Farm Fortnight: Finish lines in sight for White Sox affiliates

Welcome to the last full Farm Fortnight of the season.

Sure, Charlotte has three weeks left in its season, but by the time the next every other Tuesday rolls around, the regular seasons of Birmingham, Winston-Salem and Kannapolis will be complete. Perhaps the Barons and Dash will be able to buy some extra games by snagging a playoff berth, but either way, the next wrap-ups will take the form of affiliate season reviews.

With that in mind, congratulations to the following players who snagged the final biweekly honors of 2026.

Fortnight's Finest

Position player: Nick McLain. After an injury-ravaged start to his professional career, McLain is starting to show why the White Sox used a third-round pick on him back in 2024. He hit .414/.538/.862 with seven of his 12 hits going for extra bases (three homers, four doubles), and he drew nine walks against eight strikeouts in nine games. He's 23 and a product of Arizona State, so he should be succeeding against High-A pitching, but it could be filed under "better late than never" if he can sustain this momentum in 2027.

Honorable mention to Alec Briley, who popped seven homers in 12 games for Birmingham.

Pitcher: Shane Murphy. This year has indicated that he's more of an organizational arm after his 2025 showing was proven to be greatly aided by a Southern League environment that suffocated hitters, but he's provided value nonetheless by leading the system in innings, and they're getting better. He threw seven shutout innings for Birmingham against Chattanooga on Aug. 20, which earned him his latest look at Charlotte on Sunday. Those typically haven't gone well, but he threw another seven innings against Memphis and allowed just one unearned run on Sunday.

Charlotte Knights

• Last three series: 3-3 @Scranton/Wilkes-Barre; 4-2 vs. Memphis
• Record: 71-61 (29-28 in second half)
• Next two series: @Gwinnett, vs. Buffalo
• Individual stats

The cupboard is pretty bare at Charlotte, at least when it comes to players who are a decent bet to offer some form of offensive production over the course of September. That's why the White Sox went out of the org to acquire Tommy Pham for an extra September roster spot, and Jake Cave is now in the mix as well.

At least the pitching is displaying some newfound depth. Tanner McDougal is the first to occupy the 14th spot on the White Sox pitching staff in September, but David Sandlin is putting together a strong finishing kick, Drew Thorpe looks worthy of an audition at some point, and Noah Schultz has rediscovered his effectiveness in Charlotte, even without the sort of peripherals that hint at it cleanly transferring to Chicago.

Position Players

*Edgar Quero is temporarily sharing time with Kyle Teel, but assuming Teel completes a rehab stint and rejoins the 26-man roster, he'll get the bulk of the playing time to attempt to establish a path forward for 2027, or just bring a disappointing 2026 season to a quiet close.

*Rikuu Nishida spent a couple games with the White Sox when Andrew Benintendi went on the bereavement/family medical emergency list, but he didn't get into a game.

*Ryan Galanie reached 20 homers for the first time in his professional career despite a muted August. He hit just two of those homers over his last 21 games, but he compensated by rediscovering how to walk. He drew 13 of them in August, as opposed to eight over July and July combined.

*Junior Pérez had a productive two weeks, hitting .258/.361/.484 against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Memphis, but it wasn't enough to prevent the White Sox from acquiring Tommy Pham, which makes it difficult for him to crack the 28-man roster the rest of the way in 2026.

*Junior Pérez struck out 18 times over 40 plate appearances the past two series. He and Nishida are the only non-pitchers on the 40-man roster who aren't active, so unless the White Sox add from the outside before rosters expand in September, it comes down to which player's narrow use case is more likely to come into play.

Pitchers

*Noah Schultz got back to throwing five innings in his last start against Memphis after being limited to four in his first two starts back at Charlotte. The overall line in those three games -- 13 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 HR, 3 BB, 5 K -- is great from a run-prevention standpoint, but less so from a bat-missing one.

*Tanner McDougal is opening September as the extra man in the White Sox bullpen, but temper whatever expectations you may have. He hasn't worked a clean inning since returning from his first cup of coffee. In fact, it's been pretty dirty over those five games: 4.2 IP, 10 H, 11 R, 7 ER, 3 HR, 6 BB, 3 K.

*Drew Thorpe was scratched from his last start, but only to keep him available in case he was needed in Chicago. He'll make his next appearance today, where he'll try to continue a string of useful outings for Charlotte. He has a 3.07 ERA and a .566 OPS allowed through his first three Triple-A starts.

*Shane Smith threw a scoreless inning of middle relief against Memphis on Saturday, which either preparation for the only way the White Sox could really use him the remainder of 2026, or a way to throw in the towel on a lost season. Maybe both.

*David Sandlin is doing his best to establish himself as a true candidate for September spot starts. He weathered a five-run third inning to throw six against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, then threw a seven-inning complete game shutout against Memphis to earn himself a spot on the Baseball America Hot Sheet. It hasn't always been pretty, but he has a 2.28 ERA over 59⅓ innings at Charlotte, which is hard for any prospect to accomplish.

*Jaden Woods remains a viable option for 40-man protection after the season, but between being scored upon in his last four outings and the White Sox having to manage a capacity roster with the additions of Pham and the possible reinstatement of Thorpe, I wouldn't count on it happening this month.

Birmingham Barons

• Last two series: 6-0 @Chattanooga; 3-3 vs. Rocket City
• Record: 55-71 (29-28 in second half)
• Next two series: @Biloxi, vs. Knoxville
• Individual stats

The Birmingham Barons have two weeks left in their season to gain two games on the Rocket City Trash Pandas. The standings show they're only one game back, but since a six-game split last week sealed the season series in Rocket City's favor, 15-12, the Barons will have to post a better second-half record to advance to the playoffs.

Given the stakes, the Barons probably won't be losing any key players to Charlotte, so the lineup that led the Southern League with 35 homers over 26 games in August should remain intact. A pitching staff that posted the second-worst ERA (5.27) over the last month could use the help.

Position Players

*Caleb Bonemer is approaching an equal number of plate appearances at Birmingham and Winston-Salem this season, and everything looks better at the higher level.

• A+: .238/.381/.556, 13.7 BB%, 29.1 K% over 278 PA
• AA: .264/.383/.568, 14.4 BB%, 24.6 K% over 264 PA

The only difference is fewer HBPs, but he's better off with fewer bruises. The hope is that he doesn't hurt himself playing center field, because the early efforts have lacked elegance.

*Anthony DePino hit .250/.302/.375 over the last two series while ...

*Colby Shelton hit .265/.333/.559, so again, more evidence for the idea that they aren't allowed to rake simultaneously at Birmingham.

*Samuel Zavala is apparently inspired by deadlines, because he finished his August by hitting .417/.632/.625 with a whopping 14 walks over 38 plate appearances. He raised his season OPS by 56 points in August, which is pretty hard to do.

*Ryan Burrowes is still figuring out Double-A (.232/.322/.303), but he did manage to notch his first three extra-base hits with Birmingham over the last two series, including two homers.

Pitchers

*Lucas Gordon returned from an IL stint that was described as more precautionary or restorative than anything else. He was eased back with a pair of limited outings at Chattanooga that produced a combined line of a decent start (5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K), but then gave up four runs on nine hits over 3⅓ innings against Rocket City.

*Juan Carela did what he could to get Birmingham ahead of Rocket City in the standings, picking up wins in both starts. He threw five shutout innings in the second one, but the walks remain uncomfortably high.

*Connor McCullough has now alternated between good starts and tough ones over his last eight turns, which is its own kind of consistency. This time around, he threw 4 ⅔ scoreless innings against Chattanooga, only to give up three runs over four innings against Rocket City.

*Pierce George strung together four consecutive scoreless appearances over the Chattanooga and Rocket City series. He walked three batters and plunekd another over 6 ⅓ innings, but the nine strikeouts show he's missing more bats.

*Mathias LaCombe has also found his footing, as he's running a streak of five scoreless, hitless appearances. That said, it's more of an effectively wild variety (five walks, three HBPs).

Winston-Salem Dash

• Last two series: 4-2 @Greenville, 3-3 vs. Bowling Green
• Record: 69-56 (31-28 in second half)
• Next series: @Rome
• Individual stats

By splitting a six-game series against the Bowling Green Hot Rods, the Dash missed a chance to grab a share of the lead in the South Atlantic League North's second-half standings, but they're still 1½ games ahead of Greenville with six games to play. With Bowling Green winning the first-half title to lock in their postseason berth, second place works for Winston-Salem as long as it doesn't let Greenville slip ahead. The Dash hold the tiebreaker, as they doubled up the Drive in the season series, 12-6.

Position Players

*Roch Cholowsky only played nine games in his pro debut season before a sore wrist from an HBP knocked him out of action for the rest of the season.

*Kyle Lodise has played shortstop in Cholowsky's absence, running an 11-game hitting streak that came to an end on Sunday. He hit .306/.417/.551 against Greenville and Bowling Green, which is basically the same as the line he's posted for the entire month.

*George Wolkow drove in 15 runs over his last 11 games, giving him 96 with six games to play. If he can collect four more, he'd be the first White Sox prospect with 100 RBIs in a season since Tim Elko drove in 106 during the 2023 season.

*Jeral Perez is maintaining an active eight-game hitting streak, and batted .292/.346/.438 over the last two series. It's been a good month for him, even if it required a demotion to a level where he'd already spent a full season.

*Javier Mogollón has also been afforded stability since Cholowsky's injury, as he's mainly played second. He's running with the opportunity, hitting .319/.450/.404 with nine steals in 12 attempts over the last 12 games.

*Nick McLain: See Finest, Fortnight's.

*James Taussig hit .196/.250/.339 with 21 strikeouts in 60 plate appearances for Birmingham before being sent back early last week to Winston-Salem, where he resumed mashing. Two levels is good enough for now.

Pitchers

*Christian Oppor has not pitched since the previous Farm Fortnight. That's probably for the better.

*Max Banks got to 100 innings, but it wasn't easy. He's running a 5.40 ERA with just 35 strikeouts over 41⅔ innings out of the Winston-Salem bullpen.

*Seth Keener was promoted to Birmingham, although it probably has more to do with a third-round pick hanging out in Winston-Salem for three straight seasons than his recent performance meriting it. He's given up 13 runs (eight earned) over his last nine innings.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

• Last two series: 4-2 @Fredericksburg; 2-4 @Hill City
• Record: 64-60 (33-27 in second half)
• Next two series: vs. Delmarva
• Individual stats

The Cannon Ballers complete the set, as all four full-season affiliates enter the final month of the season -- which is also the final week for Kannapolis -- with winning records in the second half. The Ballers just have the misfortune of playing in a lopsided Carolina League. Despite the very credible second-half showing, they're 10 whole games behind the Hickory Crawdads.

Position Players

*Billy Carlson played his last game on Aug. 9, as the White Sox decided to shut him down for the rest of the season due to a left leg infection.

*Jaden Fauske hit just .226/.365/.323 in August, so he might be kinda gassed as he approaches the finish line. It'd be nice to see one more homer, as he hasn't left the yard since June 21.

*Matthew Boughton has been something of a poor man's Fauske, in the sense that he hasn't homered since June, but his making up some of the deficit with walks. The hit tool needs more work.

*Abraham Nunez returned to the lineup after missing more than two months and went 6-for-20 with four doubles and three walks over five games against Hill City.

*Alexander Albertus ended the fortnight hitless in his last 15 plate appearances, and the drought has nullified the effects of a six-game hitting streak that preceded it.

*Christian Gonzalez reclaimed some playing time after falling out of the rotation. He's collected a couple extra-base hits and is drawing his share of walks, although he got caught stealing twice more to make that particular column even funnier.

*Braden Holcomb returned to the lineup after a trip to the IL and homered, so he's still posting the most impressive performance of the recently drafted players, and it's not particularly close.

Pitchers

*Blaine Wynk will finish the season in Winston-Salem after a season spent being Winston-Salem's steadiest pitcher, three innings at a time.

*Truman Pauley looks like he'll get to 100 innings the hard way, unless he throws six shutout innings like he did in his last outing against Hill City.

*Grant Cleavinger took a loss by allowing the Manfred Man to score on Aug. 25, but has been untouchable otherwise.