White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 14, 2022
Norge Vera received a promotion to Winston-Salem back on Aug. 2, but he didn’t make his debut with the Dash until Sunday.
The Winston-Salem broadcast relayed information from Dash pitching coach Danny Farquhar, who said that Vera had been sidelined with shoulder tightness.
Vera was limited to two innings against Bowling Green on Sunday, and they were easy ones. He retired all six batters he faced on a total of 20 pitches, including a pair of strikeouts in the second inning. The broadcast only referred to the radar gun reading once, when Andrew Murphy said that Vera was sitting in the low-90s.
We’ll have a better idea of how serious it if and when Vera makes a start this coming week. For the year, Vera has an ERA of 1.73 over 26 innings, with 12 hits and 15 walks to 37 strikeouts.
Lehigh Valley 3, Charlotte 1
- Yolbert Sánchez went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Adam Haseley, 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. He was also caught stealing.
- Jake Burger went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Romy Gonzalez doubled and struck out twice.
Notes:
*The Knights grounded into three double plays and were caught stealing twice, so IronPigs pitchers faced only batter over the minimum.
Pensacola 13, Birmingham 12 (12 innings)
- José Rodríguez went 2-for-5 with his eighth homer, a double, an HBP and two strikeouts.
- Oscar Colás homered, singled twice, walked and struck out twice.
- Yoelqui Céspedes wore the golden sombrero while going 0-for-6.
- Matthew Thompson: 2.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 HR, 37 of 56 pitches for strikes.
Highlights:
*Colás’ homer:
*Rodriguez’s blast:
Bowling Green 4, Winston-Salem 2
- Bryan Ramos went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
- Luis Mieses was 0-for-3.
- Norge Vera: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 14 of 20 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 4, Salem 3
- Wes Kath doubled, singled, walked and struck out.
- DJ Gladney went 2-for-4.
- So did Wilfred Veras, who doubled twice.
- Jacob Burke was 0-for-4 and was caught stealing.
- Jared Kelley: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 52 of 87 pitches for strikes.
Viva Colas! Are they awake enough to consider promoting him, if not to the Sox then to AAA at least? He will be 24 in a month, he seems like he might be a very quick riser.
And no, I don’t trust that they know what they’re doing with him. When he’s ready for the big club they will be behind the curve on that like they are with everything else.
It just makes too much sense to happen. I’d obviously love to see him up, but only if he plays. If the options are he stays down or he comes up and watches Leury start in RF from the bench, he can stay down. Honestly, with how bad this team looks I kind of want him up just so he can start making adjustments to MLB pitching so he’s more ready to hit the ground running in 2023.
AA had been where the Organization seems to think hitters prove themselves. They think it is harder to hit in Birmingham (stadium), than Charlotte.
Also, White Sox are not usually a team that lets someone cover 3 levels in a year. But Colas was hot, cooled offf, and now seems to be getting going strong again. I would love to see him make AAA for that extra week or so of games. And then AZFL. put hims in position to be in AAA with a shot at big League at-bats in 2023.
We mentioned it before in a different thread, but given his age and the fact that he’s already been to Japan and had moderate success in what I assume was a much more jolting environment for him, I don’t believe he’s currently a wide-eyed kid that would be easily overwhelmed by the pressure.
I agree. I mean it might not be the norm, but Vaughn is a pretty good example of a guy who got promoted when he was a full year younger than Colas is now, without playing even a game above A ball. Their defense in RF is so shoddy that Colas would be an immediate improvement, even if he does not hit well right away.
I doubt anything will happen, so really a moot point. But it would be tempting to see what he can do, since he might be about the only player in their organization with major league level defensive skills in RF. Probably nothing will happen until early to mid 2023 realistically. Hopefully he stays hot and gives fans some hope for the not too distant future. Outstanding that he broke into top 100 mlb prospects as someone pointed out.
No AZFL. Give the man an off-season. I don’t know what he needs to show us in AZFL that he hasn’t already shown us.
If he keeps going nuts, I imagine he gets promoted to Charlotte for the final couple weeks, but I think it would be much too aggressive to promote him (or any hitting prospect) to the bigs after less than a month at AA with pressure to perform in a division race. I think it makes more sense for his development to get a taste of AAA this year and adjust the roster in the offseason to anticipate that he’s got a good shot to be patrolling RF for much of next year.
I mean, what’s the risk?
That he very likely struggles with the sudden huge jolt in competition and spends his time up here on the bench? Although I’ll admit that if he’s homering every other game in BHam, Charlotte won’t challenge him enough bc the park will never keep him in the field
You want a promotion in spite of an organization you don’t trust for a guy who didn’t play professional baseball for a year, but if he fails in the majors because he needed extra seasoning you’ll say what?
Adam Haseley has not had a very good last 30 days. He’s going to need to turn it around quickly if he hopes to get a September callup. Actually no one has distinguished themselves in the last 30 days. I might be tempted to bring up Burger currently or pickup Gregorious.
Considering it is only 2 roster spots, Burger is the bat. (Didi or Simmons in FA; Billy Hamilton or Brian Goodwin out their).
There are pitchers that will get healthy.
One of the 2 spots will definitely go to a pitcher, the other was looking like Haseley until the last 30 days or so. Now I’m not sure and with TA’s injury I’m even less sure that it’ll be an OF. Has Goodwin even played in the minors this yr? Like Simmons, we just can’t afford to carry Billy’s bat no matter how much many of us would like to pick him up (he was recently DFA’d). If we picked up Didi now we could still have a September spot for someone else. I haven’t completely given up on Sosa but he’d be lucky to get 20 ABs before Sept. 1st at which point I’d rather have Didi now.
Jose Rodriguez has been crushing it for the last couple of months: .324/.388/.510, 21 walks against 28 strikeouts in 233 PA. Hopefully he’ll see Charlotte before the end of the year.
Jose, Yolbert Sanchez, and Bryan Ramos need added to 40-man this offseason. I would prefer to see a Bryan Ramos make it to AA this year. The White Sox seem to think AA is where hitters prove themselves and AAA is final refinement. So I am not too worried if Jose stays in AA goes to AZFL. But whenever they “prove” themselves enough for a promotion is good.
Vera promotion is good. I am unreasonably excited about him (and he will be my prospect “clutch” for the next few years).
Going from “worst farm system in baseball” to two top 100 prospects is probably the best part of this season. Montgomery seems to be playing every other game, presumably he’s wearing down from playing a much longer season than he ever has before, but the kid is still 20 and walking more than striking out at Hi-A despite those long levers.
Who is the other one?
Colas is now 99 on Baseball America’s list.
Oscar Colas Ranked #99 Prospect in Latest Baseball America Top 100 List | Sox On 35th
Bryan Ramos is the High A guy who is well liked as well. He needs added to 40-man this year. I would love to see a late season promotion to AA.
IronPigs!
That’s a good name.