Two-time former White Sox prospect Bailey Horn is waiting to make his big-league debut with a different stockings-related outfit. The Red Sox added Horn to the 26-man roster on Friday, although he didn't appear in Boston's 9-2 loss to San Diego later that day.
The White Sox traded Horn to the Red Sox for cash considerations after designating him for assignment at the end of April. The move was necessary to add Rafael Ortega to the 40-man roster, which harkens back to a time when the White Sox thought Ortega was necessary on the 26-man roster.
Horn still probably walks too many guys to make a sustained impact on a big-league roster, but it's kind of interesting to see what he's done since going from one International League team to another. In roughly equal sample sizes, he was meaningfully better in every single meaningful category after the trade.
| Team | G | IP | H | HR | BB | K | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | 9 | 10.1 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 11.32 |
| Worcester | 12 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 19 | 1.69 |
Apparently the Red Sox suggested he throw his cutter more often:
He calls his cutter “a cutter/gyro.” He has a big sweeper and a “harder and smaller” slider that provides a different look.
“It’s just a good pitch,” Horn said about the cutter. “It plays off the heater. Just a good pitch to keep the hitters off the four-seam. And then you can go off the cutter as well with different offspeeds: slider, curveball, sweeper.”
The White Sox, who originally drafted Horn in the fifth and final round of the 2020 draft before trading him to the Cubs for Ryan Tepera, had reacquired him from the Cubs for Matthew Thompson over the winter.
That trade hasn't haunted the White Sox in any way. Thompson actually pitched against Birmingham on Friday night and lasted only 1⅔ innings. The first inning was fine, but then Edgar Quero started the second with an 11-pitch strikeout, and Thompson ended up walking the bases loaded over the course of 24 other pitches before leaving the game. He watched from the dugout as they all came around to score on a Jacob Gonzalez grand slam.
For the season, Thompson has a 5.20 and has walked 17.3 percent of batters faced, up from the 15 percent walk rate the Sox had considered untenable at Birmingham.
Charlotte 9, Norfolk 2
- Colson Montgomery went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts and a stolen base.
- Bryan Ramos, 1-for-5 with one strikeout.
- Matt Foster's first game in Triple-A this year: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
- Jordan Leasure: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K, 5 of 13 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 6, Tennessee 1 (5 innings, rain)
- Jacob Gonzalez maximized his 1-for-3 night with a grand slam.
- Terrell Tatum was 1-for-3.
- Brooks Baldwin and Edgar Quero both were 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Tim Elko, 0-for-2 with a walk.
- Wilfred Veras singled, walked and stole three bases.
- Mason Adams: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Highlights:
*Gonzalez's homer was his second with the Barons, and first since May 22.
Rome 13, Winston-Salem 0
- Loidel Chapelli went 1-fo-4 with a strikeout.
- DJ Gladney was 0-for-4 with a K.
- Ryan Galanie went 1-for-3 with a strikeout, and was picked off.
- Calvin Harris, 1-for-3 with a double.
- Wes Kath was 0-for-3 with a K.
- Eddie Park, 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Peyton Pallette is getting further away: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 48 of 78 pitches for strikes.
Columbia 6, Kannapolis 3
- Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-5 with a stolen base.
- Ronny Hernandez was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.
- George Wolkow homered twice, walked and struck out.
Highlights:
*Both of Wolkow's homers went the other way.
ACL White Sox 2, ACL Royals 1 (7 innings)
- Dominic Fletcher began his rehab stint by going 0-for-2 with an HBP.
- Javier Mogollon was 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Abraham Nunez, 1-for-3 with a K.
- Same for Adrian Gil, but his hit with a double.
- Angelo Hernandez went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Erick Hernandez, 0-for-3.
- Jordany Chirinos: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 WP
DSL White Sox 8, DSL CLE Mendoza 5 (7 innings)
- Christian Gonzalez went 1-for-3 with a walk, and 1-for-2 on the basepaths.
- Jurdrick Profar went 0-for-3 with a K and an HBP.
- Jesus Premoli went 1-for-3 with a K and an HBP.
- Jehancarlos Mendez was 1-for-3 with a double and a strikeout
