Braden Montgomery's promotion to Charlotte left Birmingham's roster rather barren, but a couple of impending promotions from Winston-Salem will help even out the Minor Keys, as the White Sox are moving Colby Shelton and Anthony DePino up to Double-A when the Barons resume play on Tuesday.
Shelton, last year's sixth-round pick out of Florida, has been one of the system's early revelations, hitting .339/.464/.661 with nearly as many walks (25) as strikeouts (26) over 31 games. Like Montgomery, he won his league's Player of the Month Award in what appears to be his only chance to do so this year.
If it seems like it came out of nowhere, it's because he hit .141/.243/.172 over his first 27 professional games with Kannapolis last year. He'd showed less power than anticipated during his junior year with the Gators, and paired with the dispiriting pro debut, he channeled it into an offseason targeted on rediscovering his power.
DePino, taken one round after Shelton out of Rhode Island, has been flying under louder performances by Shelton and Caleb Bonemer, but his recent 0-for-14 slump notwithstanding, it's a steady .265/.380/.479 with encouraging plate discipline numbers. Like Shelton, DePino emphasized lowering his hands to get more lift, and lauded the team's discomfort-inducing batting practices to better prepare hitters for games.
While Paul Janish hinted at keeping Winston-Salem's dynamic lineup together a little longer than this, Shelton and DePino are both 23, so it doesn't make sense to tether them to the same timetable as the 20-year-old Bonemer when their performances merit a more challenging environment.
Jacksonville 6, Charlotte 1
- Rikuu Nishida was 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Jacob Gonzalez went 0-for-2 with two walks and a CS.
- Ryan Galanie was 0-for-2 with a walk.
- Braden Montgomery pinch-hit for him and flied out.
- Shane Murphy: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 HR
- Riley Gowens: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 9 of 13 pitches for strikes.
Tennessee 7, Birmingham 2
- Samuel Zavala went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and a stolen base.
Hudson Valley 5, Winston-Salem 2
- Caleb Bonemer wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Colby Shelton homered, walked and struck out twice.
- Anthony DePino was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Boston Smith, 0-for-4 with a K.
- George Wolkow went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Pierce George: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 10 of 12 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 3, Columbia 2
- Abraham Nunez singled and struck out thrice.
- Billy Carlson singled and struck out twice.
- Javier Mogollón drove them both in with a three-run homer, finishing 1-for-3 with a K.
- Matthew Boughton was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Rylan Galvan struck out all three times.
- Blaine Wynk: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 24 of 27 pitches for strikes.
