White Sox Minor Keys: May 5, 2026

Coming up on Sox Machine in a few hours is a prospect notebook from James covering Caleb Bonemer and Hagen Smith's monthly honors and Christian Oppor's early struggles.

In the meantime, here's an assortment of smaller updates:

*Braden Montgomery was named Southern League Player of the Month for the only month he may be eligible to win it this season, while Colby Shelton earned the South Atlantic League honors, even though Bonemer won the White Sox-specific one.

*Bonemer did win South Atlantic League Player of the Week, so there.

*Pierce George was promoted to Winston-Salem after an outstanding start to the season in Kannapolis' bullpen. Granted, a 22-year-old SEC product who sits 100 shouldn't be repeating Low-A, but he cut his walk rate by two-thirds, 19.3 percent to 6.3 percent. That reflects personal growth, and his High-A debut on Tuesday suggests the stuff will play at higher levels now that he's locating it within the vicinity of the zone.

Charlotte 5, Jacksonville 3

• Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-5 with a strikeout.
• Jacob Gonzalez, 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• Braden Montgomery's Triple-A debut: 0-for-4 with a walk and three strikeouts.
• Ryan Galanie, 1-for-3 with his fifth homer and an HBP.
• Shane Murphy's return to Triple-A: 5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 51 of 79 pitches for strikes.

Knoxville 10, Birmingham 4

• Samuel Zavala went 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Jeral Perez, 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

Winston-Salem 6, Hudson Valley 1

• Caleb Bonemer matched his 2025 home run total with his 12th, finishing 2-for-4 with two strikeouts and an HBP.
• Colby Shelton went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two walks.
• Anthony DePino, 3-for-5 with a homer and a strikeout.
• George Wolkow was 0-for-4 with a K.
• Kyle Lodise, 1-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout.
• Boston Smith wore the collar and silver sombrero.
• Pierce George's High-A debut: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 9 of 13 pitches for strikes.

Highlights:

*Bonemer homered off Gerrit Cole, hopefully not for the last time.

Columbia 7, Kannapolis 2

• Abraham Nunez went 1-for-5 with a strikeout.
• Billy Carlson, 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• Jaden Fauske, 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Javier Mogollón was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• Matthew Boughton struck out thrice during an 0-for-4 night.
• Blaine Wynk: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 28 of 49 pitches for strikes.

ACL Reds 5, ACL White Sox 2 (Monday, 7 innings)

• Jordan Rich went 0-for-3 with a walk.
• Alejandro Cruz was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Yordani Soto, 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
• Derek Cerda's pro debut: 1-for-2 with a walk.
• Cesar Familia: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 10 of 21 pitches for strikes.