White Sox Minor Keys: April 8, 2022

Truist Stadium in Winston-Salem

Last season, the Winston-Salem Dash needed four tries to log their first win. The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers had it even tougher, starting the season 0-10.

Both wasted no time notching wins this time around as all four affiliates were in action for the first time all season.

Winston-Salem drew plenty of attention thanks to the stateside debut of Oscar Colás, and he was in fine shape, going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. The Winston-Salem feed wasn’t available for the first half of the game, but here’s Baseball America’s Josh Norris with a side angle of Colás’ swing:

And Baseball Prospectus’ Ben Spanier has video of Colás’ second single, which was muscled the opposite way.

But he was outdone by Bryan Ramos, who went 3-for-4 with a homer in his High-A debut …

… while James Fox favorite Adam Hackenberg had everybody beat with a pair of homers.


Kannapolis’ victory was characteristically messy, taking 13 innings with 10 walks and 18 strikeouts from the lineup. Colson Montgomery and Wes Kath both went 0-for-5 with multiple K’s, but given what the Ballers endured last year, any win’s a win.


As for Birmingham, the Barons dropped their first game of the 2022 season to Rocket City by a score of 8-2, but the box score includes a couple multi-hit games of note:

Despite a solid performance at the plate from Yolbert Sánchez and a two-run homer from Craig Dedelow, the Birmingham Barons fell short in their season opener versus the Rocket City Trash Pandas by a score of 8-2. 

In his first at-bat of the season, Sánchez singled on a line drive to right field in the bottom of the first. Sánchez would single again in the third inning to record his second and final hit of the night. He would finish 2-for-3 at the plate with two singles and a walk.

Sanchez wasn’t the only Baron to record multiple base hits, as the trio of Lenyn Sosa, Alex Destino and Xavier Fernandez would each finish 2-for-4 at the plate for Birmingham. Craig Dedelow also contributed a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to give the Barons their only two runs of the game. 

Birmingham finished with more hits than Rocket City, but the Trash Pandas capitalized on shaky pitching from the Barons’ relievers. 

Barons starting pitcher Davis Martin had a solid outing, allowing only four hits and two earned runs across five innings. However, reliever Felipe Tejada would allow two Rocket City runs in the top of the seventh, followed by Sammy Peralta allowing another run in the eighth.

The final nail in the coffin came in the top of the ninth inning, when White Sox No. 21 prospect Caleb Freeman allowed three runs to score on a double from Trash Pandas DH Trey Cabbage. This capped off a tough night for Birmingham’s pitching staff, despite a strong season debut from Davis Martin. 

— Caleb Probst

Norfolk 12, Charlotte 1

  • Adam Haseley went 0-for-3 with a walk.
  • Tyler Johnson is still a mess: 1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, HBP, WP, 13 of 29 pitches for strikes.

Rocket City 8, Birmingham 2

  • Jose Rodriguez went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and an HBP.
  • Yolbert Sanchez was 2-for-3 with a walk.
  • Yoelqui Céspedes wore the collar and silver sombrero.
  • Lenyn Sosa went 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
  • Davis Martin: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR
  • Caleb Freeman: 1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

Winston-Salem 7, Hickory 5

  • Oscar Colás went 2-for-4 in his stateside debut, with a pickoff.
  • Bryan Ramos had a terrific High-A debut: 3 f-ro4- with a homer.
  • Adam Hackenburg outdid him in his: 2-for-4 with two homers and a strikeout.
  • Harvin Mendoza was 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
  • Luis Mieses was 1-for-4 with a double.
  • Sean Burke was effectively wild: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K, 50 of 84 pitches for strikes.

Kannapolis 6, Fayetteville 5 (13 innings)

  • Colson Montgomery had a quiet A-ball debut: 0-for-5 with a walk and three strikeouts.
  • Same for Wes Kath: 0-for-5 with a walk and two strikeouts.
  • Wilfred Veras was 0-for-4 with two walks and a strikeout.
  • Chase Krogman wore the golden sombrero, but came through with a sac fly.
  • James Beard went 1-for-4 at the plate, and 1-for-2 on the basepaths.
  • DJ Gladney went 1-for-3 with a homer, two walks and a strikeout.
  • Brooks Gosswein: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

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jorgefabregas

Yolbert Sanchez challenging Adam Engel’s run as small sample size king. Has raked in his first try at AA, AFL, and spring training.

jhomeslice

Knights have had 4 games with Cueto yet to pitch. Unless he had been sitting around doing nothing, I hope he’s ready to go an inning pretty soon at least. He isn’t going to help much if he doesn’t pitch for the Sox until late May.

Ted Mulvey

Per James Fegan: “Veteran starter Johnny Cueto was just arriving in Arizona on Friday to undergo intake testing so that his minor-league deal could be finalized. Even when that happens, the Sox are anticipating him needing four to five outings between extended spring training and Triple-A Charlotte to get him up to speed”

jhomeslice

Thanks, could not find any news on what was going on with him. I wish they would have signed him sooner, like when they signed Velasquez. Or really, just instead of him.

Last edited 1 year ago by jhomeslice