Colson Montgomery's surprising promotion to Birmingham probably wouldn't have been so surprising if the local news in Evansville, Ind., was equally concerned about the entire White Sox farm system, rather than just focusing on the hometown kid.
Montgomery's bump to the Barons is part of a radical late-season plan that Chris Getz took to calling "Project Birmingham" by the end of his media session with reporters. Montgomery will be joined by numerous other prospects from both A-ball affiliates, supplementing the biggest names already at Birmingham for a sort-of mega-roster over the final weeks of the season.
Getz presented the plan as part reward, part motivation, and part transition to instructional season.
“Having a pool of our top players with our top staff, with each other on a daily basis, bringing that to life during a minor-league season ... We’re going to have our coordinators head to Birmingham for the rest of the month, the last four weeks and not only are we able to compete on a nightly basis, certainly personalize the instruction, but also treat it almost as an advanced instructional league so these guys are set up for their offseasons and work toward next year.”
It's very likely that Kannapolis hitters with high strikeout rates like DJ Gladney and Wilfred Veras will find Double-A tough to crack, but I'd guess that those guys are going to spend most of their time on the non-active development list, rather than ramming their heads against the wall and posting 55-percent strikeout rates that make progress impossible to detect.
James Fegan relayed the entire Birmingham roster, and it's a mix of merit and previous investment.
From Winston-Salem: Montgomery, Adam Hackenberg, Drew Dalquist, Bryan Ramos, Cristian Mena, Duke Ellis, Garrett Schoenle, Luis Mieses, Matthew Thompson, Norge Vera, Tyler Osik.
From Kannapolis: Gladney, Veras, Jared Kelley, Kohl Simas, Wes Kath.
White Sox Minor Keys
ACL White Sox 4, ACL Rockies 1
- Luis Pineda went 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Dario Borrero was 3-for-4 with two doubles.
DSL White Sox 7, DSL Reds 6
- Ryan Burrowes doubled, singled, hit a sac fly and got plunked.
- Guillermo Rodriguez went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Carlos Jimenez, 2-for-4 with a triple and a K.
- Ronny Hernandez was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
