White Sox Minor Keys: June 19, 2026

6:00 AM CDT on June 20, 2026

White Sox pitching prospect Max Banks — Max Banks
|Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images

As a 23-year-old right-hander who earned a midseason promotion from Low-A after running a 1.84 ERA for 58⅔ innings in Kannapolis this year, Max Banks refers to himself as a "late-bloomer."

Not so much in his current form, where he stands 6-foot-4, 225 pounds and is averaging nearly 94 mph on his four-seamer after seeing a two-tick boost in velocity since being taken in the 14th round out of Washington last July. He's referring to back when he stood 5-foot-8h, 140 pounds and sat in the mid-70s as a high school freshman. Even playing college baseball didn't seem realistic to Banks until his velocity crept into the 80s as a junior, ironically when he was bulking up for football season.

By then, efforts to get the attention of potential schools took on a ramshackle nature.

"A lot of the recruiting process for me turned into going to the local baseball field, and bringing a couple of my buddies, taking videos of my bullpens, and emailing those to kind of whoever would look at them," Banks said. "I went to a showcase in Texas in January of my senior year of 2021, and it picked up a little bit. I got a Twitter feature out there where I was 86 to 88 mph, which at the time was the magic number a right-handed pitcher had to hit to get any sort of interest from D-1 [schools] and higher level D-3s."

Division III Chapman, about 170 miles down the coast from his native San Francisco, provided the combination of immediate opportunity and track record of producing pros (fellow alum Nick Garcia was a Pirates third-round pick in 2020) that Banks found appealing. He got the chance to start and pitch in playoff games right off the bat, was offered a chance to pitch at Washington as a senior, and by the time draft night arrived, specific interest from the White Sox was a surprise, but hearing his name called was not.

While Banks has enhanced his strength in the Sox system, his unique delivery has remained mostly untouched. His arm slot combines with his stature for a uniquely high release point, giving him a "steeper angle" for a slider that is so vertical in nature that Banks has run reverse splits so far in pro ball, such that the Sox are also having him develop a sweeper for righties. He's a natural supinator who finally gave up a funky palmball in favor of a kick change at Washington. But the biggest key in Banks' rise is the total disappearance of walks from his game.

What already looked like starter-level control in college has now seen Banks walk just 11 in 70⅔ innings, with four of them coming in his first two starts since getting promoted to Winston-Salem. It's easy to imagine that having a second pitch that he puts in the zone over 60 percent of the time, in addition to his four-seamer, is the big factor here.

"The cutter is a pitch that I've thrown for a while and always had a good feel for, but definitely kind of increased that usage a bit this year," Banks said. "A lot of what I'm trying to do with the cutter is get it in on the hands to lefties, and you tend to get some better results with the wood bats as opposed to metal. Some of those bloops and hard ground balls to get through the hole, kind of turn into a pop out to the second baseman, or a ground ball over there that's a little bit softer and easier to manage."

Banks has run into trouble in both of his starts with the Dash thus far, allowing 10 earned runs in eight innings thus far. But some early professional success and a velocity bump has it easier to see himself on the right path than other, earlier moments of his journey.

"It's definitely encouraging and it makes a lot of those long days in the offseason feel worth it," said Banks. "I still think there's a lot of ways I can improve and continue to advance my game. It's just exciting. A lot more to come."

Charlotte 10, Buffalo 5

Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-6 with a strikeout.
Kyle Teel caught the whole game and went 5-for-6 with a double and a strikeout.
Ryan Galanie went 3-for-6 with a double and a strikeout.
Jonathan Cannon: 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 68 of 99 pitches for strikes.

Birmingham 16, Pensacola 13 (Thursday's game, 8 innings)

Caleb Bonemer went 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
Anthony DePino was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
Colby Shelton singled thrice, struck out twice and stole a base.
Jeral Perez went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
Lucas Gordon: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 53 of 92pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*This game was originally suspended for curfew after the teams resumed play following a 3 hour, 38 minute rain delay until the Southern League stepped in.

Pensacola 9, Birmingham 2 (Friday's game)

Samuel Zavala went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
Caleb Bonemer singled twice, walked and struck out.
Anthony DePino was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
Colby Shelton homered and struck out thrice.
Conor McCullough: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 49 of 71 pitches for strikes.

Greensboro 7, Winston-Salem 3

Kyle Lodise homered and got plunked, then was pinch-hit for his next time up.
Boston Smith was 1-for-4 with his 12th homer, a walk and a strikeout.
George Wolkow went 0-for-3 with two walks and a strikeout.
Max Banks: 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 56 of 91 pitches for strikes.

Fayetteville 10, Kannapolis 8

Jaden Fauske went 3-for-5 with two stolen bases.
Matthew Boughton was perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 with an HBP, although he was caught stealing.
Nick McLain was 1-for-3 with two walks, a strikeout and a stolen base.
Alexander Albertus, 1-for-5 with a K.
Jurdrick Profar struck out thrice during an 0-for-5 night.
Truman Pauley with a normal-looking line: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 42 of 70 pitches for strikes.