White Sox Minor League Update: April 13, 2024

A couple of games with prodigious offense, a couple without; Chad Kuhl, Jairo Iriarte and Lucas Gordon had dandy starts to boot

Charlotte Knights 10, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4 (Gameday box) (Statcast box)
As the big club continues to flounder, Charlotte has managed to find its footing a bit (now 4-10) in this series at Jacksonville, with a laffer here. Jax drew first blood on a solo shot, but from there it was all Knights, including a coffin nail 6-spot in the ninth. Notable, Oscar Colás crushed the third hardest-hit ball in Triple-A on Saturday, with a 115.5 mph ground out in the fifth, in his frequent-flier return from Chicago after ... one day; Colson Montgomery had a four-bagger for the second straight night, this one traveling a Triple-A fifth-longest at 422 feet, and had the game’s second (109.9 homer in the fifth) and third (109.4 mph double in the first) hardest hits.

Proof:

Chad Kuhl — that’s Chad Kuhl, K-u-h-l — continues his run as Charlotte’s top starter among several more experienced and/or ballyhooed arms, lowering his season ERA to 1.64 with four innings of one-run ball and six Ks. But all four Knights arms were golden in the win.

Charlotte added a new player as well, as 31-year-old Wilmer Difo joined the roster fresh off of a release from the Yankees, because the White Sox are nothing if not old middle infielder collectors.

Rocket City Trash Pandas 3, Birmingham Barons 2 (doubleheader opener) (Gameday box) (Statcast box)
Certainly the less fun end of this doubleheader was the makeup game from Tuesday’s rainout, a tight tilt that fell the Trash way. And yet this tough Bham squad almost rallied, scoring two in the top of the seventh (final) inning and placing the tying run Duke Ellis on third (steal of second/advance on error) before Wilfred Veras struck out to end the game.

Birmingham Barons 9, Rocket City Trash Pandas 3 (doubleheader nightcap) (Gameday box) (Statcast box)
The much more fun game, with the Birmingham offense erupting behind Edgar Quero and Terrell Tatum. Quero, the fourth batter of the game, put the Barons up for good with a two-run shot, his third in two days:

Tatum had a two-run single in the second and then capped a 4-for-9, three-run, five-RBI doubleheader with his first home run of the year, a two-run shot in the sixth:

Meanwhile, early returns on the Dylan Cease trade are killer, as both Barons ace Drew Thorpe and this nightcap starter, Jairo Iriarte, have been lights-out. Here’s Jairo, who went four hitless innings and had the third-most swings & misses in Double-A on Saturday:

The Barons are now 5-3 after the split on Saturday.

Greensboro Grasshoppers 4, Winston-Salem Dash 3 (Gameday box) (Statcast box)
Noah Schultz Day took an unexpected turn, as the formidable southpaw was touched for four runs in the third inning, which is all the scoring that ended up mattering in the game. On the plus side, Schultz recovered to limit damage in both in the third inning and his final frame after that, managing to record seven Ks in a 61-pitch outing.

On the flip side, Garrett Schoenle is really having a heck of a start to his season, putting up two scoreless innings tonight and now holding a nada-ERA over six frames in 2024.

The Dash (3-5) offense put the ball in play (just six Ks) but didn’t offset those whiffs with much on-basing (four hits, two walks). Lace ’em up again tomorrow, fellas.

Augusta GreenJackets 6, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0 (Gameday box) (Statcast box)
Despite the lopsided final that presumes a poor starting effort, Lucas Gordon was one of the few highlights of this game, burning through six innings of three-hit, two-run, nine-K ball. It was the bullpen (four earned runs in three innings), and a flaccid offense (13 Ks), that doomed the CBs. Reliever Mark McLaughlin is off to a rough start for the second straight season, and now carries a career 10.67 ERA over 25 games and nearly 70 innings.

Kanny falls to 4-4 on the season.