White Sox Minor Keys: June 8, 2024

7:00 AM CDT on June 9, 2024

White Sox prospect Noah Schultz — Noah Schultz (Jim Margalus / Sox Machine)

KODAK, Tenn. -- For a White Sox fan, a Birmingham Barons Saturday game is the best deal in baseball, because you're guaranteed two intriguing pitching prospects for the price of one.*

(*While supplies last.)

When the White Sox promoted Noah Schultz to Double-A in late May, they kept him on his individual plan -- Saturdays only, four innings or 60ish pitches, whichever comes first -- while also maintaining the schedule for the unstoppable incumbent five-man rotation. When all goes well, Schultz pitches the first four innings, and the regularly rested starter takes it the rest of the way, no bullpen required.

"I think it actually works out great," said Birmingham pitching coach John Ely, when I asked about the arrangement before Schultz's start against the Tennessee Smokies Saturday night. "These guys have actually bought into it pretty well."

The minor league schedule, with recurring six-game series from Tuesday through Sunday over the course of five-plus months, encourages this kind of arrangement. Ely noted that when it's time for a Barons starter to follow Schultz on a Saturday, he's coming off the week where he threw twice in a series, so it provides an advertised opportunity for a slightly lighter workload afterward.

Schultz tested the White Sox's rigidity in his Double-A debut on May 25 when he needed just 40 pitches to throw four innings, but with the White Sox stressing up-downs, it doesn't sound as though there's such thing as too few pitches at this point.

"No, that's a good thing," Ely said, when I asked him about a hypothetical scenario where Schultz only throws 40 pitches every time out. "I mean, at that point, then we'll just move him up a level, I think, just play some stronger competition. But he's facing some good teams and it hasn't fazed him yet."

Sure enough, Schultz, who allowed just two singles and zero walks while striking out 12 over his first 7⅔ innings with Birmingham, was finally met with some resistance by the Smokies, and that demonstrated the built-in forgiveness of the tandem plan.

Schultz lacked his best command, with only two strikeouts and one 1-2-3 inning. He gave up his first Double-A run in the first inning on a leadoff double and a two-out single, worked around two runners in the third, and plunked Caleb Knight on a 1-2 count in the fourth. He still finished four innings of one-run ball with a respectable 56 pitches due to some early-count outs, so even though it'd been one of his more stressful outings, it counted as a third success in as many chances.

Mason Adams then took it the rest of the way. He encountered more traffic than usual himself, scattering nine hits and a walk, but when he threw his 80th pitch of the night to finish his fifth inning of work, there wasn't any toll for a slightly inefficient outing. Instead, he and the Barons could head back to the hotel with another win to show for it.

It's an important one, too. In a battle of the first-place and second-place teams in the Southern League's North Division, the Barons' victory extended their lead to three games

Jacksonville 7, Charlotte 2

Bryan Ramos went 2-for-5 with a homer, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
Colson Montgomery was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Michael Chavis played his first game in the White Sox organization, going 1-for-4 with a K.
Adam Hackenberg was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Birmingham 6, Tennessee 3

Terrell Tatum went 2-for-5 with two strikeouts.
Jacob Gonzalez was 1-for-3 with two HBPs.
Brooks Baldwin came a triple shy of the cycle during a 3-for-5 night, striking out once.
Edgar Quero went 2-for-3 with a homer, walk and HBP.
Tim Elko singled twice, struck out twice and got plunked once.
Wilfred Veras was 1-for-4 with a strikeout and a stolen base.
Jacob Burke, 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Noah Schultz: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP, 36 of 56 pitches for strikes.
Mason Adams: 5 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 55 of 80 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*Baldwin had an active night. Along with the three hits, he made an outstanding ranging play and cross-body throw to his right, along with a diving catch on a sinking liner for a 6-4 double play. On the other, he rushed a backhanded play, boxed the ball and ended up firing wildly when compensating, and he bumped into Jacob Gonzalez on a chopper behind second base, although that would've likely been an infield single regardless.

Rome 10, Winston-Salem 6

Eddie Park went 2-for-4 with a double, walk and strikeout, and was picked off.
Calvin Harris was 2-for-5 with a strikeout.
Wes Kath went 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
Samuel Zavala, 1-for-2 with a double, three walks and a stolen base.
Loidel Chapelli went 1-for-3 with a sac fly and strikeout.
Juan Carela: 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP, 47 of 76 pitches for strikes.