White Sox Minor Keys: July 28, 2022
Because the White Sox occasionally throw me a bone and put newsworthy developments in my own backyard, Luis Robert opened his rehab stint with the Charlotte Knights in Nashville on Thursday. He served as Charlotte’s DH and went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
Rick Hahn said Robert’s lightheadedness/blurred vision issue affected him more in the field than at the plate, and the results bore that out. The condition interrupted a hot streak at the plate, but also some uncharacteristically ragged defense in center field. Hopefully I’ll get to see him play some outfield tonight, and I’ll relay anything worth noting.
Nashville 3, Charlotte 1
- Jake Burger went 2-for-3.
- Luis Robert DH’d and was 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Lenyn Sosa, 1-for-5 with a K.
- Carlos Pérez was 1-for-3 with an HBP.
Birmingham 7, Tennessee 1
- José Rodríguez went 0-for-5 with a K.
- Oscar Colás, 0-for-4 with a walk and three strikeouts.
- Yoelqui Céspedes was 1-for-5 with a double and two strikeouts.
- Jason Bilous had a normal one: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Winston-Salem 7, Greensboro 5
- Bryan Ramos went 3-for-5 wtih a double, sac fly and strikeout.
- Luis Mieses was 2-for-6 with a double and a strikeout.
- Adam Hackenberg, 1-for-6 with three strikeouts.
- Matthew Thompson: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 42 of 55 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 5, Columbia 4 (11 innings)
- Wes Kath doubled, walked and struck out thrice.
- DJ Gladney was 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Wilfred Veras, 0-for-5 with a K.
ACL Padres 11, ACL White Sox 0 (7 innings)
- Victor Quezada had the lone hit, going 1-for-3.
- Luis Pineda and Chase Krogman were both 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Dario Borrero struck out all three trips.
- Cam Butler walked and struck out once.
- Carlos Hinestroza: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
DSL White Sox 12, DSL Padres 11
- Guillermo Rodriguez went 0-for-5 with an HBP and a strikeout.
- Loidel Chapelli, 1-for-5 with a triple, walk and strikeout.
- Carlos Jimenez drove in seven during a 3-for-6 day, homering twice and striking out once.
- Ronny Hernandez went 2-for-4 with an HBP and a strikeout.
Kath suffers by comparison with draft cohort Montgomery, but how’s he doing otherwise?
“Fine” for a first full year of pro ball, but too many strikeouts (33% of plate appearances) and not enough power to make up for it (yet). That said, he’s left handed, takes his walks, plays an important defensive position, and is still almost two years younger than the average at his level. He’ll probably finish the year in A ball, start the season there next year, and then be in High-A by mid-2023 assuming he makes the adjustments he needs.
Matthew Thompson, last 8 games: 39.1 IP, 10BB, 38K. Which is good! The problem for him is the 8 HR allowed over that span.
I’d be interested to know what the pitch and batter breakdowns on those HRs are.
Thompson has been known to have big velocity fluctuations, and for the spin on both his FB and CB to be inconsistent.
In a weird way, the best-case scenario would be if he’s been giving up homers on curveballs that didn’t curve, or maybe at the start or end of games when he is not yet fully locked in / getting exhausted.
That’s best case, because those are both fixable issues with practice and conditioning.
But if his quality fastballs are cutting into barrels of bats or something, that’s not so easy a fix.
Given how heavy his strike-throwing has been— 42/55 pitches for strikes is pretty nuts, way above average especially for this age/level, I think the cause of these homers is probably that he’s living in the zone TOO much, and I bet he’s command over control, so in other words there’s too much over the middle of the plate.
It sounds like they believe that Luis Robert has improved enough to play, which is great news.
Unless I missed something, they still don’t know what the cause was. This could very well mean that it is a recurring problem over the remainder of this season/contract.
It also remains to be seen whether this is connected to the vague leg/effort issue that led to Tony sitting him for a couple of days back in early June-ish when he failed to run to second on what should have been a double, or to field grounders up the middle with any urgency, which allowed the opposition to turn a couple of singles into doubles.
Loidel Chapelli,Heading to High A to start next year, or Low A?