The Barons were the only White Sox affiliate able to play an entire game on Sunday, so here's a quick look at which players merit promotion consideration, and which ones merit a step back.
Charlotte
- Promotion: Every hitter
- Demotion: Every pitcher
The run-scoring environment in Triple-A is wack, and no place is more wack than BB&T Ballpark. The Knights have outscored the league by 25 runs, and their pitching has allowed 64 more runs than the next-closest team. Charlie Tilson looks like he could replace Adam Engel and deserve it (.333/.396/.475), and Zack Collins and Daniel Palka have OPSes over .900. Then again, Nicky Delmonico and Ryan Cordell also had major success in Charlotte before their promotions, and they mostly look the same.
On the pitching side, Dylan Cease is the only member of the Charlotte rotation with a rotation under 8.00. Cease is performing well thus far, but his walks are up a touch and he hasn't thrown more than 90 pitches in a game. Matt Foster is another one to keep an eye on, as he hasn't allowed a run yet this year, even with three outings under his belt in Charlotte. Keep an eye on that.
Birmingham
- Promotion: Jimmy Lambert
- Demotion: Blake Rutherford
Lambert is picking up where left off in Birmingham, with 39 strikeouts over 33⅔ innings and a 2.94 ERA. That's about what he did in five starts with the Barons last year, albeit with a higher walk rate this time out due to one bad start. Everybody else is treading water.
On the flip side, Rutherford is hitting .165/.211/.259. He's not alone with his struggles -- Gavin Sheets is also hitting under .200 with nothing to compensate -- but he's the only one who could get crowded out of his position, especially if Micker Adolfo is available to return anytime soon.
Luis Robert is hitting .350/.409/.550 over his first five games, but let's give him at least a week.
Winston-Salem
- Promotion: Nick Madrigal?
- Demotion: Nobody
Robert made the jump to Birmingham and Steele Walker replaced him, so the Dash have more or less found their roster equilibrium. Madrigal is hitting .277/.355/.383, which isn't stunning, but he's drawn nine walks to four strikeouts over 107 plate appearances. The question is whether he should be raking more, or whether his skill set is so unique that he's going to OBP .355 and slug .383 at every level. He doesn't seem to slump. He just goes 1-for-4 with a walk here and a double there.
With Alec Hansen jumping to the Barons, nobody of note is eminently overqualified for High-A, or looks overmatched.
Kannapolis
- Promotion: Konnor Pilkington, Jonathan Stiever
- Demotion: Lenyn Sosa, Amado Nunez
The White Sox named Pilkington their system's pitcher of the month after posting a 2.01 ERA in April, and it's down to 1.98 after six innings of one-run ball on May 1. He's allowing just a .137/.234/.221 line, so there doesn't seem to be a challenge for him. Stiever needed three starts to get on track, but his last three starts have been excellent (21 strikeouts, 20 baserunners over 19 innings). He looked more advanced than anybody else making their pro debuts last year, so he might not be long for the level, either.
Sosa and Nunez are both scuffling. Sosa's only 19 and drew just seven walks in 65 games at Great Falls last year, so it's not surprising to see plate discipline keeping him to a .194/.228/.259 line. Nunez, however, is 21, and his OPS in Kannapolis (.418) is not even half of what it was in Great Falls (.962). I'm guessing both players are more or less in it until the draft rearranges rosters, but Corey Zangari is back and taking Nunez's reps at first.
Chattanooga 7, Birmingham 4
- Luis Robert went 3-for-5 with three doubles.
- Luis Basabe was 0-for-3 with a walk, bunt and strikeout.
- Luis Gonzalez, 0-for-5 again.
- Ti'Quan Forbes went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
- Gavin Sheets, 1-for-4 with a K.
- Blake Rutherford was 1-for-4 with a double.
- Laz Rivera went 1-for-3 with a double, walk and strikeout.
- Felix Paulino: 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
