White Sox Minor League Update: September 11, 2022

Winston-Salem and Kannapolis finish their seasons, while Mark Payton gets two homers with Charlotte

Charlotte made a huge, six-run comeback in the ninth to win Sunday’s game, 7-6. Mark Payton homered in the first, and again in the ninth.

He was responsible for the very first run.

And he was responsible for the final three runs that won the game, with his second homer.

Payton still needed some help today, and Xavier Fernández provided a little of that. He was the only other hitter with two hits, one of which was a double. Payton and Fernández had the only extra-base hits today. The team was 3-for-4 with runners in scoring position, so they did not have a lot of opportunity to get easier runs.

John Parke started today, as one of those rare Charlotte starting pitchers. However, he was pulled after three innings, thanks to four runs allowed in the third. The bullpen, aside from Lane Ramsey, had a good day though. Kade McClure continues to have a much better time lately as a bullpen arm. Jason Bilous had the best day, with six up and six down and three strikeouts. Matt Foster, back with the Knights, got the win.

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Project Birmingham was on display on Sunday, for good and bad. The bad first, as this was a loss for the Barons, after all. Cristian Mena started today, and he has been bad since his promotion from the Dash. He came into the game with a 6.30 ERA in Double-A, and it pretty much stayed the same, with three innings and two earned runs today. One of the two errors from Adam Hackenberg contributed to a third, unearned, run. The pen was not great after Mena, either.

The offense certainly did not bring their A-game, with five hits, four walks — and 15 strikeouts. Nine runners on base should get you five runs. However, for the Barons today, all five runs came from the home run. DJ Gladney hit his first Double-A homer — there’s something in the water, because like Colson Montgomery on Saturday, that first homer was a grand slam.

Wilfred Veras collected the fifth and final run, with his second Double-A homer. JJ Muno, unlike Gladney and Veras not a member of Project Birmingham, had the most hits of the day, with two.

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Today’s opener for the Dash was a close win. The offense came out hot, and the arms did just enough to keep the lead after seven innings. The offense’s five runs came from some scrappy play, with two of them unearned. Seven of the nine bats in the lineup had at least one hit. Ben Norman led the team with two, and had one of the two extra-base hits as well. He also stole a base, for good measure. Norman was not the only guy to reach base multiple times though, as Alsander Womack joined him.

Brooks Gosswein and the pitching staff did just enough for the win. Gosswein did give up the lead once after giving up runs in the first and second, but the offense picked him up. The final two arms were the best today, in Skylar Arias and Luis Amaya. They shut down the Cyclones in the final two innings to keep the lead and get the win. It was Amaya’s third High-A save this season.

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With this nightcap win, the Winston-Salem Dash’s season is over. This was another close win, for the doubleheader sweep. This one went to extras, as the Dash won it on a walk-off Caberea Weaver single — though it probably should be ruled an error, see for yourself.

Tommy Sommer had another great start, and deserved the win. He went four scoreless with just three runners allowed. He lowered his High-A ERA to 2.64 on his season, and maybe he should get a congratulations-on-the-season promotion to the Barons now. Chase Plymell gave up the runs to the Cyclones in the nightcap, allowing all three runs in the sixth while recording two outs. It’s never good to allow more runs than outs.

The lackluster offense needed every break to get to four runs, as that video showed above. W-S did not have an extra-base hit, and three of the five hits came from Weaver. So, there was not much help in getting all four of those runs with the bat. Opposing pitchers helped a bit more, walking the Dash seven times.

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In the final game of the season for Kannapolis, the Cannon Ballers came back after allowing a five-run third to win the game, 6-5. They only needed six hits to do it, with help from four walks, so they needed every single one of those runners on base to eke out the win. The 2022 draft class led the way at the top of the lineup: Jordan Sprinkle, Brooks Baldwin, and Jacob Burke combined for four of the RBI today.

It was Michael Turner’s second game, so he did not come up with his first professional hit and he probably won't until 2023, but he still reached twice on walks.

It was all about the 2022 draft class on the mound, as well. Jonathan Cannon got the start and went 2 ¹⁄₃ innings. He didn’t strike out many batters in his first stint in pro ball, but he had a decent start nonetheless with a 1.42 ERA. He was pulled after giving up a run in the third. Shane Murphy came in next and couldn’t get anything going, giving up four to put the Cannon Ballers in a 5-0 hole. The rest of the bullpen kept it there for the offense to eventually come back for the win. Out of the pen, Kole Ramage was best, with 2 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings right after Murphy was pulled.