And then there were two.
That’s where the White Sox stand on Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects after Noah Schultz and Braden Montgomery graduated from consideration, leaving Roch Cholowsky at No. 7 and Caleb Bonemer at No. 28 as the club’s only names on the list. With Hagen Smith and Tanner McDougal moving into relief roles for the rest of the season - and maybe burning through their eligibility if their major league careers begin soon enough - Billy Carlson looks like the next White Sox prospect who could force his way into the conversation before the year is over. Bonemer’s rise also offers a road map for how Cole Prosek or Landon Thome might work their way in.
The broader picture in the White Sox system is still rough, though there is at least a reason for some of the turnover. Looking back at Baseball America’s preseason top 30, the Sox have already graduated Schultz, Montgomery, Sam Antonacci and Jacob Gonzalez. That felt thin at first glance, until you remember Tristan Peters wasn’t ranked there at all.
On the field, Charlotte split a doubleheader with Durham, dropping the opener 4-1 before bouncing back to win the second game 7-1 in seven innings.
In the first game, Rikuu Nishida went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, while Ryan Galanie supplied the lone Charlotte run with a homer in a 1-for-3 day that also included a strikeout. Jonathan Cannon gave the club six innings, allowing five hits and one run, with one earned run, no walks, three strikeouts and a homer surrendered on 50 strikes among his 78 pitches. Hagen Smith worked an inning and gave up no hits or runs, though he did walk one and strike out one while throwing 13 strikes in 24 pitches.
The second game belonged to Durham, which rolled to a 7-1 win. Nishida struck out three times and went hitless, earning the collar and silver sombrero.
Galanie finished 0-for-2 with a walk. Jaden Woods handled 1.1 innings, allowing two hits but no runs, with no walks, no strikeouts and 14 strikes in 19 pitches.
Birmingham came out on top of Rocket City 8-4, and Caleb Bonemer’s night was quiet at the plate, as he went 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout. Anthony DePino was 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout, while Colby Shelton doubled, singled, walked twice, struck out once and stole a base.
Ryan Burrowes also had a busy line, singling twice, walking once, striking out twice and stealing a base. James Taussig went 2-for-4 and was hit by a pitch.
On the mound, Drew Thorpe logged four innings and allowed three hits, two runs and one earned run with three walks and three strikeouts, throwing 43 strikes in 68 pitches. Pierce George followed with 1.1 innings, giving up two hits and one run, both earned, with two walks, three strikeouts, one wild pitch and 21 strikes in 39 pitches.
Winston-Salem beat Asheville 7-4 behind a strong day from Nick McLain, who doubled and walked three times while striking out once. Roch Cholowsky went 1-for-4 with a double, a walk and a strikeout, and the source notes that the double was more of a single, though it still counted as his first hit and RBI.
Javier Mogollón was 0-for-4 with a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, George Wolkow finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts, Jeral Perez went 0-for-2 with three walks, and Kyle Lodise was 0-for-3 with a walk, a hit by pitch and a strikeout. Max Banks threw one scoreless inning, allowing no hits, one walk and no strikeouts while getting four strikes on 11 pitches.
Kannapolis also posted a 10-4 win over Charleston.
In Other News...
White Sox May Have Given Up Too Soon On This Former Top Prospect
The White Sox have already been busy sorting through deadline-day roster churn, and one of the quieter moves involved a former top prospect who never got much runway in Chicago. Everson Pereira was part of the latest wave of transactions after the club made room elsewhere, a reminder of how quickly a player can move from a possible long-shot flier to a roster casualty when a front office is trying to manage depth and flexibility.
Pereiras profile still carries some intrigue because of the mix of minor league production, brief major league looks and injury interruptions that have shaped his career so far. His next stop is a Cardinals organization that will have to keep him on the active roster, which gives the move a little more weight than a typical waiver claim and leaves the White Sox to wonder whether they moved on before getting a real answer on what he might become. [Read more 🡒]
Colson Montgomery Faces A Tough New Test In White Sox Progress
Since June, the White Sox have at least looked like a club moving in the right direction, going 27-27 after a rougher start and finding a little more stability around the roster. For Colson Montgomery, though, the picture has been more complicated. The 24-year-old is in his first full major league season, and his production has slipped during the same stretch, with the left-handed hitter working through the usual growing pains that come when pitchers start adjusting back.
Ryan Fuller, the teams hitting director, and Montgomery both have framed it as part of the development curve rather than a simple slump. Montgomery has been trying to adapt to a league that is taking new looks at him, and the challenge now is less about proving he belongs than figuring out how to respond when opponents change the book on him. [Read more 🡒]