White Sox Minor League Relievers Making Big News
Charlotte Knights reliever Brad Goldberg has been added to the International League All-Star team. The White Sox also announced they have promoted Zach Burdi from Winston-Salem to Birmingham and sent Brian Clark down from Charlotte to the Barons to join Burdi.
The Knights will host the game on July 13. Goldberg was a 2013 tenth round pick out of Ohio State. He is in his first season with Charlotte. He was promoted to the Knights after four appearances with Birmingham earlier this year. He was added to the IL All-Star team after some callups and injuries.
Among those missing the game are Goldberg’s Charlotte teammates Matt Davidson and Leury Garcia. Davidson was recalled by the White Sox last week and then put on the disabled list July 1 after breaking his foot in his White Sox debut. Garcia was put on the disabled list by Charlotte yesterday.
Goldberg is 1-3 with a 2.17 ERA and four saves at Charlotte. At Birmingham, Goldberg had a 1.50 ERA with seven strikeouts in six innings.
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Burdi was a first-round pick last month out of Louisville. He grew up in Downers Grove as a White Sox fan. Burdi has hit as high as 104 MPH with Winston-Salem. The 6’3 right-hander is clearly being fast tracked as he was promoted after only four appearances with Winston-Salem.
This is Burdi’s second promotion. He went from the Arizona rookie league to Winston-Salem after one appearance. His stint at Winston-Salem was a bit inconsistent. He gave up three runs on five hits in two innings in his second and fourth outings. He did strike out two in his fourth appearance.
Burdi was unscored upon in his first, third and fifth appearances with Winston-Salem. In three innings he gave up just two hits and struck out three. Burdi did not walk anyone while with Winston-Salem. He had a fairly good 1.20 WHIP. His 5.40 ERA and .316 batting average against are a bit concerning. Burdi’s BA against at Louisville this year was .167.
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His dominant season at UL came to an unfortunate end. He gave up a grand slam with two outs and the Cardinals up 3-0. A win would have tied their super regional against Cal-Santa Barbara at a game a piece in the NCAA Tournament last month. The video of UCSB backup catcher Sam Cohen’s game-winner went viral and sent the Gauchos to their first College World Series.
Video Courtesy ESPN and NCAA via Colin Fitzgerald on YouTube
Clark struggled at Charlotte after dominating at Birmingham. He is 0-1 with a 5.00 ERA and 1.33 WHIP at Charlotte. At Birmingham, Clark was 0-2 with a 0.96 ERA and 25 strikeouts with only nine walks in 28 innings. Strangely enough, Clark’s metrics were almost all the same except for ERA.
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Two bad outings at Charlotte made the difference. He gave up two earned runs in 2.2 innings against the Norfolk Tides on June 13. His other poor outing was at Durham on June 23. Clark gave up three runs on two hits and two walks in 1.1 innings.