White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 3, 2022

Maimonides Park in Coney Island (Marc A. Hermann / MTA)

It’s weird that Winston-Salem is playing in Brooklyn, especially since they’re both supposedly in the South Atlantic League, but a couple of Dash are enjoying their time at Coney Island.

Tyler Osik became the first Winston-Salem player to hit for the cycle since Steele Walker in 2019, going double, homer, triple and single.

Osik, a 25-year-old who grew up on the far side of Long Island, was drafted out of Central Florida in the 27th round in 2019. He’s hitting .312/.391/.455 this year, while splitting games between catcher, first base and DH.

Ben Norman was overshadowed by his teammate’s rare feat, but he went 2-for-5 with his ninth homer in just 28 games for the Dash.

The 24-year-old is hitting .314/.368/.619 over 134 plate appearances in Winston-Salem, which accounts for just about his entire pro career to date. The White Sox signed him as a non-drafted free agent out of Iowa after a similarly powerful display with the now-independent Great Falls Voyagers. He’s old for the level, but he’s also handling the drop-in assignment just about as well as he can.

It’s even more impressive when considering he started his tour with the Dash 3-for-24 with 10 strikeouts. He’s hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games, over which he’s hitting .419/.446/.823 with a far more reasonable 12 strikeouts over 65 plate appearances.

Charlotte 11, Gwinnett 8

  • Lenyn Sosa went 2-for-3 with his first Triple-A homer and a walk.
  • Jake Burger wore the collar.
  • Carlos Pérez and Adam Haseley both came up a triple short of the cycle during a 3-for-4 night.
  • Yolbert Sánchez went 1-for-4.
  • Davis Martin: 2.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 HR

Chattanooga 9, Birmingham 3

  • José Rodriguez went 1-for-4 with his third homer, a walk and two strikeouts.
  • Oscar Colás was 1-for-4, and was caught stealing.
  • Yoelqui Céspedes went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
  • Matthew Thompson’s Double-A debut: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR

Winston-Salem 8, Brooklyn 0

  • Bryan Ramos went 2-for-5 with two strikeouts.
  • Tyler Osik hit for the cycle in his four plate appearances.

Carolina 5, Kannapolis 3

  • Wes Kath went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
  • DJ Gladney wore the golden sombrero.
  • Wilfred Veas was 2-for-4 with a double.
  • Kohl Simas: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 HR

DSL Padres 1, DSL White Sox 0 (7 innings)

  • Guillermo Rodriguez and Erick Hernandez both were 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
  • Carlos Jimenez went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
  • Loidel Chapelli was unsuccessful in a pinch-hitting appearance.
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ParisSox

“Ben Norman was overshadowed by his teammate’s rare eat“

It’s Coney Island. I’m not surprised.

upnorthsox

That Tyler Osik, what a hot dog.

lifelongjd

Colas with a 1.237 OPS in Birmingham through 12 games is very impressive. He may be the starting RF in 2023 for the Sox at this pace.

fustercluck

gotta trade him for relief pitching before the shine wears off

lifelongjd

I get the snark, but I do believe Hahn not trading Colas and Montgomery was the better move. The big league club needs more than 1-2 players at the deadline to be ready to compete for a WS.

soxygen

Totally agree that it is good that they didn’t trade any of their top 3-4 prospects for relief help.

The interesting thing about this trade deadline is that while the price of a decent starting pitcher seemed high compared to 2021, there were some decent arms on the move for not much. For example, given the obvious 40-man crunch for the Dodgers and uncertain role of Mitch White, I would have loved to see the Sox make a play for him. White is a
controllable back end starter/swing man who could ably fill in for Kopech (assuming he is on an innings limit) but didn’t have a future in the Dodgers rotation.

The Jays got White plus a decent infield prospect for a couple of pitchers who probably ranked 25-40 in their system. I would have been totally fine with trading a couple of Kade McClure-type prospects for someone who could eat innings cheaply for the next three years. If the Sox found that price to be too high then they are really nuts, and if they never made the call to LA then what the hell were they actually doing over the past two weeks?

All of which is just to say something I know you already know, lifelongjd, that there were options other than making bad trades with our top guys…

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
metasox

That would be a good type for the Sox to target. May have taken more than a McClure type based on Fangraphs grading one of the prospects as a 40+

Steve

His listed position with MLB is still TWP so maybe he is the relief pitcher.