White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 6, 2026

Both the White Sox minor league player and pitcher of the month for July went undrafted out of college, and had found themselves wondering what the next step was for their playing careers when the club reached out with a contract offer.

"I had conversations with some other teams, but never talked to the White Sox," said Taussig, now recently promoted to Double-A Birmingham after hitting .284/.380/.639 in 40 games with Winston-Salem. "A couple days after the draft, I was watching the All Star game and suddenly got a call. And yeah, it definitely it definitely flipped things around. I was kind of upset, still wanted to play baseball, and then boom."

For 24-year-old swingman Jake Curtis, who has recorded a two-inning save, and allowed one earned run in a five-inning start in successive outings for the Dash, it might not even be fair to say he was wondering what the next step was. Curtis mixed between playing infield and pitching out of the bullpen in college at Memphis, where his hoppy four-seamer would top out around 92 mph. He pitched well in the MLB Draft League after graduating college in 2024, but after going unselected, Curtis accepted a coaching job with Memphis and worked there until May of the following year.

"My pitching coach at Memphis and Paul Janish coached together at Rice, and Paul had just reached out and said, 'Hey, you have any strike throwers that can come help us out in the ACL?'" Curtis recalled. "They were dealing with a bunch of injuries last year. So, I went from throwing batting practice to throwing in a game in about two days."

The sudden ramp-up to professional baseball required a lot of adjustments in strength training and nutrition, but the strike-throwing has continued into this season. Curtis has issued just 12 free passes in 61 innings with the Dash while putting together a 2.95 ERA. His raw stuff doesn't overwhelm, but his short and compact, infielder-like arm action lends a layer of deception that the Sox have wisely left untouched.

"People have tried to change that and I think that's what, No. 1, helps me to control it and, No. 2, that's what's most comfortable," Curtis said. "I've luckily always had a little bit of ride when I'm throwing the ball across the infield, and my mindset is just take that to the mound. That's not easy to hit."

With his massive 6-foot-6-inch, 230-pound frame, Taussig has always touted plus power potential. But after connecting on 20 home runs over four years of college baseball, the White Sox were more upfront about some immediate adjustments they wanted to see.

"When I got signed last year, the first thing they told me was you hit the ball on the ground too much, we want to really get you in the air more," said Taussig, who credits Ryan Fuller for showing him a cue at the start of the season that got him rolling. "I'd kind of moved some things around, and he was like, just go back to where you were where your hands were in college, and and we'll work on some swing path stuff from there. Doing some drills, doing stuff in the cage every day, working with the plyo balls, working with pitches that have some depth, and it's really helped with my cues."

That tip came at the start of the year when Taussig was still in Low-A Kannapolis, whereas now the 23-year-old corner outfielder is in Double-A, having hit a combined .266/.370/.573 across a three-level campaign. There are some significant swing-and-miss issues to work around (30.1 percent strikeout rate) and Taussig is getting a lesson in narrowing his strike zone from his first brush with Southern League pitching. But his ground-ball rate is under 40 percent and his 21 total homers already are more than he hit in his collegiate career.

"A bunch of my family has called me, texted me, and and I just keep telling them it's surreal," Taussig said. "At the end of the day, I was just hoping. I just wanted to keep playing. Whether I was in Low-A, High-A, Double-A, I just still wanted to keep playing baseball. I love baseball, and to be in Double-A is honestly unbelievable."

"Obviously, when playing's done, I'll probably go back into [coaching]," said Curtis. "But I'll tell you that year I spent coaching -- or seven months -- I sat there every day just wishing that I could play again, but didn't think it was going to come true, and thankfully it did."

After growing up in the area, Curtis has had the additional thrill of throwing to fellow Springfield native Ben Hartl since he came over in a trade for reliever Ben Peoples. Both are good friends of Sam Antonacci, and have gotten to watch their buddy take his distinctive act onto the major league stage.

"Last year actually, he got hurt and came down to Arizona while I was there, and that was probably one of my favorite baseball moments; just getting to play with him again," Curtis said. "He spent the whole offseason telling our little group of friends that once he got [to the majors], he wasn't going to be different. And then, sure enough, his first game, he wasn't wearing his tape on his ear flap. And I said, 'You already changed.' And then two weeks later, he put it on."

Charlotte 8, Durham 5

• Ryan Galanie went 3-for-5 with a triple.
• Shane Smith: 4 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 2 HBP, 52 of 87 pitches for strikes.

Rocket City 6, Birmingham 3

• Caleb Bonemer went 2-for-5 with a double.
• Ryan Burrowes, 1-for-5 with a strikeout.
• Samuel Zavala was 1-for-4 with a double and two strikeouts. He was also caught stealing.
• James Taussig, 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Lucas Gordon: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 31 of 53 pitches for strikes.
• Mathias LaCombe: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP, 16 of 25 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*Gordon was visited by the trainer after recording the second out of the third inning. He stayed in the game long enough to issue a six-pitch walk, then pick him off first base, but didn't return for the fourth.

Winston-Salem 14, Asheville 7

• Roch Cholowsky went 2-for-6 with a homer, double and five RBIs.
• Javier Mogollón was 1-for-4 with a homer, walk, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
• Nick McLain went 2-for-5, and was cut down trying to steal home.
• Jeral Perez, 0-for-2 with three walks.
• Kyle Lodise went 1-for-4 with a homer, walk and two strikeouts.
• Ultimate Ben Hartl line: 0-for-2 with a walk and two HBPs.
• Christian Oppor lost it: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 0 K, 3 WP, 13 of 35 pitches for strikes.
• Seth Keener: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

Highlights:

*Cholowsky's first homer benefited from the Truist Ballpark right field wall, but it was an opposite-field laser.

Charleston 2, Kannapolis 1

• Jaden Fauske went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
• Matthew Boughton, 0-for-3 and reached on catcher interference.
• Billy Carlson went 0-for-3 with a walk.
• Braden Holcomb went 1-for-4 with a double and two strikeouts.
• Christian Gonzalez was 0-for-3.

DSL Diamondbacks Red 6, DSL White Sox 4 (7 innings)

• Fernando Graterol went 1-for-3 with a homer and a walk.
• Sebastian Romero, 0-for-3 with an HBP and two strikeouts.
• Ronald Cardozo was 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Felix Lebron singled, walked, struck out and stole two bases.
• Samuel Luis went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
• Roderic Ramírez: 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K