White Sox Minor League Update: August 25, 2023

It’s the usual rundown into the loss column, but there was a sweet start from Matt Thompson, some outbursts on offense, and Troy Claunch refusing to stay off-base

Setting up a doubleheader tomorrow, it was a scheduled day off for Charlotte. So the update is as short as you’ll ever see, just three games, beginning in Double-A and a tight Barons game.

There are two ways you can look at this 5-4 loss in 10 innings.

One is that (roughly) the top five White Sox hitting prospects and 1-5 batters in the game — José Rodríguez, Colson Montgomery, Bryan Ramos, Wilfred Veras and Edgar Quero — combined to go 1-for-23 with a walk and 13 Ks against a Double-A soft-tosser with a 4.16 ERA named Brett Kerry.

The other is that the Barons lower-order and early pitching kept them in a game against a superior opponent (let’s face it, every game the White Sox face at any level is a game against a superior opponent, that’s just the fate we must embrace). Matt Thompson was OUTSTANDING through five, a wild streak upping that pitch count too close to 90 to let him start a sixth inning.

Hard to know whether the game came down to a Popeye goof at third base in the 10th inning, or whether it was a bang-bang contact play that was well-executed by the Trash Pandas, but that was the key, as outlined above: In the 10th, Rodríguez moved to third on a wild pitch and was just 90 feet from at least forcing an 11th when Ramos rapped to third base, the most challenging place he could have driven the ball.

Oh, and Jared Kelley walked in the winning run to end the game. And Edgar Quero, whose catching skills have flashed both extraordinary and horrendous since he’s come over to the White Sox, had one of his latter ballgames.

Ah well, Project Birmingham, or whatever this is, plays again tomorrow.

Closer than the final score indicated? Perhaps, as some big blows (homers from Loidel Chapelli Jr., Colby Smelley and Troy Claunch) made up a bit for a lack of overall on-base action from the Dash.

But in the end, a five-run loss is a five-run loss.

Chapelli’s blow early was the biggest WPA swing of the game, as you’ll see in both chart and real-life action form below:

Our Guy Juan Carela had his worst start in the Sox org, so sticking at a 3.62 ERA after four earnies in four frames tonight tells you how good he’s really been. And Frander Veras threw just three balls off of the plate in his exquisite two innings to finish off the rout.

A win! A win! Thank you, Cannon Ballers, as my return to minor league updating does not have to be a whitewash.

It wasn’t pretty, but there were highlights including Rikuu Nishida’s excuse-me triple from the leadoff spot,

Ryan Galanie’s first pro homer,

and 12 hits strung together enough to create 10 runs. Overall, though, a sloppy game, despite a WPA chart that shows the CBs pretty much in charge for the duration.