Catching up on the present state of Caleb Bonemer before the Futures Game

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Anybody with a vague sense of how Futures Game rosters are built probably ticketed Caleb Bonemer for Philadelphia well ahead of the announcement confirming it last Thursday, so it makes sense that Bonemer himself had even more lead time to prepare for Sunday's prospect showcase at Citizens Bank Park.

"I think [Winston-Salem manager Guillermo Quiroz] told me probably like four weeks ago," Bonemer informed Sox Machine in the home dugout at Regions Field on Friday.

The reference to the manager alone would date the reference, as it's been weeks since Bonemer last suited up for Quiroz. He already has 18 Southern League games under his belt after the White Sox promoted him to Birmingham on June 15.

"Good group of guys; I feel like the I've been comfortable with the level of play as well," Bonemer said of the early going at Double-A. "It's been fun so far. Just trying to do my thing, not really change a whole lot."

Bonemer is hitting .243/.382/.528 with 21 homers in 79 games this season, and .262/.385/.431 with three homers and a playable 23 percent strikeout rate in his first weeks with Birmingham. It's a pretty smooth transition considering his 2½ months with Winston-Salem featured some bumps and bruises, literally and figuratively.

He came out of the gate blasting with the Dash, slugging .750 on the strength of 11 homers by the end of April. He also came out whiffing, striking out 31 percent of the time, up 10 percent from his work in Kannapolis the year before. Bonemer wasn't necessarily concerned with the K-rate in and of itself.

"Obviously I don't want to strike out a whole lot, but I don't think strikeouts are the end of the world, because my game is obviously hitting for power, pulling the baseball," he said.

And as the season progressed, there didn't end up being a direct correlation between production and strikeouts. His K-rate came down, but so did his impact:

Bonemer wasn't exactly a victim of his own success, but the way he thrived early wasn't compatible with the way he started being pitched. Ryan Fuller and James spoke a few weeks ago about how Bonemer was the rare low-minors prospect seeing more breaking balls than fastballs. Bonemer said adjusting to that took time, and a visit from Fuller helped as well.

"The first month, I was hammering fastballs pull side, and then for a while there in that second month, I was barely getting any heaters, and the ones I was getting I was missing," Bonemer said. "So I was just getting a lot of spin and it was hard for me to keep them fair because I was really out front on everything.

"It is my strength, getting the ball up front and getting it in the air, but obviously I can't do that too much or I'm just going to pull everything foul."

Alongside running hot and cold at the plate, Bonemer suddenly started getting hit by pitches at a rate that would make Sam Antonacci's identity feel threatened. It took just 27 games for Bonemer to match his 2025 HBP total of eight, and ultimately he wore 15 plunkings over 278 plate appearances with the Dash.

"I don't try to lean in, but I mean, I think for a while there, I think a lot of teams are just trying to throw me inside," he said. "In A-ball, some guys might not have best feel, but I think probably just a lot of teams trying to throw me in, and just a couple just kind of get away on 'em."

Bonemer suspected it could be traced to that early tendency to turn and burn.

"I think the reason why a lot of teams are trying to throw me in was because for a while there, I was pulling a lot of balls foul on the inner half, it was kind of hard for me to keep them fair," he said.

He was able to bounce back quickly from a beaning, but his wrist suffered the most from the abuse, as it required X-rays at one point. But it's been 26 games since he's last gotten drilled, so perhaps the promotion to face pitchers with advanced command has an unintended benefit.

Bonemer opened his Double-A career with quieter production, but has started tapping into his power. His first Birmingham homer took the form of a grand slam during a four-hit game against Knoxville on June 28, and he notched his first two-homer game against Montgomery on Saturday.

Right now, his defense is the biggest pain point, as he committed five errors over his first four games at shortstop in Birmingham, including three over the course of two innings on June 25.

"It could be a little bit better, yeah," Bonemer said of his glovework.

While he played shortstop twice as often as third base in 2025, his playing time had already tilted toward the hot corner with Winston-Salem, and Birmingham manager Pat Leyland described the current mix as "third base primarily, shortstop once in a while, just to keep him active over there."

Bonemer has time to rough out the smooth edges considering he's a 20-year-old keeping his head above water at Double-A. Had he gone the college route, he wouldn't have been eligible for the MLB draft until next season. Instead he's putting together his second productive pro season. And what if MLB's current proposal to raise the draft age to 20 was put in place when Bonemer was finishing up his prep career at Okemos High School in Michigan?

"I would have been very disappointed because obviously I wouldn't be in the spot I am now," he said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be happy with that, because being a high school guy and being young and playing against guys who are a few years older than me, it helps me out a lot, so if they changed that rule, that would be disappointing."

Bonemer was committed to Virginia, but the White Sox selected him in the second round (43rd overall) of the 2024 draft and signed him to an over-slot bonus just shy of $3 million. As his pro career approaches its second full year, he expressed no second thoughts.

"Luckily, the White Sox swooped in and gave me a good deal, and yeah, now here we are."