2026 White Sox minor league leaders at a glance

For better or worse, the White Sox's organizational leaders over the 2026 minor league season lack name-brand value. The "better" is that guys like Sam Antonacci, Braden Montgomery and Jacob Gonzalez graduated/were traded before they could accrue enough playing time beneath the major league level to qualify. The "worse" -- mostly on the pitching side -- is that top prospects didn't quite step up, or make themselves into top prospects over the course of the season.

Still, reviewing the team's minor league leaderboard is a good way to note the guys who ran with the opportunities that were provided, or tried to fill a vacuum left by those aforementioned promotions, injuries or demotions.

Plate Appearances

1. Caleb Bonemer and Alec Briley, 595
2. Ryan Burrowes, 565

It's nice when a team's top prospect is able to lead an organization in plate appearances and still retain top prospect status. Bonemer played a second full season and looked no worse for the wear at the end of it. It might be a problem if he leads this category next year, because that means he didn't play well enough to have a chunk of his plate appearances take place in Chicago, but given that he's 20 years old and started this season at Winston-Salem, 595 minor league plate appearances in one year is just plain ol' good experience. He'll probably get to 650 when including his upcoming work in the Arizona Fall League.

The other two names here are testaments for making themselves useful despite the threat of being crowded out of regular work. Briley is a switch-hitter who plays third and first, while Burrowes played six positions to fit in around a crowded Winston-Salem infield, and eventually reestablished his prospect stock with the playing time.

Doubles

1. Colby Shelton, 34
2. Caleb Bonemer, Alec Briley, James Taussig, 29

Shelton is the one guy from this group who doesn't show up in the top three for homers, but it's not for a lack of trying. His A-swing produces violent blasts on par with anybody below the George Wolkow tier, but it took him a while to start squaring up the ball in Birmingham.

Triples

1. Jaden Fauske, 10
2. Clay Burdette, 6
3. George Wolkow and Nathan Archer, 5

Fauske only hit four homers over 118 games in his first professional season, and the hope is that some of those triples will start clearing the fence the way that Caleb Bonemer went from a 30-double, 12-homer guy as a 19-year-old to a 30-double, 30-homer guy this past season.

Burdette's finish is impressive here, because he was the White Sox's most recent seventh-round pick out of Xavier and played just 29 games at Kannapolis.

Homers

1. Caleb Bonemer, 37
2. Alec Briley, 31
3. James Taussig and Anthony DePino, 25

Alec Makarewicz hit just 11 homers over 118 games in 2025. Alec Briley hit 31 homers over 136 games in 2026, so maybe the lesson here is that more guys should take their wives' last names.

DePino his 20 homers over 58 games for Rhode Island in his draft year, so 25 homers over 125 games isn't out of his skill set, but I'm interested in learning how much of that power was made possible by a livelier ball.

RBIs

1. George Wolkow, 100
2. Alec Briley, 96
3. Caleb Bonemer, 92

Wolkow became the first White Sox prospect to reach 100 RBIs in a season since Tim Elko drove home 106 runs in 2023, and while it's mostly a product of the Winston-Salem Dash's league-best .375 team OBP, the hope it's at least partially reflective of an ability to find more contact when contact is valuable.

Stolen bases

1. Jaden Fauske, 46
2. Ryan Burrowes, 45
3. Kyle Lodise, 42

Between the triples and the stolen bases, you can understand why Fauske didn't wanted to leave catching behind in high school, because the legs work too well to subject them to such abuse. Lodise went 13-for-13 in stolen bases at Georgia Tech, and enjoyed getting 51 stolen base opportunities in High-A. Like Sam Antonacci swiping 48 bases in the minor leagues last year, the exchange rate for both will likely be less favorable as they climb up the ladder.

Walks

1. Jaden Fauske, Rikuu Nishida, Samuel Zavala, 94

Nishida tied for the organization lead last year with 75, so it's no surprise to see him up top. It is a surprise to see Zavala up there, if only because it required a hellacious final push where he drew 32 walks over his last 29 games. He hit .316/.522/.557 over that stretch.

Strikeouts

1. George Wolkow, 179
2. Alec Briley, 165
3. Caleb Bonemer, 161

For those wondering the catch about Briley given his appearances in previous categories, it's him being a 25-year-old in Double-A with a sub-70 percent contact rate. Bonemer's strikeout problems were more pronounced earlier in the year, but generally improved on his bat-to-ball stats in Birmingham compared to his work at Winston-Salem.

Batting average

1. Rikuu Nishida, .285
2. Ryan Galanie, .277
3. Ely Brown, .275

I'm using a 400 plate appearance minimum, which takes guys like Jacob Gonzalez (.320 over 239 PAs) and Braden Montgomery (.314 over 258 PAs) out of the equation, as well as Boston Smith (.291 over 347). I probably should also mention a guy who is still in the White Sox farm system, so shout out to Derek Cerda, who hit .294/.385/.430 over 259 plate appearances across the three lowest stateside levels after a delayed start to his season.

On-base percentage

1. Rikuu Nishida, .423
2. Ely Brown, .399
3. Samuel Zavala, .390

Brown has generated some mild prospect heat, at least from MLB Pipeline, which ranked him 21st, ahead of guys like DePino, Burrowes and Shelton. A sub-.100 ISO at Winston-Salem in a year like 2026 suppresses my enthusiasm, but his plate approach is why he has fans.

Slugging percentage

1. James Taussig, .565
2. Caleb Bonemer, .550
3. Ryan Galanie, .499

When you see Taussig in all his 6-foot-6-inch, 230-pound glory, you get why he's here. Galanie would've had an even .500 slugging percentage if he didn't strike out in a pinch-hitting appearance in the final game of the season.

Games pitched

1. Jackson Kelley, 53
2. Pierce George, 51
3. Jonathan Clark, 50

Jackson Kelley, a slight, mustachioed sidewinder the White Sox selected in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft, outlasted Jared Kelley this season, posting a 2.40 ERA over 78 ⅔ innings, almost all of them with Birmingham. George spread out his 51 appearance across all four full-season levels, and his work isn't done. He's heading to the Arizona Fall League, along with Clark.

Games started

1. Lucas Gordon and Connor McCullough, 27
2. Dylan Cumming, 25

A brief precautionary stint on the injured list late in the year prevented Gordon from owning the lead outright. Instead, he shared it with his Birmingham teammate McCullough. The Birmingham Barons rotation once again had a lot of stability, although with less impressive returns this time around.

Innings pitched

1. Shane Murphy, 146.1
2. Dylan Cumming, 122.2
3. Jonathan Cannon, 122.1

Murphy posted a 1.66 ERA in 2025 and a 4.43 ERA in 2026, which reflects more time spent at Charlotte this time around, and a livelier ball when he returned to Birmingham. Nevertheless, he still serves as a great measuring stick for a minor league rotation, in the sense that it makes one wonder whenever more talented pitchers are routinely less productive.

ERA

1. David Sandlin, 2.08
2. Blaine Wynk, 2.69
3. Jake Curtis, 3.27

I set the cutoff at 69 innings -- not for giggles, but because it felt like Sandlin (69⅓ innings) and Wynk (70⅓) threw enough extended appearances at the minor league level to separate themselves from the pure relievers. Wynk was especially impressive after a wobbly start to his pro career, posting a 2.08 ERA with just nine walks over his last 17 games, which spanned 47⅔ innings.

Strikeouts

1. Lucas Gordon, 123
2. Jonathan Cannon, 121
3. Truman Pauley 120

Gordon's raw strikeout total stands out, but it's only a 24.1 percent strikeout rate due to the elevated walk rate. There's a reverse platoon split to it as well, as Gordon struck out just 20.6 percent of lefties he faced while they hit .290/.387/.519 against him. His changeup neutralizes righties, so he has that going for him.

Strikeout rate

1. Carlton Perkins, 34.8%
2. Hagen Smith, 34.5%
3. Liam Paddack, 33.2%

If you only saw Perkins when he was recording the final four outs of Winston-Salem's championship clincher, you'd get why he's here, as he struck out three of the four batters he faced. Smith provides the pitching section some sorely needed top prospect juice before the end of the post, although he shouldn't qualify for such lists the next time around.