Farm Fortnight: White Sox system adds prospects through draft, regains them through rehab

At the same time the White Sox added over 20 new prospects to the system via their most recent draft class, they also received numerous reinforcements in the form of players returning from injuries. Over the past two weeks, Drew Thorpe, Hagen Smith, Billy Carlson and Javier Mogollón all returned to action, with the former two names carrying the possibility of contributing to the major league club before the season is over.

As for the draft picks, they participated in a draft camp at Charlotte over the weekend, and now they'll spend some time in Arizona. The ACL White Sox's season ends Thursday, but there will be bridge league games to tide them over. The players who are expected to eventually report to A-ball games might not receive those assignments until early August.

That means incumbent prospects will have at least two more weeks to stand out before playing time alterations are considered, as well as two more weeks before they face additional challengers for the biweekly honors. Segue!

Fortnight's Finest

Position player: Boston Smith. He was named Fortnight's Finest two weeks ago for hitting .333/.500/.577 over 36 plate appearances, and then he went and hit .375/.545/.875 over the next eight games, so what else are you supposed to do? This is all happening with a 66 percent contact rate, mind you, but it hasn't bitten him yet.

Pitcher: Gabe Tanner. It's been a tricky two weeks to find pitchers, just because the All-Star break means most starters have been limited to one appearance over this stretch. Tanner, a 24-year-old righty who was signed off the Oakland Ballers earlier this year--the Tyler Davis route--is the default choice for throwing 11 scoreless innings over two starts for Kannapolis.

Charlotte Knights

• Last three series: 3-3 vs. Nashville; 1-3 @Durham
• Record: 50-46 (8-13 in second half)
• Next two series: vs. Norfolk, @Nashville
• Individual stats

The Charlotte Knights have received plenty of help over the last two weeks, with Hagen Smith returning from the injured list, Shane Smith and Tanner McDougal completing their rehab stints, and Everson Pereira and Austin Hays wending their way through theirs. The offensive impact is likely to be transient, especially with Edgar Quero joining the White Sox in the wake of Kyle Teel's left ankle injury, but the pitching staff is just about as well-stocked as it's been since the start of the season.

Position Players

*Edgar Quero brought his hit tool back into play, going 8-for-29 with just five strikeouts over 32 plate appearances, but there wasn't an extra-base hit to be found, which tempers expectations about his return to the majors looking meaningfully different.

*Rikuu Nishida even managed to hit a couple of non-singles, collecting a triple and a double among his 12 hits. He reached base half the time over eight games, so the additional power was just icing on the cake.

*Ryan Galanie didn't draw a walk over his last seven games, but as long as he hits .412 and slugs .792 on the strength of three homers and four doubles, nobody will care that his batting average and OBP are the same.

Pitchers

*Hagen Smith made his return to the mound on Sunday, his first appearance in more than a month. It was also his first appearance out of the bullpen, as he's on the Tanner McDougal plan for the rest of the season. It didn't go well, but he also threw mostly fastballs, so let's see how he looks his second time out, and how soon that second time is.

*Tanner McDougal, speaking of which, has thrown four scoreless outings in as many chances out of the Charlotte bullpen, with his last one covering two innings. The peripherals aren't pretty right now -- 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP -- but he's building reps.

*Shane Smith has alternated between good and sketchy control as he's worked his way back into action, both during his time in Winston-Salem and his return to Charlotte. He hadn't looked better in 2026 than when he threw four innings of one-run ball against Nashville on July 12, but he came out of the break walking four batters, plunking two others and throwing fewer than half of his 67 pitches for strikes against Durham on Saturday.

*David Sandlin has thrown at least five innings in each of his last five starts; nothing dominant, but nothing scary. He's keeping himself in shape for future spot starts.

*Mason Adams gave up three runs on six hits and four walks over 4 ⅓ innings against Nashville, his second slog out of his last three outings. He hasn't pitched since July 11, although the Charlotte rotation hasn't taken a full turn out of the break.

*Duncan Davitt continues to thrive in a bulk role, as he's pitched three scoreless innings in four of his last five outings, including a save against Nashville his last time out. He also hasn't pitched since the break.

*Jonathan Cannon is also throwing five innings with regularity, including his best home start of the season against Nashville on July 9. It was only five innings of two-run ball, but it lowered his Truist Field ERA to 7.44.

*Wikelman González has demonstrated shaky control since returning to Charlotte, allowing five runs on nine hits and six walks over 6 ⅔ innings since coming out of his rehab stint on June 30.

Birmingham Barons

• Last two series: 1-5 @Columbus; 2-1 vs. Rocket City
• Record: 34-56 (8-13 in second half)
• Next two series: @Montgomery, vs. Chattanooga
• Individual stats

The Barons continue to slug, as they're leading the Southern League this month with 25 homers over 14 games. It's come at the cost of contact, as their 142 strikeouts also lead the league, including 101 strikeouts over the nine games played against Montgomery and Chattanooga.

The pitching staff has been surprisingly effective, with a second-best 3.76 ERA this month even though all of the high-profile rehab stints keep skipping Birmingham. That said, the Barons did receive help in the form of Juan Carela and Mathias LaCombe, the latter of whom joins Pierce George in giving the Barons the two most promising power relief arms in the system right now.

Position Players

*Caleb Bonemer traveled to Philadelphia to participate in the Futures Game, where he once again talked to Sox Machine. It was a quiet seven games around that trip.

*Anthony DePino snapped his streak of six hitless games with a couple of two-hit games against Columbus, but otherwise it's been a tough month, hitting .170/.250/.340 with 18 strikeouts against just four walks over 52 plate appearances in July. The solace is that it's his first real slump of the season.

*Colby Shelton seemed to make real headway in improving his Birmingham line from the start of July to halfway through the Columbus series, but an 0-for-12 spell over his last four games has set him back a little.

*Samuel Zavala had a five-game hitting streak come to an end on Sunday, but he's still hitting .273/.385/.515 in July, which is his best work since the first month of the season.

*Boston Smith -- For the second straight time, see: Finest, Fortnight's.

Pitchers

*Lucas Gordon has wanted to cut down his walks, and he's finally doing it, issuing just two of them over his three starts spanning 15 innings, without sacrificing strikeouts (16). The results are still so-so thanks to a tendency to give up homers, but at least more of the pitches are purposeful.

*Juan Carela is back in Birmingham for the first time since 2024, and his return from Tommy John surgery continues to progress relatively smoothly. He's one out shy of a complete game over his first two starts with the Barons: 8.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HR on 128 pitches.

*Connor McCullough threw four hitless, scoreless innings his last time out against Columbus on July 9, which is one of his best outings of the year. That said, it's hard to post many noteworthy starts when limited to four innings most of the time.

*Gabe Davis followed up four innings of one-run ball against Montgomery on July 5 with another such start against Columbus on July 1. That merely lowered his Birmingham ERA to 8.36, but it looks like he's powering through the worst of it.

*Pierce George has been shyer with the strike zone at Double-A, walking eight batters and plunking two others over 9⅓ innings with Birmingham. He'd walked just 10 batters over 30 innings before joining the Barons, and he threw seven of 11 pitches for strikes during a 1-2-3, two-strikeout inning against Rocket City on Sunday, so let's see if that rights the ship.

*Mathias LaCombe has followed George by getting promoted to Birmingham for his third level of the year, and also by struggling at Birmingham upon arrival. Granted, it's just one outing, but he gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in his only Double-A inning of work so far.

Winston-Salem Dash

• Last two series: 3-3 @Asheville; 0-3 @Bowling Green
• Record: 50-40 (12-12 in second half)
• Next series: vs. Greensboro, @Brooklyn
• Individual stats

I hadn't realized that Asheville finally started streaming games, so it was fun seeing Winston-Salem's very large sluggers making a very small ballpark look like a Little League field. Unfortunately, the pitchers had to work under the same conditions, so they wrestled McCormick Field to a draw.

Bowling Green offered less amusement. The Tampa Bay Rays affiliate seems to win the division more often than not, and by sweeping the Dash in three games over the weekend, the Hot Rods have the best overall record in the South Division by 13½ games.

Position Players

*Kyle Lodise played in eight of the last nine games after missing the final five games of the Greenville to open the month, but to little effect (.182/.270/.212). He's been playing shortstop exclusively since Caleb Bonemer was promoted, but that figures to change if Roch Cholowsky starts his career at High-A like Lodise did. When he spoke to James recently, it was clear his swing mechanics have been a year-long fight.

*George Wolkow enjoyed hitting in Asheville (8-for-26, three homers, two doubles). He didn't enjoy Bowling Green quite as much (1-for-12, eight strikeouts).

*Ben Hartl has opened his career in the Sox organization 1-for-19 with three walks and two HBPs against nine strikeouts. Meanwhile, Ben Peoples has pitched in six games for the Rangers, faring decently so far.

*Ryan Burrowes has been around so long that it's easy to forget he's just 21. So when you see him hitting .375/.485/.768 with 10 extra-base hits and 11 walks against 11 strikeouts over 14 games for Winston-Salem this July, some attention must be paid.

Pitchers

*Max Banks made his first appearance of the second half out of the bullpen, which is probably a way to reign in his workload, as he threw just 74⅔ innings for Washington last year.

*Seth Keener has been more effective since returning from the Development List on June 24, allowing two runs on two hits and four walks over 6⅔ innings over that times. He retired all five batters he faced against Bowling Green on Sunday.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

• Last two series: 4-2 @Delmarva; 3-0 vs. Myrtle Beach
• Record: 47-43 (14-10 in second half)
• Next two series: @Columbia, vs. Salem
• Individual stats

The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers are playing the best ball of the bunch, having won eight of their last 10, including a three-game sweep of Myrtle Beach over which they outscored the Pelicans 25-5.

They've scored the vast majority of these runs without the long ball, hitting just two over their nine games played the last two weeks. Their hitters are compensating by keeping the line moving with a league-leading walk total that's contributed to a .394 team OBP during this stretch.

Position Players

*Billy Carlson returned from his thumb injury playing his best ball of the season. Over the three-game series against Myrtle Beach, he went 5-for-15 with a triple, double and five walks against two strikes, adding three steals as well.

*Jaden Fauske has a .433 OBP over 13 games in July while going 11-for-11 in stolen bases, but the biggest improvement lies in his strikeout rate. He came into the month with a 25 percent K-rate, but it was coming down over the second half of June, and that's carried through into July. Add it up, and he's fanned just 15 times over his last 108 plate appearances (13.9 percent), and only has one multi-K game out of his last 23.

*Javier Mogollón returned to action over the weekend against Myrtle Beach after missing a little more than a month with a hamstring injury. He's 1-for-7 with two walks and three strikeouts thus far, but he did steal a base, which suggests a level of comfort running.

*Matthew Boughton didn't strike out over the weekend against Myrtle Beach, which is his first three-game K-free streak of his career.

*Alexander Albertus had a perfect game at the plate against Delmarva on July 10, going 3-for-3 with a homer and a walk, but he had three hits over his 33 other plate appearances over the last two weeks.

*Nick McLain is starting to pick it up. He had a six-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday, but he drew three walks, so he finished the fortnight hitting .304/.438/.391 over seven games.

*Jurdrick Profar hasn't played since July 11, after his third consecutive hitless game against Delmarva. He's not on the IL, so with Carlson and Mogollón returning, it may just be a matter of numbers.

*Christian Gonzalez cooled off after a hot start to his A-ball career, going 4-for-21 with two walks and seven strikeouts over 25 plate appearances between the Delmarva and Myrtle Beach series.

Pitchers

*Blaine Wynk had his streak of seven consecutive (non-sick) starts of three scoreless innings come crashing to a halt against Delmarva, as he allowed six runs on eight hits over those three innings. He has yet to pitch in the second half, but his next outing will push him over his combined workload from his last two years at Ohio State (48⅔ innings).

*Truman Pauley allowed six runs over 7⅓ innings spanning two starts against Delmarva, but only one of them was earned. Then again, he walked six batters and plunked two others, so he had some culpability in the matter.

ACL White Sox

• Record: 17-39
• Individual stats

There are only three games remaining in the ACL White Sox season, which is the kind of thing that takes some the excitement away from a July draft, since bridge league games are not recorded in any satisfying form. That said, the ACL White Sox have the league's second-worst record and have run out of pitching prospects, so it's probably time to call it.

Position Players

Landon Hodge might be sad to see the ACL end, as he's finally gaining traction with a .348/.500/.565 line in July, albeit with 10 strikeouts over 30 plate appearances. Yordani Soto opened the month 0-for-15, but he's rallied to go 8-for-23 with a homer and three doubles since, so he's putting a bow on the best performance on the ACL White Sox, even if there wasn't a whole lot of competition. Jordan Rich hasn't played since July 3, but Lenyn Sosa hasn't played since May 26, so, yeah.

Pitchers

Drew Thorpe made his long-awaited rehab debut from Tommy John surgery on Saturday, throwing a pair of scoreless innings. His next outing will take place Friday at Winston-Salem and is scheduled for three innings, and he recently described a planned build-up that's designed to get him up to full-length starts by next month, so that's promising. The other three pitchers haven't been seen lately, as Cesar Familia departed after plunking the only batter he faced on June 9, Christian Oppor last pitched on July 4, and Blake Larson the day before that.

DSL White Sox

• Record: 11-22
• Individual stats

The DSL White Sox are in a similar state as their ACL counterparts, but there's still a month of season remaining. It's not all bad, as they have several performances that were worthy of consideration for the DSL All-Star Game this past Sunday, but the roster around them is short of cohesive.

Position Players

Sebastian Romero and Ronald Cardozo appeared in the league All-Star Game, and Carlos Vielma might've joined them, but he hasn't played since departing the July 10 game for a pinch runner after reaching base on an error.

Pitchers

Yordany Marté separated himself further from the pitching pack with a scoreless inning in the All-Star Game, which continues to impress considering he's the youngest pitcher on the DSL White Sox staff.

White Sox Minor Keys: July 20, 2026

ACL White Sox 8, ACL Brewers 7 (7 innings)

• Landon Hodge went 1-for-3 with a walk.
• Yordani Soto doubled and walked.
• José Mendoza replaced him and struck out both times up.
• Alejandro Cruz was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Wes Kath sighting: 2-for-3 with a homer and an HBP.

DSL White Sox vs. DSL Pirates Black, PPD