Farm Fortnight: A successful first half for White Sox system

Depending on your default attitude toward the passage of time, the minor league season is already half over, or there's still an entire half remaining. Either way, for the White Sox farm system, 2024 can already be considered a far greater success than 2023, because two affiliates punched a ticket to their leagues' respective playoffs by winning first-half championships this past week.

The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers clinched the Carolina League South at the start of the first half's final week, while the Birmingham Barons backed into the postseason on the final day, so that's two levels that can provide White Sox prospects extra games at the end of the year.

When writing at the start of the season about how the Birmingham roster looked well-positioned to win some games if Paul Janish didn't disrupt the roster too much, we looked at the piss-poor organizational winning percentages since the time the power-hungry demands of the MLB team tapped the pipeline dry. The Sox system finished with the worst overall record in the minor leagues in 2023, which was their third straight year in the bottom three.

Halfway into 2024, the White Sox's four full-season affiliates have added 100 points to their winning percentage compared to last year.

• 2023: 231-313 (.425)
• 2024: 149-132 (.530)

Of course, there are strings attached. Everybody's more than well aware that the White Sox's major-league club is mired in historic first-half futility, and most of the farm system's gains came from the roster-gutting deals at last year's deadline. Plus, the entire organizational winning percentage drops below .500 once you incorporate the starts for the rookie-ball teams, once again proving the point that White Sox fans can never have it all.

Still, for the organizations whose games can be watched on MiLB.TV, and ones who are in the business of selling tickets in exchange for entertainment, the improvement is unmistakable.

With the standings resetting this week, we'll see if the White Sox start a larger chain of promotions, or whether it'll once again require waiting for the GM to tear apart the 26-man roster. The main distinction is that Chris Getz will be making different kinds of calls this time around.

Charlotte Knights

• Last two series: 3-3 @Durham; 5-1 vs. Gwinnett
• Record: 33-41
• Next two series: @Norfolk, @/vs. Jacksonville
• Individual stats

Every time it looks like the Charlotte Knights are on the precipice of a tailspin because the White Sox have harvested all the vital organs, Justin Jirschele's crew responds with a stretch of commendable play that returns them to an ordinary level of below-average. This all sounds like faint praise if you aren't aware that the Knights nearly lost 100 games last year.

They've been a resourceful bunch. When the White Sox disrupted the Charlotte outfield because they needed Zach DeLoach and Oscar Colás to play/not play in Chicago, Mark Payton stepped up with a 1.111 OPS. A couple days after the White Sox called upon a 20th different Charlotte Knight by selecting the contract of Chad Kuhl to provide bulk innings for the MLB bullpen, seven Knights combined to throw a nine-inning no-hitter against Durham.

They still finished the first half with the worst record in the International League East, but not the worst record in the entire International League, nor the worst run differential. After last season, this counts as progress.

Position Players

*Colson Montgomery didn't record a multi-hit game over the last two series, which is why his batting average continues to languish in unimpressive territories. The good news is that he made the most of the good contact. While he was only 8-for-38, seven of those hits went for extra bases (three homers, four doubles). He also drew six walks and was plunked a couple times, so the other two categories of his slash line from the last 11 games are what you want (.211/.340/.553).

*Bryan Ramos also didn't record a multi-hit game, but there wasn't the silver lining. He went 4-for-28 over the last two series, which only covers seven games because he hasn't played since Wednesday.

*Zach DeLoach only logged eight games during this time frame, but that's because the White Sox returned him to Triple-A in the middle of the Durham series. He looked no worse for the wear. Nor better, but, hey, not worse.

*Adam Hackenberg had to suspend his campaign for the third catcher job when the White Sox added Chuckie Robinson to the 40-man roster in order to avoid losing Robinson to an opt-out. Hackenberg might be able to restart it if the Sox accept the writing on the wall with regards to Martín Maldonado, but with Edgar Quero maintaining his momentum, Hackenberg's window is no longer what it was.

*Oscar Colás was optioned back to Charlotte on Sunday to make room for Eloy Jiménez's return, continuing the pattern of org-player treatment.

Pitchers

*Nick Nastrini lost the immediate White Sox rotation job to Jonathan Cannon, and his return to Charlotte didn't inspire immediate confidence when he gave up five runs over four innings to Durham. He rebounded with 10 strikeouts over six shutout innings against Gwinnett on Friday. He also walked five, which saps some enthusiasm, but at least the slider showed some restored power.

*Mike Clevinger has made a couple of rehab starts against Gwinnett, giving up seven runs on 11 hits (two homers) over 7⅔ innings. Considering he hadn't completed five innings in any of his five starts before his stint on the IL, it doesn't seem worth the effort, but that hasn't stopped the White Sox before.

*Sean Burke also has "improving control" on his to-do list as he continues his return from a lost season due to shoulder issues. He walked three batters in each of his last two starts, which only covered 7⅓ total innings.

*Jordan Leasure has also lengthened the Charlotte pitching staff during his breather from a slump in Chicago. He's only pitched three times over the course of 11 days because the demotion gives them a chance to ease up his workload, but he looks like an MLB-grade reliever when he has appeared.

*Prelander Berroa strung together three walkless appearances for the first time all season, even if he gave up a two-run homer in his most recent outing Saturday to spoil his numbers a little. Considering he'd been walking too many batters to inspire confidence the last time we checked in on him, it'd feel hypocritical to chastise him for getting punished once in the zone.

*Josimar Cousin has made two appearances in each of the three series he's been with Charlotte, and he still hasn't been scored upon. He's also coming right at hitters, which separates him from fellow Birmingham success story Adisyn Coffey. Coffey's been fine in the run-prevention department since being promoted, but he's walked eight over nine innings.

Birmingham Barons

• Last two series: 2-4 vs. Pensacola; 2-4 @Montgomery
• Record: 41-28
• Next two series: vs. Tennessee; vs./@Rocket City
• Individual stats

The Birmingham Barons underscored the importance of head-to-head games by taking four of six against the Tennessee Smokies earlier this month. That allowed them to expand their division lead from three games to four, and they needed the additional cushion when they closed out the first half by dropping eight of 12. When the smoke cleared, they'd prevailed by a half-game.

The Barons offense, which has been a little disappointing for a lot of the season, has been the Southern League's least productive unit in June, whether judging by runs scored (69 in 20 games) or OPS (.642). The lineup lost Bryan Ramos and Duke Ellis to promotions, and Terrell Tatum is dealing with something, because Matt Hogan went from hitting .209 in Kannapolis to making starts for the Birmingham outfield in the final week of the season. That's reduced the Birmingham lineup to five or six players, and most of them are scuffling.

It's given the Birmingham pitching staff no margin for error, and while the rotation continues to be the strength even after the promotion of Drew Thorpe, the advancements of Josimar Cousin and Adisyn Coffey to Charlotte's bullpen has exposed some of the control problems in the rest of Birmingham's relief corps. That sets the stage for a second half that could be a lot uglier than the first, but that'd be a much bigger problems if the Barons couldn't capture the first half title. As it stands, extra games for September are guaranteed regardless of what happens from here.

Position Players

*Edgar Quero cooled off a little from his scorching start to June, but he still managed to hit .298 thanks in large part to a 5-for-5 game at Rickwood Field. It still nets out to .408/.451/.658 for the month. What's more notable is that he didn't draw a walk over the last two weeks, which mirrors a pattern from April, where he seems to feel so confident in his ability to swing the bat that the counts never get that deep.

*Wilfred Veras hasn't been able to reverse his unprecedented struggles. He's currently in the middle of a 3-for-28 slump, with a two-homer spasm against Montgomery on Wednesday being the lone exception. He's had more multi-homer games (two) than single-homer games (1) this month.

*Brooks Baldwin continues to regress steadily, gently. He's still good for a hit a game, which is evident in his .250 average over the last two series, in which he played every game. He just didn't have an extra-base hit, so he's down to .273/.313/.325 with a homer and a double over 20 games in June. The body of work for the season remains impressive, but there isn't yet an indicator of where he'll finally stabilize.

*Jacob Gonzalez, like his shortstopmate Baldwin, went 11-for-44 over the last 12 games. He had a little more to support it, with three doubles, six walks and four stolen bases, but if you step back to asssess the first two-thirds of the month, you'll see he's had a quiet June as well (.245/.337/.338).

*Terrell Tatum has struggled all month, hitting .133/.167/.200 over 79 plate appearances. He's lost his claim to the leadoff spot, as Sergio Santos started rotating in others at the top of the order, and he hasn't played a game in the outfield since Wednesday. Given that the other outfielders on the roster haven't been lighting the world on fire, it seems like he's been unsuccessfully playing through an injury.

*Tim Elko has been the only other reliable source of offense besides Quero. He hit .419/.468/.512 while playing all 12 games against Pensacola and Montgomery. The only quibble is that he hasn't hit a homer since May 28. If you could feel confident in his ability to hit .365 as he's done during that stretch, it's something that could be shrugged away. As it stands, the strikeout-to-walk disparity is still a little difficult to overlook.

*Jacob Burke had one of his better stretches of the season, but that still only amounted to a .222/.317/.278 line over the last 12 games while striking out 15 times in 42 plate appearances.

Pitchers

*Jairo Iriarte has thrown at least five innings in nine consecutive starts. He also hasn't had an overpowering outing in more than a month. He's shown the ability to bounce back from ugly innings, including a rough start at Rickwood where Santos said Montgomery picked up a tip, but he'd probably prefer to see some smoother games in the near future.

*Jake Eder found that overpowering mode by striking out 10 Pensacola Blue Wahoos over six innings, after which the White Sox touted some Brian Bannister fixes that made it seem like he'd finally turned the corner. Then he gave up three homers over five innings to Montgomery, so he remains the most up-and-down member of the Birmingham rotation.

*Ky Bush followed up his best start of the season (seven scoreless innings against Pensacola) with his worst start of the season (four runs over five innings against Montgomery). That it took until the second half of June to give up four runs in a game speaks to the kind of season he's having, and James Fegan wrote about the restorative process.

*Mason Adams also was the subject of a Sox Machine write-up over this time, and it didn't catch him at a peak. He followed up an OK performance against Pensacola with six shutout innings against Montgomery. He hasn't walked more than two batters in any of his 13 outings this season, and he's eased up on HBPs, too (just one in his last four games).

*Noah Schultz continues to cruise through his Saturdays, more or less. He's completed his requisite four innings in 10 of 12 outings this year, including his starts against Pensacola and Montgomery. He gave up three runs in those eight total innings, and he issued his first Double-A walk in his last start against Montgomery. That's been about the only novel development.

*Tyler Schweitzer got the call from Winston-Salem to take Drew Thorpe's rotation spot, and he's slotted in rather nicely. He's allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks over 12 innings in two starts against Pensacola and Montgomery, and he's struck out 16.

Winston-Salem Dash

• Last two series: 1-5 vs. Greensboro; 3-3 @Asheville
• Record: 32-37
• Next two series: vs. Rome, @/vs. Hickory
• Individual stats

Because the A-ball seasons end a week earlier than their upper-minor level counterparts, the second half for Winston-Salem and Kannapolis started on Friday, rather than this week. Thus, the Dash finished with a first-half record of 31-35, which could have been a lot uglier considering they had by far the worst run differential in the South Atlantic League.

It's come to a head on the pitching side this month, as the Dash's 6.50 ERA is ninth out of 10 teams, with Asheville always bringing up the rear due to playing their home games in the bandbox known as McCormick Field. It's not all due to the White Sox promoting Noah Schultz and Tyler Schweitzer to Birmingham, but it doesn't help, either. The offense has been OK, but a little too light in power to make up for the crooked numbers allowed.

Position Players

*Samuel Zavala drew 13 walks over 11 games the past two weeks, giving him a rather atypical line for 54 plate appearances (.205/.407/.308). He doesn't turn 20 until the middle of the next month, so the reduction in his strikeout rate continues to be progress enough, but it'd be nice to see the hit tool start improving at some point.

*DJ Gladney returned from a reaggravation of his lat injury in the middle of the Greensboro series, and this attempt at bouncing back seems to have stuck. He hit .179/.324/.429 over seven games, with three of his five hits going for extra bases (two homers and a double).

*Loidel Chapelli continues to rotate in and out of the Dash lineup despite being the team's hottest hitter. He's 13-for-25 with a double and six walks over his last seven games, good for a .520/.613/.560 line.

*Wes Kath went hitless in six of 10 games over the last two series, but he was able to mitigate the impact of a slump by coming up with three multi-hit games in Asheville, which is how a prospect is supposed to utilize the South Atlantic League's most offense-friendly environment.

*Calvin Harris used McCormick Field in a similar fashion, as he'll roll into the fresh week with a six-game hitting streak. He also has four more base-stealing kills to his name, although that's partially because there have been a lot of guys on base against the Winston-Salem pitching staff.

*Eddie Park went 9-for-32 over eight games against Greensboro and Asheville, although without an extra-base hit or a stolen base.

*Ryan Galanie's first few weeks with Winston-Salem have been choppy. He's hitting .213/.314/.443 over 16 games, but he never looks like that hitter in a single game. It's been more all-or-nothing, as he has 10 hitless games and five multi-hit ones. He capped off his first series in Asheville by going 4-for-5 with a homer and a triple, which raised his average with the Dash more than 50 points with a single Sunday.

Pitchers

*Peyton Pallette had a miserable time against Greensboro, giving up four runs on four hits and three walks over two-thirds of an inning. Then he had to go pitch in Asheville, where gave up six more runs over 3⅔ of an inning. It'll take a few weeks for his ERA to recover.

*Tanner McDougal had similar issues as Pallette, albeit less servere. He gave up nine runs (eight earned) over seven innings between his starts against Greensboro and Asheville. Walks were the bigger problem, as he issued nine of them, along with one HBP.

*Juan Carela stabilized the rotation with a couple of respectable performances, including six innings of two-run ball against Asheville. He hasn't allowed a homer since his first start of the season.

*Shane Murphy had to wear it against the Tourists, giving up 10 runs over 3⅔ and 91 pitches. His Winston-Salem ERA rose to 4.94, erasing all evidence of what had been a very strong start.

*Riley Gowens was my pick to replace Drew Thorpe in the Birmingham rotation. Schweitzer turned out to be the choice, but Gowens recovered from a tough start against Greensboro by striking out 13 tourists over six innings. He's the Dash's equivalent of Eder, in terms of oscillating between "unhittable" and "just a guy."

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

• Last two series: 3-3 @Delmarva; 4-3 vs. Myrtle Beach
• Record: 43-26
• Next two series: vs. Columbia, @/vs. Fayetteville
• Individual stats

The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers cooled off a little bit to close out the first half -- there's a lot of room worse than the 20-4 stretch they'd used to surge to the top of the Carolina League standings -- but .500 ball was more than good enough to clinch a first-half title with several games remaining.

Run prevention was the Ballers' bread and butter, as they led the league in both ERA (3.11) and unearned runs (25, a pretty good number for Low-A). That, coupled with the second-most effective offense in the league, led to a +138 run differential that lapped the rest of the CL. The Carolina Mudcats were second ... at +46.

With the chance at a league title locked in, we'll see if any first-half successes besides Ryan Galanie make their way to Winston-Salem. The Dash roster has been fairly entrenched on both sides of the ball, which has limited opportunities.

Position Players

*Ronny Hernandez cooled off after a torrid start to his June, going just 4-for-30 over the series against Delmarva and Myrtle Beach. He compensated with more walks (seven) than strikeouts (six). One thing to note is that he's 2-for-21 against lefties this year, so his overall line has been buoyed by careful deployment in his first full season.

*Rikuu Nishida has scored 62 runs over 65 games with the Cannon Ballers. He probably deserves a promotion to Winston-Salem at some point, but since I think he'd encounter the same diminishing returns as Park has, I kinda want to see what kind of numbers he can rack up spending the whole season in Low-A. He could be a local legend.

*Ryan Burrowes is still having trouble getting his Kanny career off the ground, as he hit .167/.279/.194 over 11 games, and struck out 15 times over 43 plate appearances.

*George Wolkow has even more severe strikeout problems, with 22 over 43 plate appearances the last two weeks. Joey Gallo tendencies were a little more foreseeable in his case, given that he stands 6-foot-7 at 18 years old, but he has a four-game hitting streak going, so that's something.

*Caden Connor, the White Sox's 19th-round pick in 2023, has been hitting a pretty steady .303/.381/.441 over 66 games, so he could follow Galanie to Winston-Salem if the Sox decide there's room in the corners.

Pitchers

*Grant Taylor didn't pitch over the last two weeks, as he was shut down with a right lat strain. James said the White Sox aren't calling it a serious injury, but they haven't given him a specific timeline for return, either.

*Seth Keener threw his second six-inning start of the season his last time out against Myrtle Beach thanks to exemplary efficiency (just 71 pitches), but it ended up hurting his numbers because he gave up three runs in his final inning of work. Still, it was the kind of start he needed after a couple of laborious weeks.

*Lucas Gordon has separated himself as the most effective pitcher in the Kannapolis rotation, at least as long as Taylor is on the shelf. He threw a pair of scoreless five-inning outings in his last two series, running his scoreless streak to 13 innings, and he hasn't given up more than two runs in any start this season.

*Aldrin Batista is coming off his longest start of the season, and his best one since his 2024 debut, as he threw six innings of one-run ball against the Pelicans, striking out eight.

*Jake Peppers is coming off his shortest start of the season, as the White Sox didn't let him come out for a third inning against Myrtle Beach after needing 36 pitches to get through the second.

ACL White Sox

• Record: 13-23
• Individual stats

The White Sox-Diamondbacks series in Phoenix gave James a reason to drop in on the White Sox's Arizona Complex League affiliate. His write-up of a night on the 102-degree backfields will give you a sense of the quality of play in the ACL beyond what the team's record might already tell you.

Position Players

Javier Mogollon was moved to the bottom of the ACL White Sox order as he works through some changes with his leg kick. He's responded well in terms of production -- .265/.375/.471 the last two weeks -- although he's running a .533 BABIP because he still strikes out in clumps. Adrian Gil's plate discipline successfully made the jump from the DSL to the ACL, pairing walks and power over this time (.281/.452/.563).

It's been quieter elsewhere. Abraham Nunez didn't have an extra-base hit over the last two weeks, and Stiven Flores is still searching for his first one this season. Angelo Hernandez came through with three doubles in seven games, but he's rotating in and out of the catcher spot. Erick Hernandez hit his first professional homer after 270 plate appearances dispersed over three years, but he continues to play only sparingly.

Pitchers

Davis Martin and Matt Foster are on the Tommy John surgery rehab trail, and James spoke to the former about what he learned during his time off. James also wrote up his conversation with Christian Oppor, whose numbers seem besides the point this season.

Luis Reyes dealt with a cluster of walks in a start against the ACL Guardians his last time out, but recovered with three decent innings against the ACL Reds. Jordany Chirinos leads the ACL White Sox in innings, which wouldn't be a bad thing for an 18-year-old to have on his résumé for his stateside debut. Maximo Martinez hasn't pitched since we last checked in on him, and his player page shows that he was placed on the full-season injured list, so he won't be on this board in two weeks.

DSL White Sox

• Record: 3-11
• Individual stats

Last season, the DSL White Sox had the best record of any White Sox minor league team. Based on the way things have unfolded early in 2024, it might be the opposite story this time around.

Position Players

Jurdrick Profar has made the strongest first impression on the entire DSL White Sox roster while playing more than half of his innings at shortstop. Eduardo Herrera only has one multi-hit game through 14 games, and only one multi-strikeout game, which is the definition of treading water. Jesus Premoli rolled into the new week with a five-game hitting streak, while Christian Gonzalez isn't yet living up to his scouting report as a plus-plus runner.

Pitchers

Because these numbers don't include Monday's game, here's a spoiler alert that Yhoiker Fajardo's season line might look considerably better the next time we check in on them. Also, Alexandre Valdeviezo made his season debut, so all of the DSL White Sox's 17-year-old pitchers are up and running.