And then there were two. At least when it comes the White Sox's representation on Baseball America's Top 100 prospects.
With Noah Schultz and Braden Montgomery graduating from consideration, it leaves Roch Cholowsky (No. 7) and Caleb Bonemer (No. 28) as the last men standing. And with Hagen Smith and Tanner McDougal relegated to relief work the remainder of the season -- and perhaps exhausting their eligibility if their major league careers start soon enough -- it seems like Billy Carlson is the only other candidate who will merit consideration until games start next season. At least Bonemer's arc provides a template for how Cole Prosek or Landon Thome might crash the party.
While the present rankings are pretty grim, at least part of it's for good reason. Looking at Baseball America's preseason top 30, the White Sox have graduated Schultz (1), Montgomery (3), Sam Antonacci (9) and Jacob Gonzalez (25). That seemed light until realizing that Tristan Peters wasn't ranked at all.
Charlotte 4, Durham 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Rikuu Nishida went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Ryan Galanie was 1-for-3 with a homer and a strikeout.
- Jonathan Cannon: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 50 of 78 pitches for strikes.
- Hagen Smith: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 13 of 24 pitches for strikes.
Durham 7, Charlotte 1 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Rikuu Nishida wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Ryan Galanie was 0-for-2 with a walk.
- Jaden Woods: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 14 of 19 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 8, Rocket City 4
- Caleb Bonemer went 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Anthony DePino was 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
- Colby Shelton doubled, singled, walked twice, struck out once and stole a base.
- Ryan Burrowes singled twice, walked once, struck out twice and stole a base.
- James Taussig went 2-for-4 with an HBP.
- Drew Thorpe: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 43 of 68 pitches for strikes.
- Pierce George: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 21 of 39 pitches for strikes.
Winston-Salem 7, Asheville 4
- Nick McLain doubled, walked thrice and struck out once.
- Roch Cholowsky went 1-for-4 with a double, walk and strikeout.
- Javier Mogollón was 0-for-4 with a sac bunt and a strikeout.
- George Wolkow, 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Jeral Perez went 0-for-2 with three walks.
- Kyle Lodise, was 0-for-3 with a walk, HBP and a strikeout.
- Max Banks: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 4 of 11 pitches for strikes.
Notes:
*Cholowsky's double was more of a single, but it still resulted in his first hit and RBI regardless.
Kannapolis 10, Charleston 4
- Jaden Fauske went 0-for-5 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Matthew Boughton went 2-for-6 with two strikeouts.
- Billy Carlson had a perfect night, going 4-for-4 with a double and two walks.
- Alexander Albertus went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Braden Holcomb was 2-for-6 with two doubles and three strikeouts.
- Truman Pauley: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K
