The White Sox reduced their number of top prospects on the injured list when Sean Burke made his 2023 debut for Charlotte in Louisville on Tuesday, but it remains to be seen how healthy he is.
Burke experienced major control problems in the Knights' 5-4 loss to the Bats. He allowed just one hit, but that hit was a grand slam after Burke walked four batters earlier in the inning.
Burke started his night with a 1-2-3 first on 10 pitches. He then threw 33 pitches in two-thirds of the second, and only 12 of those went for strikes.
Maybe it was an issue with his stretch mechanics, because most of the misses were high. It looked like he might've found a key when he struck out Alex McGarry with three changeups on four pitches, and he threw a nice righty-righty one to even the count with Chuckie Robinson at 2-2, but his full-count changeup dived low and inside to bring in a run, and three pitches later, Michael Siani turned on an inner-half heater for the slam that knocked Burke out of the game.
Louisville 5, Charlotte 4
- Carlos Pérez went 0-for-3 with a wlak and a strikeout.
- Sean Burke's 2023 debut: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 19 of 43 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 10, Pensacola 4
- José Rodríguez went 0-for-4 with a K and a sac fly.
- Yoelqui Céspedes walked twice and struck out thrice.
- Luis Mieses also struck out thrice during a 1-for-5 night.
- Adam Hackenberg went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Duke Ellis had his best Double-A game yet: 2-for-2 with a double, two walks, a stolen base, two runs scored and three RBIs.
Winston-Salem 13, Asheville 8
- Terrell Tatum went 1-for-5 with a double, walk and two strikeouts.
- DJ Gladney went 3-for-6 with a double and two strikeouts.
- Wilfred Veras matched Gladney, but he also hit his first homer of the season.
- Wes Kath went 2-for-6 with two strikeouts.
- Jonathan Cannon generated a lot of action: 6 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 1 WP, 55 of 83 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 6, Charleston 1
- Jordan Sprinkle went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Brooks Baldwin made his 2023 debut and went 2-for-4.
