White Sox Minor League Weekly Update: April 25 - May 1

Zach Remillard hits over .400, Raudy Read clobbered three homers, Bryan Ramos keeps being good at baseball, and Cristian Mena took a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

Charlotte Knights

Romy González: (Did not play last week, on IL)
Seby Zavala: .188/.316/.375 — 1 HR, 3 BB, 8 K, 4 R
Micker Adolfo: .400/.478/.650 — 1 HR, 3 BB, 8 K, 2 R, 3 RBI
Yolbert Sánchez: .385/.429/.423 - 2 BB, 4 K, 2 R, 3 RBI
Carlos Pérez: .353/.389/.706 — 2 HR, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 R, 4 RBI
Zach Remillard: .450/.522/.700 - 1 HR, 3 BB, 4 K, 6 R, 7 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Emilio Vargas: 4 IP, 4.50 ERA, 2 BB, 4 K
Kade McClure: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 11.57 ERA, 0 BB, 5 K
Johnny Cueto: 4 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0 BB, 6 K

Zach Remillard has moved slowly, not even really surely, up to starting this year in Charlotte. So far, he is doing much better than his time with the Knights in 2021. In 22 games, Remillard has a 136 wRC+ off the back of greatly-improved plate discipline. He has more walks (12) than strikeouts (11) right now, not by much, but still impressive after 22 games. What has changed is the K-rate, that was halved compared to last season’s 27.8% K-rate. So far though, Remillard is not seeing a big boost in power (which nobody should expect) because he is not hitting balls in the air that often. His grounders are right at 51%, and then line drives and fly balls combined for the other 49%. So he might be seeing the ball better, but he is not necessarily getting more contact at the same time. It’s just that he hit .450 and got on base more than half of his plate appearances — you cannot overlook that type of week!

Birmingham Barons

José Rodríguez: .231/.259/.308 — 1 BB, 4 K, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB
Lenyn Sosa: .333/.448/.625 — 2 HR, 4 BB, 10 K, 6 R, 5 RBI
Yoelqui Céspedes: .148/.179/.333 — 1 HR, 0 BB, 8 K, 3 R, 4 RBI
Raudy Read: .375/.389/.938 - 3 HR, 1 BB, 3 K, 4 R, 8 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Jason Bilous: 3 ²⁄₃ IP, 4.91 ERA, 3 BB, 4 K
Davis Martin: 5 IP, 7.20 ERA, 0 BB, 9 K
Caleb Freeman: 2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0 BB, 2 K

A guy that probably will not appear in another MLB game, but certainly has shown he can hit, is the weekly MVP for Birmingham this time around, Raudy Read. He has very limited MLB experience (just 14 games, and he was not particularly good, with a -12 wRC+), but he’s with the Barons now, crushing the ball. In 13 Double-A games, Read has a 186 wRC+ with a .295 ISO. He did not play much last season, and because there was no minor league ball in 2020, Read’s last real time was in ’19. Then, the power was just as good as it is now, but Read is walking more now, and the BABIP is about 100 points higher. A 28.6% homer per fly ball rate is not sustainable, and Read is hitting too many grounders, but around 71% of his batted balls are being pulled or going to center. So while the BABIP is high and he is hitting grounders more than he should, it still seems like Read is getting a decent amount of good contact. He is 28, though, so his MLB future is probably gone.

Winston-Salem Dash

Oscar Colás: .333/.375/.800 — 2 HR, 1 BB, 3 K, 4 R, 5 RBI
Bryan Ramos: .385/.448/.692 — 2 HR, 3 BB, 3 K, 6 R, 6 RBI **Weekly MVP**
Luis Míeses: .360/.448/.600 — 4 BB, 5 K, 4 R, 5 RBI
Adam Hackenberg: .313/.368/.375 — 1 BB, 3 K, 1 R, 5 RBI
Drew Dalquist: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 8.31 ERA, 4 BB, 1 K
Matthew Thompson: 5 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 BB, 1 K
Sean Burke: 9 ²⁄₃ IP, 5.59 ERA, 3 BB, 11 K

With Bryan Ramos getting all the love in April’s monthly update, one top prospect showed what we have all been waiting for: power. Oscar Colás hit his first two homers as a White Sox player last week, though he sat out over the weekend. Colás is at 80 plate appearances so far, so not a lot to go by yet, but his first month went pretty well, with a 128 wRC+. He is also playing exclusively in center field, which is fun; he does not have an assist yet, but he’s only been in 16 games. The plate discipline is fine right now, just about 9% walk rate and 21% K-rate, obviously it could be better but there are no warning signs in there. The aspect of his first Stateside month that should give some pause is a 55.4% ground ball rate, which is much too high, especially for a guy with his raw power profile. It makes the .370 BABIP seem luckier than normal, given that grounders are the majority of batted balls.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Misael González: .067/.176/.067 — 1 BB, 7 K, 1 R, 3 RBI
Colson Montgomery: (Did not play last week)
Wes Kath: .167/.318/.389 — 1 HR, 4 BB, 6 K, 2 R, 4 RBI
Wilfred Veras: .167/.211/.444 — 1 HR, 1 BB, 8 K
Jared Kelley: 4 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 BB, 4 K
Cristian Mena: 6 ¹⁄₃ IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 BB, 10 K **Weekly MVP**

Because Cristian Mena is featured in April’s monthly update, let’s take a look at Jared Kelley, who bounced back last week. It was just one start, but one walk allowed in four innings is something he has done in two games. It is very early for Low-A pitchers, especially one like Kelley who has not really pitched over the last three seasons; in three starts, he has only gone 8 ²⁄₃ innings. Those three starts can be boiled down to two good ones and one truly bad outing. The main contributor of the bad one was four walks, while only recording five outs. Hopefully, Kelley follows this up with a good one to create some momentum, as he needs to show consistency.