The Chicago White Sox are easily a team in transition. They are transitioning from a good team, to a bad team and back to a good team, or so we hope.
The way they are going to do this is to find some talent, either in their minor league system or from another team. Hopefully, they can reach into what is slowly starting to become a deep minor-league system and grab some talent there.
The biggest news of the week in the minors was the call-up of Drew Thorpe from Double-A Birmingham.
A part of the trade for Dylan Cease before the start of the season, Thorpe had an ERA of 1.35 in the minors and was pitching well. The Sox figured it was time to bring him up and see what he did and he didn’t do that bad. He pitched five innings and allowed three hits, two runs, and one earned run. His ERA was 1.80 and his WHIP was 1.000. Thorpe also had four strikeouts and two walks.
Not a bad way to start your major league career. If he just would have gotten support from his teammates things might have ended up on the winning side for him and the Sox.
Looking at some of the other news and notes from the minors, AA-Birmingham Barons pitcher Noah Schultz has been performing well as the Sox number two prospect in the system. He currently has an ERA of 3.00 in 39 innings pitched. His WHIP is 0.77. The White Sox have been calling players up to the majors, from the minors, on a pretty regular basis. It’s possible that Schultz could follow guys like Thorpe to the majors and show what he’s made of.
AA-Birmingham shortstop Brooks Baldwin has been tearing it up at the plate this season. He currently has an average of .352 in 216 at-bats. He’s driven in 28 RBI and four home runs. The White Sox have no shortage of quality shortstops in their farm system and may have some trade bait for the future. Their number-one shortstop, and number-one prospect overall, Colson Montgomery is doing ok in Charlotte. They also have Jacob Gonzalez in Birmingham. He’s a highly-rated prospect in the Sox system.
Birmingham appears to be loaded with talent and this is evident as we see another face start to make waves with the White Sox affiliate. Wilfred Veras, an outfielder has been doing well hitting the ball for the Barons this season. He currently has 200 at-bats with 56 hits, 25 RBI, and seven stolen bases. His batting average is .280. He’s another up-and-coming star that we could see in the majors sooner rather than later.
Jonathan Cannon has been doing ok pitching for the the White Sox. The other day against the Mariners he had a decent outing. He pitched a total of seven innings allowing four hits, one run and one walk. He got seven strikeouts in the process. That’s not a bad game for the youngster who is showing himself to be a valuable part of the future with the Sox.