Farm Fortnight: White Sox farm system waiting on a momentous MLB draft

By the time the next Farm Fortnight is published on July 21, the White Sox farm system could have a considerably different feel to it, what with the Sox selecting No. 1 overall, and first in the other 19 rounds as well over the course of Saturday and Sunday. You probably won't see those draft picks appearing on the boards below for a few weeks, because it takes a little bit of time for them to sign, then a little more time to report, but there should be a greater sense of depth, maybe even on the pitching side.

Along the way, the White Sox might also be able to work in some players who have struggled to start their rehab stints. Scott Merkin relayed a handful of updates on Saturday:

In the meantime, a Munetaka Murakami rehab assignment starts in Charlotte tonight, and that will have to suffice.

Fortnight's Finest

Position player: Boston Smith. He hit .333/.500/.577 over 36 plate appearances, during which he capped off a body of work that garnered the White Sox Player of the Month nod for June while earning a promotion to Birmingham. He's only played four games at Double-A, but it's going well so far, and here's a big story about him.

Pitcher: Dylan Cumming. Blaine Wynk could've very well received this honor a second straight fortnight since he keeps throwing scoreless three-inning starts, but then you'd have to set aside Cumming throwing a pair of scoreless six-inning starts against Knoxville and Montgomery two levels higher. It's a positive turn for what had been a rough season for the 27-year-old, as this run has merely lowered his ERA to 4.98. Cumming was an undrafted free agent who pitched college ball at Chicago State and Liberty universities, a very typical combination of schools that's not weird at all.

Charlotte Knights

• Last three series: 2-4 vs. Rochester; 2-4 @Memphis
• Record: 46-41 (4-8 in second half)
• Next two series: vs. Nashvillle, @Durham
• Individual stats

The Knights come into the fresh fortnight having lost six of eight, and they're finally starting to suffer for the lack of name-brand talent on the position-player side. It didn't help that a solid pro like Dustin Harris opted out of his contract, too. They can table their troubles for the time being, however, because they'll get the pleasure of hosting a Murakami rehab stint at home.

The pitching continues to progress, even with Noah Schultz replacing David Sandlin in the White Sox rotation. Mason Adams has been able to pick up where he left off before his Tommy John surgery, and other arms have at least been able to turn in professional performances on the road.

Position Players

*Edgar Quero is nothing if not consistent, which isn't great when the production is next to nothing:

• MLB: .187/.253/.233
• AAA: .188/.257/.313

It's only been eight games, but he was pinch-hit for in the ninth inning on Sunday, which seems weird. Let's see whether he's playing full games when the next series begins.

*Rikuu Nishida had a rough fortnight, going 4-for-32 with no extra-base hits and no stolen bases. He did draw eight walks, which made his line .125/.310/.125 for this period, but he's 1-for-17 thus far in June.

*Ryan Galanie saw an excellent June all the way through the finish line, hitting .355/.412/.671 for the month. The only downside is that it came with an elevated strikeout rate, as he whiffed 26 times in 85 plate appearances. He started hitting leadoff in July, and while he's not the typical top-of-the-order guy, it will maximize his reps.

Pitchers

*Hagen Smith was expected to miss a month of game action after going on the injured list with a shoulder impingement following his most recent start on June 13, so we're still within that original window of projected downtime.

*David Sandlin made the most of his second MLB cameo, throwing six innings of one-run ball against Kansas City while the White Sox offense spotted him 22 runs. He then returned to Charlotte because the White Sox replaced him with Noah Schultz, but he turned in a quality start, so he's doing what he can to stay ready.

*Mason Adams got shelled by the Memphis Redbirds, giving up seven runs on six hits (two homers), two walks and a hit batter over 1⅔ innings. It was his first ugly outing out of nine since returning from Tommy John surgery, and he didn't make a habit of it, bouncing back with five shutout innings against those same Redbirds on Sunday.

*Duncan Davitt is finding some traction in the bulk boy role, throwing three scoreless innings each of the last three times he was scheduled to come in after an opener/rehabbing starter. In between, he gave up a pair of runs over 1⅓ innings of typical relief work against Rochester, but overall, he finally put a dent in an unsightly ERA.

*Jonathan Cannon has replaced Shane Murphy on the board because he's stabilized enough to where he's a credible candidate for a spot start if one is needed. He threw six shutout innings in Memphis last Wednesday, widening his ERA chasm between road (3.93) and home (8.13). Murphy has allowed 17 homers over 57 innings with the Knights, so it seems like he's met his ceiling.

*Wikelman González is back in Charlotte after completing his rehab stint, and he's the featured reliever here since his return happened around the same time the White Sox traded Ben Peoples to Texas. Peoples threw two scoreless innings in his MLB debut on Saturday.

Birmingham Barons

• Last two series: 1-5 vs. Knoxville; 4-2 vs. Montgomery
• Record: 31-49 (5-7 in second half)
• Next two series: vs. Knoxville, vs. Montgomery
• Individual stats

The Barons lineup has lengthened over the past few weeks following the promotions of Caleb Bonemer and Boston Smith, and along with Colby Shelton starting to figure out Double-A, it resulted in Birmingham hitting 12 homers over six games against Montgomery.

Just like everywhere else, the pitching is a more open question, but although the Barons are still allowing the most runs per game in the Southern League by far on the season, they've improved to middle of the pack over the last two weeks. The unraveling of Christian Oppor really set them back there.

Position Players

*Caleb Bonemer is gaining traction at Double-A, hitting .279/.397/.459 with three homers, 12 walks and a respectable 15 strikeouts over 73 plate appearances. I'll have more about him Wednesday morning.

*Anthony DePino cracked MLB Pipeline's White Sox prospects list after the graduation of Schultz, which is a nice little development for him. He's still chugging along at Double-A, although he's currently hitless in his last 13 at-bats.

*Colby Shelton is starting to see some hits fall, as he hit .262/.340/.524 over the series against Knoxville and Montgomery. The contact is getting louder, and the BABIP has risen from .170 to .197, so he still has plenty of room for positive regression.

*Samuel Zavala homered on Friday, which was just his second over his last 55 games after blazing out of the gate with five homers over his first 16 games.

*Boston Smith -- See: Finest, Fortnight's.

Pitchers

*Lucas Gordon tied season highs with six innings and eight strikeouts on June 25 against Knoxville, and he's started to find some consistency with three decent-to-good outings out of his last four. He's still walking too many guys (11 over 21 innings), but the strikeouts are back (27).

*Connor McCullough serves as a contrast from Gordon with the virtues and limits of strike-throwing in the Southern League. He only walked two of the 35 batters he faced, but he allowed baserunners the other way, combining for a line of 7.1 IP, 12 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 5 K over his last two starts.

*Gabe Davis reversed his slide with four ultra-efficient innings of one-run ball against Montgomery on Sunday. His line over his previous three starts was grotesque: 8.1 IP, 22 H, 20 R, 19 ER, 8 HR, 6 BB, 7 K.

*Pierce George is finally finding a challenge at Double-A through five games: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 5 K. I talked to him at this past weekend about what's been working for him to this point in 2026.

Winston-Salem Dash

• Last two series: 3-3 @Hub City; 5-1 vs. Greenville
• Record: 47-34 (9-6 in second half)
• Next series: @Asheville, @Bowling Green
• Individual stats

I mentioned it in passing while writing about Boston Smith, but it's worth highlighting in a Farm Fortnight in order to contextualize the performances below: Way more home runs have already been hit in the South Atlantic League this season than there were all last year:

• 2026: 1,162 over 956 games
• 2025: 1,049 over 1,556 games

That's been the case for Winston-Salem hitters ...

• 2026: 107 homers over 3,209 PA
• 2025: 93 homers over 4,826 PA

... although the pitchers offer a sliver of hope:

• 2026: 95 homers allowed over 3,120 PA
• 2025: 97 homers allowed over 4,883 PA

Position Players

*Kyle Lodise wasn't able to provide an encore to his Fortnight's Finest showing the last time out. First he went 3-for-24 with 12 strikeouts in the Hub City series, and then he missed the last five games of the Greenville series.

*George Wolkow had himself a loud fortnight, hitting .286/.373/.592 while playing all 12 games. The only wart is the 20 strikeouts over 59 plate appearances, but that's barely above his season K rate.

*Rylan Galvan only made one appearance during the Hub City series before going on the IL, which at least made room behind the plate for ...

*Ben Hartl, who came over from Texas in the Ben Peoples trade. He's 0-for-6 over his first two games with the Dash, although he's been plunked once and walked once.

*Freeman and Taussig posted idential 1.021 OPSes the last two weeks, and both have four-digit OPSes for their Winston-Salem work overall, but there have been so many seasons like this in the Sally League that it kinda merits a shrug -- not an indifferent shrug, more of a "Who knows?" shrug.

Pitchers

*Tanner McDougal has returned from his flexor strain with a pair of appearances out of the Winston-Salem bullpen, which might be the plan for the rest of the season as a way to help the major league club. One outing was terrific, one was ugly.

*Shane Smith returned from his rotator cuff issue starting in Winston-Salem, and his two scoreless innings against Greenville last Wednesday was the first walkless outing he's thrown this season regardless of length.

*Juan Carela has taken his lumps the last two times out, giving up six runs over seven total innings. At least he's also making his starts as scheduled, which puts him ahead of the majority of his Tommy John surgery cohort.

*Grant Umberger is now allowing a .632 slugging percentage to righties, which is higher than his OPS allowed to lefties (.539).

*Max Banks threw his first quality outing at Winston-Salem in his fourth try, but to his credit, it was more than quality -- seven scoreless innings against Greenville, over which he allowed just three hits and a walk on 88 pitches. That lowered his Winston-Salem ERA to 6.11, so more work remains.

*Seth Keener came off the Development List, but he continues to alternate useful appearances with duds.

*Mathias LaCombe has thrown five consecutive outings without allowing an earned run -- or five scoreless outings if you don't count a 10th-inning Manfred Man run against his actual tab. His line over this stretch: 6.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

• Last two series: 2-4 vs. Columbia; 3-3 @Wilson
• Record: 40-41 (7-8 in second half)
• Next two series: vs. Columbia, @Wilson
• Individual stats

If the White Sox choose to go with a college-heavy draft class, there's plenty of room to accommodate players in Kannapolis, and on either side of the ball. A few injuries have thinned out the roster on the position-player side of things, and there aren't any pitching reinforcements on the horizon, because the cupboard in the ACL is bare, and the White Sox's rehab stints usually start at Winston-Salem.

Position Players

*Jaden Fauske only notched two extra-base hits over his last 12 games, but he managed to lean into the leadoff-specific responsibilities of his job, posting a .355 OBP and stealing eight bases in nine attempts.

*Javier Mogollón hit the injured list after all for a hamstring injury.

*Abraham Nunez still hasn't played since his last appearance on Fredericksburg back on June 13.

*Matthew Boughton continues to hit -- maybe not at the level of his previous fortnight, but a .289/.333/.400 line over the last two series means he's now amassed a solid month of above-average work at the plate (.319/.385/.489).

*Alexander Albertus has drawn 20 walks over his last 21 games, but he's not making much out of his contact (.239/.433/.284).

*Nick McLain broke out of a 1-for-19 slump with a decent series against Wilson, going 4-for-12 with a homer and six walks over four games. He's hitting just .167/.348/.278 over 16 games with Kannapolis so far, so more progress is needed.

*Jurdrick Profar finished June in a 1-for-20 slump that had me ready to remove his line from the board, but he's opened July going 5-for-13 with a homer, triple and double, so he stays for now.

*Christian Gonzalez has enjoyed a seamless jump to Kannapolis thus far, going 5-for-15 with a homer, a double and seven walks over five games. He's even stolen a base in his only attempt after going 0-for-5 in the ACL.

Pitchers

*Blaine Wynk is now up to six consecutive three-inning starts without an earned run, and four consecutive scoreless starts. His line over this stretch: 18 IP, 16 H, 1 R 0 ER, 1 BB, 14 K.

*Truman Pauley has now posted three consecutive five-inning starts, all of which have been varying degrees of "fine" after control problems and gopher-ball issues led him to some really strange box scores.

ACL White Sox

• Record: 13-34
• Individual stats

The ACL White Sox have gone 2-11 since the last Farm Fortnight, thanks to an offense that's scoring 3.72 runs per game when the league itself is averaging 6.14. Hell, the next-worst team is scoring 4.91, so they really are out of sorts by multiple standard deviations. The bad news is that the season will end on July 23, which is before any newly drafted White Sox prospects really get into the system. The good news is the season will end on July 23.

Position Players

With Gonzalez in Kannapolis, there isn't much to write home about here. Outside of Jordan Rich going 2-for-5 and Eduardo Herrera having a couple extra-base hits to prop up his line, every other hitter has a sub-.500 OPS over the past week, and Yordani Soto was the only one who had banked enough production to absorb it.

Pitchers

Blake Larson is pitching regularly, which is the important thing at this juncture, although his control requires calibration. Christian Oppor was shifted to middle relief in his last two outings, and while he managed to throw a scoreless inning around two walks on July 1, he didn't retire any of the four batters he faced on Saturday. Cesar Familia is finally seeing his ERA match his peripherals after outperforming them early.

DSL White Sox

• Record: 10-16
• Individual stats

The DSL White Sox were able to pull out of their tailspin by going 5-5 over their last 10 games. The offense continues to be the lone bright spot for the White Sox's rookie leaguers, as they're pulling off league-average production while being one of the younger teams. The hope is that enough will be able to make the jump stateside in 2027 to make the ACL Sox a more viable unit.

Position Players

Fernando Graterol, who received the largest bonus of the White Sox's most recent international signing class, is up and running, which is the most important development of the last two weeks here. Otherwise, regression is the story, as the great lines have come back to earth, and the less impressive ones are on the way up after sluggish starts.

Pitchers

Yordany Marté, Roderic Ramírez and Ronald Kelly maintained their own brands of consistency. Marté continues to be the best pitching story in the rookie leagues for a 16-year-old, Ramírez alternates good outings with rough ones, and Kelly has thrown four shutout innings on two occasions, only to see its impact negated by the starts around it.

White Sox Minor Keys: July 6, 2026

ACL Dodgers 4, ACL White Sox 1 (7 innings)

• Yordani Soto was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
• Eduardo Herrera walked once and struck out twice.
• Landon Hodge struck out both times up.
• Alejandro Cruz struck out all three times up.
• Cesar Familia: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 2 HR

Notes:

*The Sox struck out 16 times, which is the equivalent of 20.6 strikeouts over a nine-inning game.

DSL White Sox 7, DSL Twins 3 (7 innings)

• Fernando Graterol struck out all three times.
• Sebastian Romero struck out and got plunked, after which he was pinch-run for.
• Ronald Cardozo was 1-for-3 wiht a triple.
• Felix Lebron, 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Samuel Luis singled, walked, struck out and stole a base.
• Yordany Marte: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.