The White Sox are promoting Noah Schultz to Birmingham, which is obviously going to provide a welcome test for Schultz's stuff.
However, I'm equally curious about the way the White Sox will bridge the divide between the Birmingham and Winston-Salem rotations, because to this point, they've been managed in entirely different ways.
The Barons have had an extremely stable five-man rotation, as Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte, Jake Eder, Ky Bush and Mason Adams have combined to start 37 of the Barons' 38 games.
The Winston-Salem Dash have also only used six starters all season, but the Dash have been running a six-man rotation all season:
- Tuesday: Tanner McDougal
- Wednesday: Tyler Schweitzer
- Thursday: Peyton Pallette
- Friday: Juan Carela
- Saturday: Noah Schultz
- Sunday: Riley Gowens
It's easy enough to see how Winston-Salem could keep going, because Shane Murphy has been piggybacking on Pallette starts, and he's thrown four scoreless innings in each of his last two outings.
For Birmingham, it seems like they can integrate Schultz in a few ways:
Birmingham's system: Schultz takes a rotation spot -- Thorpe's, maybe? -- and pitches every five games, even if he's still limited to four innings or 65-70 pitches per.
Winston-Salem's system: The White Sox temporarily expand Birmingham's rotation to six starters in order to ease Schultz's transition to a new level, because it's not like the bullpen's been overworked.
Some hybrid version: Schultz still pitches every seven days, making starts when it lines up on a Saturday, or piggybacking when it doesn't.
The first option makes the most sense for the greater good, because there's no point in disrupting the best thing going for the White Sox organization this season, even if it seems like a sudden, aggressive pivot to change Schultz's degree of difficulty and his regimen at the same time. Unless Anker produces a dongle that can run a six-man plan alongside a five-man rotation, it seems like something has to give.
Charlotte 8, Durham 0
- Colson Montgomery returned to the lineup after a couple days off and went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Oscar Colás wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Zach DeLoach hit his second homer of the season, finishing 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Prelander Berroa: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Highlights:
*DeLoach is finally taking advantage of Truist Field's dimensions, as this one was 377 feet.
Chattanooga 3, Birmingham 1
- Terrell Tatum went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Brooks Baldwin was 0-for-3 with a walk, strikeout and stolen base.
- Edgar Quero was 0-for-4.
- Wiflred Veras and Tim Elko both were 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Jairo Iriarte finally demonstrated above-average control in consecutive games: 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, BB, 13 K, 1 HR, 71 of 93 pitches for strikes.
Highlights:
*FutureSox compiled a highlight reel for Iriarte:
Winston-Salem 4, Greenville 2
- Loidel Chapelli was 0-for-3 with a sac fly.
- Eddie Park, 0-for-4 with a K.
- Jacob Gonzalez went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Samuel Zavala walked twice and struck out twice, and was also picked off/caught stealing.
- Riley Gowens has been shoving: 7 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K
Kannapolis 8, Fayetteville 2 (Completion of Saturday's game)
- Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-5 with a strikeout and a stolen base.
- Ronny Hernandez went 2-for-4.
- Seth Keener before the delay: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Kannapolis 2, Fayetteville 0 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Rikuu Nishida went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Ryan Burrowes was 1-for-3 with a K.
- Ronny Hernandez, 0-for-2 with a walk.
- Lucas Gordon: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 Wp, 47 of 76 pitches for strikes.
