Farm Fortnight: Postseason in play for two White Sox affiliates

No White Sox affiliates locked down a postseason appearance by winning their divisions in the first half, and none of them are in a position to compete for second-half titles, either. However, thanks to the nature of minor league postseasons, additional baseball isn't out of the question.

For instance, the Birmingham Barons are 20-25 in the second half and five games out of first place in the Southern League North, so on its face, it seems unlikely that they'll get a chance to threepeat as Southern League champs. But the Knoxville Smokies won the first-half title and are leading the division in the second half as well. If that holds, then the Barons only have to finish in second. The Rocket City Trash Pandas are only two games ahead at 22-23, so that pathway is far more attainable.

It's the same deal for the Winston-Salem Dash, who only have to finish in second place as long as Bowling Green wins the South Atlantic League South in both halves. They're four games back of the Hot Rods, but a half-game ahead of Greenville for second place, which would be good enough to sneak into the postseason if the current order held.

Meanwhile, the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers have the organization's best second-half record at 27-21, but unless they can make up 5½ games on Hickory over the course of three weeks, they'll be out of luck. Baseball is like that sometimes.

Fortnight's Finest

Position player: Caleb Bonemer. His appearance on the latest Baseball America Hot Sheet tipped off the possibility, but Bonemer indeed wins the nod for hitting .296/.436/.682 over the last two series. Nine of his 13 hits went for extra bases, including his 28th, 29th and 30th homers of the season. Meanwhile, the strikeout frequency continues to fall. It's not so much reflected in the raw K rate (12 over 55 PA), but five of his 12 games were strikeout-free.

Pitcher: Grant Cleavinger. The undrafted free agent out of Nebraska has opened his professional career by laying waste to the Carolina League. His line over the last two weeks: 7.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 20 K, 84 of 120 pitches for strikes.

Charlotte Knights

• Last three series: 4-2 vs. Durham; 2-4 @Rochester
• Record: 64-56 (22-23 in second half)
• Next two series: @Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, vs. Memphis
• Individual stats

The Charlotte Knights once again pushed a handful of players through the revolving doors on the White Sox roster, but for once, they received the superior end of the transaction wire, at least in terms of name-brand value. Hagen Smith, José Urquidy and Tyler Schweitzer went up while Noah Schultz, David Sandlin, Tanner McDougal and Edgar Quero came down. Also, Drew Thorpe made his Charlotte debut after 2½ years in the organization, so the pitching staff is still in position to supply options for the big league club in some capacity. Just don't ask about solutions on the position-player side.

Position Players

*Edgar Quero is back in Charlotte, where he went 3-for-5 with a double in his first and only game of this window.

*Rikuu Nishida had more walks (nine) than hits (seven) over his 10 games with Charlotte the past two weeks, which is the way he's always been able to buoy his value when the singles are falling.

*Ryan Galanie is one homer away from tying Jacob Gonzalez for the team lead with 19. Gonzalez hit that many in 53 games, while Galanie will be playing his 87th, but given that power wasn't a hallmark of either hitter's game, both are impressive in their own right.

*Junior Pérez struck out 18 times over 40 plate appearances the past two series. He and Nishida are the only non-pitchers on the 40-man roster who aren't active, so unless the White Sox add from the outside before rosters expand in September, it comes down to which player's narrow use case is more likely to come into play.

Pitchers

*Noah Schultz threw four easy innings of one-run ball in his first outing after being optioned, although perhaps they were too easy. He threw just 48 pitches because he didn't record a walk or a strikeout.

*Tanner McDougal displayed control that looked shakier than Hagen Smith's before he was (briefly) promoted to Chicago, and his problems finding the strike zone came to the fore the last two outings. He threw just eight of 25 pitches for strikes in his lone major league outing, and then just 10 of 25 pitches for strikes in his first game back with Charlotte. He completed one full inning between the two appearances, but the line is unsightly: 1 IP, 1 H, 4 R, 6 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP.

*Drew Thorpe maintained the pace of his ramp-up, following up a pair of satisfactory four-inning outings at Double-A with five innings of walkless one-run ball against Rochester. If his next start came with the White Sox, I'd get it.

*Shane Smith threw his best outing of the season at any level against Rochester his last time out. He pitched six innings, allowing a run on three hits and a walk while striking out five, and he threw 50 of 75 pitches for strikes. Encores have been difficult for him in 2026.

*David Sandlin probably earned some brownie points by throwing 5⅓ innings against Cleveland after Will Venable forced him to enter the game on short notice by making a second mound visit in the first inning back on Aug. 7, but it didn't keep him in Chicago. He was optioned to Charlotte, where he pitched well upon his return against Rochester (5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K).

*Jaden Woods saw his streak of scoreless appearances end at seven, but even the game that ruined that run was impressive. He got tagged for a solo shot, but otherwise struck out five of the seven batters he faced. His line over this stretch: 11.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 16 K, 1 HR.

Birmingham Barons

• Last two series: 2-4 @Rocket City; 3-3 vs. Columbus
• Record: 46-68 (20-25 in second half)
• Next two series: @Chattanooga, vs. Rocket City
• Individual stats

Hawk Harrelson used to say, "Don't tell me what you're hitting, tell me when you hit it." For the Barons this month, you can change the second clause to "tell me who's hitting." Birmingham is seventh out of eight teams in OPS the last two weeks, hitting. 226/.329/.363 while running away with the strikeout lead, but then you look at the individual prospect performances below, and those mostly remain intact. The Barons are hanging in the playoff race mostly with run prevention, although via unheralded bullpen performances rather than powerful starting pitching.

Position Players

*Caleb Bonemer: See: Finest, Fortnight's.

*Anthony DePino scuffled through July and into the first third of August, hitting .195/.278/.372 with 40 strikeouts over 126 plate appearances, so his work against Columbus the past week was his best showing in a while. He went 7-for-21 with two homers, three doubles and seven walks over six games against the Clingstones. An emerging theory is that he and...

*Colby Shelton aren't allowed to hit at the same time in Birmingham. Just as DePino got hot, Shelton cooled off, hitting .206/.391/.265 over 46 plate appearances the last two series.

*Samuel Zavala had a nice set of series against Columbus, going 8-for-31 with a homer and four doubles. He could use a big finishing kick, because he'll be Rule 5 eligible for the second time after this season.

*Ryan Burrowes is still in search of his first Double-A extra-base hit 17 games in, but at least the hit tool is holding up decently enough. He's been rotating between center field and shortstop.

*James Taussig has finally met a challenge at his third level of the season, hitting .184/.262/.290 with three walks against 11 strikeouts through his first 10 games with Birmingham.

Pitchers

*Lucas Gordon had the trainer visit him in the third inning of his Aug. 6 start against Rocket City. He completed the inning, but he didn't come out for the fourth, and now he's on the injured list. Shane Murphy passed him for the organizational innings lead.

*Juan Carela remained on schedule after a brief visit to the IL, making one start in both the Rocket City and Columbus series. The performances themselves aren't standing out, as they amounted to a 7.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 6 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP line between them.

*Connor McCullough is on pace to reach his goal of 100-110 innings this season, but he got hit around in two of three starts the last two weeks. The one in the middle against Columbus was a gem, though, as he allowed just one unearned run over five innings.

*Pierce George has taken two steps forward and one step back over the last several weeks, where the progress from a couple of effective, walkless outings doesn't really show on his season line because a third outing muddies it.

*Mathias LaCombe is wearing a 11.17 ERA with Birmingham at the moment, but that's due to a couple of disaster outings. It's calmed down on him over his last four appearances (5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K).

Winston-Salem Dash

• Last two series: 2-3 vs. Asheville; 4-2 @Greensboro
• Record: 62-51 (24-23 in second half)
• Next series: @Greenville, vs. Bowling Green
• Individual stats

The Winston-Salem Dash scored 45 runs over six games against Greensboro the past week, which is a lot. Yet it's short of what they did to Grasshoppers pitching on the road back in May, when they scored 48 runs over six games. That's 7.75 runs per game in Greensboro, and 5.99 runs per game everywhere else.

I didn't realize that First National Bank Field basically played the same as Asheville until noticing all the highlights of Dash home runs threatening the residences behind the outfield. As long as the South Atlantic League has two parks playing that small, it sufficiently explains why a livelier baseball would have much larger ramifications here in comparison to most other leagues.

Position Players

*Roch Cholowsky has one hit in his last 18 at-bats, but pro debuts can be weird. Case in point: his five errors over the last seven games.

*Kyle Lodise has shifted to second base to accommodate Cholowsky, but that hasn't thrown him off his game. He hit .268/.423/.610 over the past two series, giving him a .981 OPS since the All-Star break. The strikeout rate is still high, but this is his best stretch as a pro.

*George Wolkow broke out of a prolonged malaise with a big series against Greensboro, going 9-for-26 with three homers, three walks and just eight strikeouts in 29 plate appearances against the Grasshoppers.

*Jeral Perez also shook his slump, and is back to hitting .268/.389/.437 with the Dash. He's matched his Double-A season totals in doubles, homer and walks, even though he's seen 73 fewer plate appearances.

*Javier Mogollón is keeping his head above water at High-A, popping three homers over the last two series to give him a .239/.321/.478 line with the Dash.

*Nick McLain hasn't yet benefited from the power-hitting boost so many South Atlantic League hitters have seen, hitting .250/.411 /.318 over his first 11 games at Winston-Salem.

*Ben Hartl was hit by four pitches over his last three games, giving him 17 over just 191 plate appearances this season. That said, the last one knocked him out of the game on Aug. 12, and he hasn't returned.

Pitchers

*Christian Oppor closed out the previous fortnight with a 1-2-3 inning on 15 pitches, but he's back to needing multiple outings to record three outs (1 IP, 1 H, 6 R, 8 BB, 0 K, 1 HR his last two games).

*Max Banks pitched scoreless ball in three of four outings, but the exception dented his ERA, as he gave up four runs on four hits over two innings against Asheville on Aug. 9.

*Seth Keener continues to struggle with runners on base. It was .305/.363/.537 entering the fortnight, and it's .326/.391/.565 afterward.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

• Last two series: 4-2 @Charleston; 4-2 vs. Hickory
• Record: 58-54 (27-21 in second half)
• Next two series: @Fredericksburg, @Hill City
• Individual stats

As referenced in the opener, the Cannon Ballers are playing the best ball in the system, and it's on the strength of a pitching staff posting the Carolina League's lowest ERA in August (3.34), and with room to spare (Hickory at 3.69, no other team below 4.25). See what Cleavinger has done the past few weeks for details.

On the other side of the ball, the Cannon Ballers are trying to avoid finishing with the league's lowest OPS. It's currently at .694, with Delmarva and Hill City both tied ahead of them at .705. It's mostly due to a lack of home run power, as their 68 homers is one away from being the lowest total in baseball.

Position Players

*Billy Carlson went 4-for-4 against Charleston on Aug. 5, but then went hitless over his next three games before going on the IL for an infection. That's not going to help his quest to hit his first professional homer before the season comes to a close.

*Jaden Fauske reached the 100-game mark on Sunday. He's also slumped a little the last two weeks, hitting .205/.352/.318 over the last two series. Are these things connected, or is this normal variation? Tune in to the next Farm Fortnight to find out.

*Matthew Boughton had been slumping since the All-Star break, but his performance ticked up against Charleston and Hickory, finishing .261/.346/.326 over 11 games. He's been the primary shortstop since Carlson went on the shelf.

*Alexander Albertus has played mostly third base since the draft picks were added to the system, but most of his offensive value has been tied up in walks. The power is lacking for either corner.

*Christian Gonzalez went hitless over 18 plate appearances the past two series, and has taken a backseat to the recently drafted outfielders added to the roster.

*Braden Holcomb hasn't played since leaving Thursday's game after a groundout to short, so Grayson Fitzwater has taken over as the most impressive draft pick thus far.

Pitchers

*Blaine Wynk walked four batters over three innings in his last outing against Hickory on Aug. 18. He'd walked just three batters over his previous 14 games spanning 40 ⅔ innings, so the blip is forgivable, especially since he still managed to post three zeros.

*Truman Pauley struck out seven over five innings of one-run ball against Hickory on Wednesday, which was his best outing in months.

*Grant Cleavinger is posting pure violence right now.

DSL White Sox

• Record: 19-35
• Individual stats

The Dominican Summer League season comes to a close today, and the recent scores are indicating that either the hitters have figured it out, or the pitching staffs have run out of gas. The DSL White Sox have scored 59 runs over their last five games, but they're 2-3 because they've allowed 56 runs.

Position Players

You're seeing this upswing reflected in the lines of the hitters, all of whom are doing something. Lebron and Luis saved their best for last, while Romero and Graterol have been more erratic, but are at least hitting the ball out of the park.

Pitchers

The pitchers, conversely, are wearing it -- even Marté, who didn't get out of the first inning in two of his final three starts. At least Ramírez figured out strike-throwing to end his season, although to varying degrees of success with regards to run prevention.

White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 17, 2026

DSL Blue Jays Blue 7, DSL White Sox 6 (8 innings)

• Fernando Graterol singled, walked twice and struck out twice.
• Sebastian Romero was 0-for-4 with an HBP and a strikeout.
• Ronald Cardozo went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Felix Lebron walked once and struck out thrice.
• Samuel Luis, 1-for-3 with a sac bunt and a strikeout.
• Enmanuel Rodriguez: 3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 1 WP
• Ronald Kelly: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K