As the NFL season kicked off this weekend, the Major League and Minor League baseball seasons entered their home stretch.
Although a few weeks remain on the Chicago White Sox schedule, the lower levels of the minor leagues came to an end this weekend.
The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (Low-A) and Winston-Salem Dash (High-A) played their final games of the season on Sunday, and neither club being playoff bound means the majority of the players will head home for the winter.
The Double-A season, however, still has a few weeks remaining. With the Birmingham Barons also heading for the playoffs, the White Sox made a few minor league promotions, allowing some prospects to join the Barons for the playoff push.
Here's a look at the minor leaguers who got moved up.
RHP Phil Fox
At just 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, Phil Fox won’t intimidate anyone with his frame, but the stuff speaks for itself.
The White Sox seventh-round pick out of Pitt in 2024, Fox didn’t report to an affiliate until the start of this season, where he’s played the entirety of the season so far with High-A Winston-Salem.
Strictly a reliever, Fox has become one of the most reliable options in the Dash bullpen, and eventually moved to the closer role, where he went 11-for-15 in save opportunities.
Fox strikes out a lot of hitters, with 74 in 59.2 innings this season, and his control is elite. Just 14 walks (2 of them intentional) all year and a .202 opponent average have led to an impressive 1.01 WHIP for the season.
The 22 year-old will now get a chance to help out the Birmingham bullpen as they make their push for the playoffs. Fox is likely to begin 2026 at the Double-A level, and continued success could soon put him on the big league radar.
RHP Carson Jacobs
Unlike the small and slender Fox, Carson Jacobs is 6-foot-9 and has a massive presence on the mound.
The big right-hander signed with the White Sox as an undrafted free agent in 2023 after playing his senior year of college baseball at North Dakota State. With a 6.62 ERA in his final year of college, the White Sox undoubtedly viewed Jacobs as a project, but loved the projectable frame and stuff.
Jacobs both ended 2023 and began 2024 in the Arizona Complex League before a promotion to Kannapolis midseason. He spent just 10.1 innings in Kannapolis before being moved up to Winston-Salem, ultimately finishing 2024 with a 2.37 ERA across three levels as a reliever.
2025 has been a year of growth and adversity for Jacobs. His strikeout rate has remained elite, but a large spike in his walk rate have led to a 4.61 ERA in 42 appearances so far this year. However, a 1.50 ERA in August was enough for the White Sox to feel like he was ready for the next level, and Jacobs will join Double-A Birmingham for their playoff push.
The 24 year-old will now look to find some consistency with his control and prove he belongs at the higher levels of the minor leagues.
SS Jordan Sprinkle
The lone position player on this list, 24-year-old Jordan Sprinkle was drafted by the White Sox in the fourth round back in 2022. During his college career at UC-Santa Barbara, Sprinkle featured elite defense and speed, and the White Sox hoped they could unlock the potential in his bat.
Unfortunately, the bat has never come around for Sprinkle, who has just seven home runs across four minor league seasons and has a career minor league OPS of .622. The defense has remained consistently solid, but this year Sprinkle has taken the speed aspect of his game to a new level, with an eye-popping 77 stolen bases between Kannapolis and Winston-Salem.
Sprinkle will now be heading to Birmingham for the first time, where he will likely serve as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement on their playoff roster. At this point in his career, Sprinkle is unlikely to be anything more than this at a higher level, but Birmingham will be getting an absolute beast on the bases.
With one more week of the Barons season, and just a couple more weeks for the Knights and White Sox, the focus across the organization will begin to shift focus to 2026.
It remains to be seen whether Fox, Jacobs, or Sprinkle will ever make an impact at the Major League level, but their promotions this week are something to keep an eye on.