The drawback of having all your full-season affiliates in one region is the tendency to get a clump of games rained out at once. Sure enough, all of the White Sox' North Carolina teams were rained out on Thursday, depriving a number of prospects of making debuts with new teams.
Among the notable names on the move:
- Birmingham: Received Ian Clarkin and Mitch Roman from Winston-Salem.
- Winston-Salem: Received Nick Madrigal from Kannapolis; received Alec Hansen from Birmingham.
- Kannapolis: Received Steele Walker and Ramon Beltre from Great Falls
Also, Bryce Bush is heading to Great Falls after lighting up the Arizona Rookie League.
Winston-Salem is where the biggest news will be, for better or for worse. Their MiLB.tv coverage allows us to see what Madrigal is up to, and just how off Hansen is, should reuniting with pitching coach Matt Zaleski fail to get him back on track.
Also, Tyler Maun of MiLB.com wrote a fantastic review of Eloy Jimenez's approach by interviewing coaches and players who have faced him.
On the evolution of Jiménez’s plate discipline
“It was night and day from the first series we faced against him to the next. We gave him a hard time that first series. We’ve got a really good pitching staff, and they have some good breaking balls. We have a couple of good fastball guys, but the majority of the staff’s got pretty good sliders. That matched up with him pretty well that first series. The second time around, he just wasn’t chasing the same pitches and was making it a lot harder on these guys. We had to be real careful with what we gave him in the zone, and he’s one of those guys where you’ve got to miss. If you’re going to throw in, you miss off the plate. If you’re going to throw him breaking balls, you miss those off the plate, as well. I’m sure that a lot of people are finding that that’s the game plan you have to have against him, and he’s making those adjustments and taking his walks. He’s only going to get better once he understands that and he grows as a hitter. Once he gets to the big leagues, he’ll find more pitchers willing to challenge him. The stuff is better up there. There will be more four-seam guys that try to attack him up in the zone. He’s got that swing with the little bit steeper angle in his setup which allows him to hit off-speed stuff, stay in the zone real lateral. He doesn’t really work horizontal. He’ll make an adjustment. Seeing him make adjustments down here, he’ll make adjustments to the four-seam guys, as well. He’s going to be a fun guy to follow.”
Mobile 8, Birmingham 4
- Joel Booker went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and an HBP.
- Alex Call, 1-for-4 with a double, a walk and a strikeout.
- Zack Collins, 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Danny Mendick was 1-for-3 with a walk and an HBP.
- Jameson Fisher, 2-for-3 with a walk.
Billings 10, Great Falls 2
- Lenyn Sosa went 1-for-5 with a strikeout and a stolen base.
- Amado Nunez was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Gunnar Troutwine singled thrice and struck out once.
- Maiker Feliz went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Jason Bilous: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
- Davis Martin: 1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR
DSL White Sox 7, DSL Padres 1
- Harold Diaz went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Jose Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double.
- Jefferson Mendoza, 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
