affairs. He's committed just two errors in 17 games, which is pretty impressive for A-ball.

*Jaden Fauske is running a .425 BABIP against Carlson's .357, which is how he's producing around a 32-percent strikeout rate. It's not worth speculating on regression, though, if only because his severe platoon splits might cause abrupt shifts in contact quality and quantity from game to game.

*Javier Mogollón patched over his ugly start by hitting .343/.444/.600 over his last 10 games. He made his first two appearances of the season at third base during the Charleston series.

*Rylan Galvan is still participating in an even playing time split at catcher despite the promotion of Boston Smith. The four errors in seven games might be a reason.

*Abraham Nunez didn't stick in his first promotion to Kannapolis last season, but he's off to a stronger start this time around, already matching his homer total in roughly a quarter of the playing time.

*Matthew Boughton was a surprising mid-April addition to the Kannapolis roster, but he's holding his own thus far. The line isn't anything to write home about, but the strikeout rate is encouraging, and he's driven in six runs over his first five games due to a pair of sac flies.

Pitchers

*Blaine Wynk has already exceeded his inning total from his final year with Ohio State, which isn't hard since he only threw 8 ⅔ with the Buckeyes. Just like Davis, the three-inning cap makes sense right now.

*Truman Pauley threw just 46 percent of his 122 pitches for strikes over his last two starts. He allowed just two hits over these 6⅔ innings, but it's a problem when both of them leave the yard.

*Max Banks continues to be the best performer from last year's Day 3 draft picks.

*Pierce George didn't walk a batter over his first seven appearances, all of which were also scoreless. Both streaks came to an end against Charleston on Sunday, but it's still a striking improvement.