White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 4, 2026

Back in 2013, first-overall pick Mark Appel made his professional debut for the Tri-City ValleyCats, the short-season A-ball affiliate of the Houston Astros near my home in Troy, N.Y. The ValleyCats no longer exist as an affiliate because they were contracted out of Minor League Baseball, which is a shame since they always drew well for a New York-Penn League team, especially for marquee names, be it a rehabbing major leaguer or a big deal of a draft pick.

A near sellout of 5,854 showed up on that Friday night to watch Appel. I was one of them, getting a seat behind home plate, and I arrived just in time to watch him take the mound to a big ovation and promptly give up a triple on his very first pitch, which wasn't how he drew it up.

That came to mind when watching Roch Cholowsky make his professional debut for the Winston-Salem Dash against the Asheville Tourists on Tuesday night and strike out on three pitches -- a checked-swing foul on a fastball, followed by two whiffs on sliders.

Cholowsky ended up going 0-for-4 with a walk and a second strikeout, another of the three-pitch variety. The highlights were a 111-mph foul ball on a 3-0 green light and a six-pitch walk that wasn't captured because the livestream cut out in the middle innings. The timing wasn't quite there at the plate, but he looked a lot more composed in the field, where he handled all his chances in rhythm.

The weather also didn't cooperate in terms of making it an event. Rain delayed the start of the game by 45 minutes, and only 2,201 fans were on hand to see it. Those who show up on Wednesday will still get a chance to witness some firsts.

Rocket City 8, Birmingham 3

• Caleb Bonemer wore the collar and silver sombrero.
• Anthony DePino also struck out thrice, but at least he homered.
• Colby Shelton went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Ryan Burrowes was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Samuel Zavala doubled, singled and walked.
• Connor McCullough: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 42 of 70 pitches for strikes.

Asheville 5, Winston-Salem 2 (10 innings)

• Roch Cholowsky was 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts in his professional debut.
• Javier Mogollón is better than Cholowsky, at least for a day: 2-for-5 with a double.
• George Wolkow was 0-for-3 with two walks, a strikeout, a stolen base and a CS.
• Jeral Perez went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Nick McLain had the Cholowsky line.
• Kyle Lodise was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• Seth Keener: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 7 of 9 pitches for strikes.

Kannapolis 7, Charleston 5

• Jaden Fauske went 2-for-4 with a double, two walks, a strikeout and a stolen base. He was also picked off.
• Matthew Boughton went 2-for-5 with two stolen bases.
• Billy Carlson, 1-for-4 with a walk. He also was picked off.
• Alexander Albertus went 1-for-2 with a homer and two walks.
• Braden Holcomb was 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Christian Gonzalez, 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Blaine Wynk: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 30 of 38 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*The Cannon Ballers trailed 5-0 through six before scoring two in the seventh, two in the eighth and three in the ninth on the Albertus homer, which came from a pitch down the first base line.

DSL White Sox 5, DSL Mariners 4 (7 innings)

• Fernando Graterol, Sebastian Romero and Samuel Luis all were 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
• Ronald Cardozo homered, singled and struck out.
• Felix Lebron went 2-for-3.

Charlotte vs. Durham, PPD