With regards to team performance, the Birmingham Barons were the lone bastion of reliable, respectable play for any stretch of the 2021 season among White Sox affiliates.

Even then, they couldn't quite escape the misfortune that befell the system as a whole. They held an edge for the second postseason spot in the Double-A South by 2½ games over the final week of the season, but lost four consecutive games to Montgomery, with a last-day doubleheader cancelled by rain, to finish a half-game out of the postseason.

Still, Birmingham closed the season 62-56, good enough to finish first in the Double-A South's North Division (which makes you wonder about the point of divisions if they have no postseason implications). They tied for the league lead in a pitching-friendly league in runs scored while finishing in the top half in runs allowed. Promotions for guys like Micker Adolfo, Romy Gonzalez and Carlos Pérez indicated that that nothing about Birmingham presented an impenetrable obstacle the way it played in 2019. Perhaps getting rid of Omar Vizquel took care of the dysfunction.

Like every other affiliate, the Barons were short on guys who could work walks. Unlike other affiliates, they enjoyed more success putting the bat on the ball.

The Birmingham pitching staff overachieved despite a lack of name-brand talent, with unheralded prospects like Kade McClure and Konnor Pilkington making the first half of games rather simple for Justin Jirschele on a nightly basis. The former pitcher was promoted and the latter was traded, so the bullpen had to work harder over the last two months.

I anticipated the Barons to have a worse-than-average walk rate as a team because of Alec Hansen, but the rest of the pitching staff managed to pull it together. Take Hansen's 37 walks over 22⅓ innings out of the equation, and Birmingham's walk rate drops to 8.6 percent.

Pitchers

Jason Bilous: He earned a promotion to Birmingham after just three dominant outings in Winston-Salem, but while he occasionally showed the form that allowed him to rack up 26 strikeouts against two walks over 14⅔ innings with the Dash, his 6.51 ERA in Double-A generally tells the story. He worked five innings just once over his last 10 outings, over which his walk rate began to swell after tamping it down through July. It's possible fatigue played a part, although he came up 25 innings short of his previous career high of 104⅔ in 2019. He made some strides, but we'll see if he's able to stay in a rotation spot, or whether he shifts to relief.

Davis Martin: Martin had the opposite fortune with the Barons, as he appeared to be promoted more out of necessity than merit after the trade deadline sent away Pilkington. He'd posted a 5.32 ERA over the course of diminishing returns in his 17 starts with the Dash, with a sliding strikeout rate over the course of the season. Yet the promotion to Double-A gave him life. After a rocky debut, he posted four consecutive scoreless outings covering 16 innings in August, with 17 strikeouts to just 14 baserunners allowed. Unfortunately, it was bookended with a rough loss to Montgomery, but a 3.54 ERA with 20 strikeouts over 20⅓ innings is a good start for a Double-A career that probably will continue at the start of next season.

Caleb Freeman: He had a strong fastball-slider combo with Texas Tech, but he had little idea of how to control it. It took him about a month, but he ironed out his walk-rate problems by Father's Day, with a more reasonable 10 walks to 37 strikeouts over his final 31⅔ innings. He earned a promotion to Birmingham at the start of August and handled the jump well, although his numbers were somewhat tainted by a blown save in what turned out to be Birmigham's last best chance at a victory in 2021. He struck out 22 batters in Double-A while issuing just five walks over 16⅔ innings, and if he appeared in the White Sox bullpen at some point in 2022, it wouldn't be the biggest surprise. The Arizona Fall League assignment indicates some level of intrigue on the part of the White Sox. Andrew Perez gets an honorable mention, although the White Sox seemed to prefer Bennett Sousa from the left side.

Position Players

Yoelqui Céspedes: The White Sox's top international signing was expected to start the season in Birmingham, but early-season visa issues and a shoulder problem delayed his debut until the second half of June, and it was with Winston-Salem. It turned out to be the correct call, because it took him a few weeks to knock off the rust and get his strikeout rate under control. When he hit .330/.407/.530 over a month-long period with the Dash, he got his long-awaited promotion to Double-A. The production took a few series to arrive, but he finished the season on a high note, going 13-for-30 with his first homer over the final nine games of the season. All in all, he hit .285/.350/.463 with 30 extra-base hits (eight homers, two triples, 20 doubles) and 18 stolen bases. The 27.8 percent strikeout rate seems like it'll come down, but the 5.4 walk rate will be tough for him to raise given how much he likes to swing. He'll get a chance to put a convincing stamp on his season in the Arizona Fall League.

Jose Rodriguez: One of the candidates for the farm system's biggest success story in 2021, Rodriguez opened the season as a 19-year-old in Kannapolis, and he finished the season as a 20-year-old in Birmingham. He did more than have a birthday in May. He hit .301/.338/.469 over 111 games, with 46 extra-base hits (14 homers, five triples, 27 doubles), 30 stolen bases and just 72 strikeouts over 501 plate appearances. He spent the last week of the season in Birmingham after clubbing the High-A East senseless in Winston-Salem (.361/.381/.538 over 29 games), but the rain-shortened schedule didn't give him much time to measure up to the level. He went just 3-for-14 with a double and two strikeouts over four games. The defense at shortstop improved over the course of the year. If there's a reason to doubt him, it's that he might have Nick Madrigal thing where his speed looks like a real weapon until he faces defenses that aren't fazed by his motor. It feels like nitpicking right now, because the combination of pop and contact up the middle gives him a strong base for a 20-year-old.

Yolbert Sánchez: Having lost his entire age-23 season to the pandemic and reported to have lost ground in terms of conditioning during the layoff, Sánchez lost a fair -- or unfair -- amount of prospect sheen before he'd even played a game stateside. It's not great that he played more second base than shortstop, but everything else about his age-24 season was fine. He brushed off a slow start to hit .286/.340/.379 with Winston-Salem, and fared even better over his first 39 games at Double-A (.343/.369/.469). He's another guy who likes to swing -- 23 walks over 99 games -- but he has plate coverage because he doesn't sell out for power, so it works for him right now. He almost cut his strikeout rate below 10 percent upon the jump to Double-A (16 over 155 plate appearances). The question is whether he can't play shortstop, or the White Sox just wanted to give younger, more inexperienced players the reps there, and he can slide over without much issue whenever needed. He has a high floor as a second baseman defensively, but he kinda has to be, given that he's not a great bet to hit double-digit homers or steal double-digit bases. He'll be the third player of this group to follow in the AFL.

Lenyn Sosa: Sosa's age-19 season for Kannapolis back in 2019 was better than it looked. He hit just .251/.292/.371, but his performance showed definite strides by the end of the season. As long as you allowed him a similar amount of time to get his bearings in Winston-Salem, then you had to be happy with how fared fared in 2021. He hit .290/.321/.443 over 82 games with the Dash, and he only really needed the month of May to get settled. From June 1 through his promotion to Birmingham on Aug. 9, Sosa hit .317/.352/.482 with just 43 strikeouts over 257 plate appearances, showing gains in power without sacrificing his ability to make contact. The jump to Birmingham was the same story. He hit just .214/.240/.282 over his first 33 games at Double-A, and his ability go weeks without a walk flared up again, as he drew just two against 28 strikeouts. It wouldn't be surprising if Birmingham resumed swatting down ascendant-but-flawed prospects in Sosa's case, but at least he has an idea of what he'll face when he returns to the level as a 22-year-old in 2022.

2021 WHITE SOX AFFILIATE REVIEWS

Winston-Salem Dash

While the struggles of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers were a lot more severe, the Winston-Salem Dash fared only three wins better by the time the seasons were settled. They went 43-76, good for the worst record in the High-A East despite an older roster on both sides of the ball.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

The Cannon Ballers opened the season with a number of ambitious assignments for prep players, but it turns out they really could've used a stint in Great Falls.

ACL White Sox

Most players who opened the season with the ACL White Sox stayed put. There were some success stories amid the struggles, which were pronounced at the plate.

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WHITE SOX MINOR KEYS

Norfolk 6, Charlotte 1 (Sept. 26)

• Romy González went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Carlos Pérez was 0-for-4.

DSL Reds 5, DSL White Sox 4 (Sept. 27)

• Carlos Jimenez went 1-for-4 with a triple.
• Victor Quezada struck out thrice during an 0-for-5 day.

DSL White Sox 3, DSL Reds 1 (Sept. 28)

• Manuel Guariman was 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
• Carlos Jimenez went 0-for-4 with a K.
• Victor Quezada was 1-for-4 with a strikeout and a stolen base.
• Carlos Hinestroza: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K