White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 9, 2026

After the White Sox acquired Luis Castillo for three players, I briefly mourned the absence of Boston Smith in the Minor Keys, as his ability to produce explosive performances on a consistent basis despite a rather problematic contact rate made him an utterly baffling prospect to follow (compliment).

Following up on my vow to keep tabs on him from afar out of sheer curiosity to see how the balance between his strengths and weaknesses resolved itself, Smith homered twice for Double-A Arkansas on Sunday, giving him five in his last five games as a Traveler.

(Note the second one coming on a high fastball above the zone on an 0-2 count, which is an area Smith noticed Double-A pitchers trying to exploit.)

Smith raised his OPS to 1.553 over his first six games, which means that he's on track to improve with every team he plays for, even though he's played for four different teams this season:

• Kannapolis: .267/.353/.367
• Winston-Salem: 288/.449/.595
• Birmingham: .306/.485/.667
• Arkansas: .381/.458/1.095

Perhaps if the White Sox merely promoted him to Charlotte and then the White Sox over the final two months, he'd make Babe Ruth look every bit the fraud Pete Crow-Armstrong thinks he is.

Charlotte 5, Durham 3

• Rikuu Nishida was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Ryan Galanie went 2-for-3 with a walk, and was caught stealing.
• Joey Wiemer made his Charlotte debut, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
• José Urquidy: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 24 of 27 pitches for strikes.

Rocket City 2, Birmingham 1

• Caleb Bonemer walked twice, struck out twice and was picked off.
• Anthony DePino went 1-for-3 with a walk.
• Colby Shelton was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
• Ryan Burrowes, 0-for-2 with a walk and an HBP.
• James Taussig went 0-for-4 with a K.

Asheville 8, Winston-Salem 4 (Completion of Friday's game)

• Roch Cholowsky went 2-for-4 with a walk, strikeout and three stolen bases.
• Javier Mogollón doubled and struck out four times.
• George Wolkow was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Nick McLain singled twice, walked once and struck out twice.
• Kyle Lodise was 1-for-4 with a triple, walk and two strikeouts.

Asheville 8, Winston-Salem 5 (Game 2, 8 innings)

• Nick McLain went 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout at the plate, and 1-for2 on the basepaths.
• Javier Mogollón was 2-for-3 with a homer, walk and stolen base.
• George Wolkow, 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
• Jeral Perez went 1-for-3 with a walk, strikeout and stolen base.
• Kyle Lodise walked twice, struck out twice and stole a base.
• Max Banks: 2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 35 of 52 pitches for strikes.

Kannapolis 3, Charleston 2

• Jaden Fauske went 1-for-4 with his 10th triple, a walk and his 38th stolen base.
• Billy Carlson was 0-for-3 with a walk.
• Braden Holcomb, 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Alexander Albertus went 1-for-4 with a double.