Shane Drohan's started appearing in minor league games back on May 10, which means that he only has a couple more days before his 30-day rehabilitation stint from nerve decompression surgery on his left shoulder comes to a close.
That matters for him because, as a Rule 5 pick, the White Sox either have to place him on the 26-man roster at the end of his rehab stint, offer him back to the Boston Red Sox for $50,000, or attempt to arrange a trade to acquire his full rights.
Drohan's pitched at three levels in his rehab stint, and his overall line has been marred by one rough game apiece with the ACL White Sox, Winston-Salem and, on Thursday, Charlotte. After opening his Knights career with four scoreless outings, he pitched on back-to-back days for the first time and failed to retire any of the four batters he faced. He gave up a walk, a double, a walk and an infield single, throwing just seven of 18 pitches for strikes before Justin Jirschele pulled him.
It's been more good than bad over 10 games, especially since this is the first time he's worked as a reliever in professional baseball, but given that he only throws in the low-90s and he leads the way with a changeup, it's not a profile that translates smoothly. The White Sox basically already have a Drohan on the roster in the form of Jared Shuster.
If they wanted to see what Drohan had to offer at the MLB level, they could swap him out with Shuster, although Shuster would then hit his single-season option limit with four. The Sox could also decide to cut Tim Hill loose, because the league is hitting .398 against him over 22 innings. None of these individual decisions are dripping with consequence, but it's something to watch over the weekend if you have nothing else going on.
Charlotte 3, Jacksonville 2 (Game 1, 8 innings)
- Bryan Ramos went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Colson Montgomery was 0-for-2 with a walk.
- Adam Hackenberg went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Charlotte 14, Jacksonville 9 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Bryan Ramos went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
- Colson Montgomery was 1-for-2 with two walks.
- Sean Burke: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
- Shane Drohan: 0 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 WP, 7 of 18 pitches for strikes.
Notes:
*Burke topped out at 96.5 in this one, for those watching his velocity after James' post about him.
Birmingham 12, Tennessee 8
- Terrell Tatum went 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 0-for-3 with two sac flies.
- Brooks Baldwin, 1-for-5 with a strikeout and a stolen base.
- Edgar Quero contineus to heat up: 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
- Wilfred Veras went off: 3-for-4 with two homers, a walk and two stolen bases.
- Jacob Burke was 1-for-4.
- Jairo Iriarte: 5.1 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 2 WP, 54 of 81 pitches for strikes
Highlights:
*Veras hit one out to left ...
... and one to right.
Rome 4, Winston-Salem 0 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Eddie Park went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Calvin Harris, 0-for-3 with a K.
- Ryan Galaie was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Wes Kath doubled and struck out.
- Samuel Zavala was 0-for-2.
- Tanner McDougal pitched well in defeat: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 1 WP, 51 of 80 pitches for strikes.
Rome 4, Winston-Salem 0 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Ryan Galanie went 0-for-3 with a K.
- Wes Kath was 0-for-2 with a K.
- Samuel Zavala singled and struck out.
- Loidel Chapelli was 0-for-1 with a walk.
- Tyler Schweitzer: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 WP
Kannapolis 9, Fredericksburg 3
- Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-3 with a walk and a sac fly.
- Ronny Hernandez was 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Ryan Burrowes went 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- George Wolkow hit his first A-ball homer, going 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Aldrin Batista: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
Highlights:
*Some Downers Grove Damage on display:
ACL Guardians 5, ACL White Sox 4
- Javier Mogollon went 0-for-4 with a walk, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
- Abraham Nunez, 1-for-4 with a triple, an HBP and two strikeouts. He was also picked off.
- Stiven Flores went 3-for-5.
- Erick Hernandez, 0-for-3 with a sac fly and two strikeouts.
- Luis Reyes: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
DSL White Sox 4, DSL Pirates Gold 1
- Jurdrick Profar singled twice, struck out twice and was caught stealing.
- Eduardo Herrera was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Jesus Premoli went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts
- Yhoiker Fajardo: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K
