Farm Fortnight: Making way for White Sox’s latest draft picks

Our biweekly recap of the White Sox farm system is something like 1,000 words shorter this week.

There are only five affiliates to cover now that the Arizona Complex League season is over, so that's one obvious reason. But just like other forms of agriculture, we're cutting back the featured field of White Sox prospects in order to accommodate the incoming crop of recently drafted prospects.

I'll still be listing some of these players in the Minor Keys because they still maintain my interest for one reason or another, but clearing out a dozen prospects makes room for the several draft picks who will be making debuts of note in Kannapolis or Winston-Salem the rest of the way.

The players we're removing:

Prelander Berroa, Josimar Cousin, Matt Foster (Charlotte): We just saw Berroa in Chicago, Cousin's been placed on the Development List, and Foster looks like Foster when he's throwing. Basically, any Charlotte reliever who is called up to the White Sox over the final two months will be the hot (or tepid) hand.

Jacob Burke, Adam Hackenberg (Birmingham): There isn't nearly enough hitting going on, even for a defense-first profile.

Riley Gowens (Birmingham): He hasn't pitched five innings in any of his last three starts for Birmingham. If Double-A is his ceiling, this is what it would look like.

Calvin Harris, Loidel Chapelli, Ryan Galanie, Caden Connor (Winston-Salem): Harris went on the injured list, but wasn't hitting before then. Chapelli has been a part-time player most of the year, and Galanie and Connor aren't having the kind of starts at High-A that makes their older college profiles exciting.

Shane Murphy (Winston-Salem): He's back to being largely effective with the Dash, but a high-80s fastball and 11 homers over 62⅓ innings in Winston-Salem makes it hard to see the upside as new pitchers enter the A-ball rotations.

Seth Keener (Kannapolis): He's been on the injured list since July 12, but at least it's still the 7-day variety, and not 60-day or full-season.

Charlotte Knights

• Last two series: 2-3 @Nashville; vs. Durham; 4-3 vs. Norfolk
• Record: 49-56 (16-15 in second half)
• Next two series: @Louisville, vs. Toledo
• Individual stats

The Knights are the best example of momentum being the next day's starting pitcher, because Danny Mendick has had to pitch in each of the last two series.

Keep an eye on Johan Dominguez (pictured above). The 28-year-old veteran of the White Sox system has allowed one run in each of his last three starts -- one with Birmingham, two with Charlotte. He's treated as an organizational arm, and he is something of a standard-issue righty who can sit 93-94 and flash a good breaking ball, but he sets something of a bar for the other arms in the rotation. If they're able to meet or exceed the Johan Dominguez Line, they're a legit prospect. If they aren't able to match what he's doing in terms of a reliable five innings, they might very well be a reliever. And if nobody is able to match what he's doing, then you might see him in Chicago by the end of the year out of sheer need.

Position Players

*Colson Montgomery was the subject of a post here after I watched him play the series in Nashville, and he followed it up by going 2-for-13 with a triple, two walks and six strikeouts against Norfolk, so it held up for at least a week.

*Bryan Ramos might finally be feeling it. He went 9-for-31 with three doubles, a homer and seven walks over nine games. Better yet, even a number of the outs were loud. He also stole three bases in three attempts, and on some huge jumps. The season line might be beyond repair, but he's playing himself back in to September consideration if he can maintain it.

*Edgar Quero continues to be the best position player going for the White Sox, and with a Katie Ledecky-sized lead over the silver medalist. He's hitting .305/.423/.525 over 17 games in Triple-A, including two homers in the Norfolk series.

*Tim Elko has homered twice in his first six games at Triple-A. The rest of his production is lacking -- 5-for-24, two walks, six strikeouts -- but the home-run power was the only thing missing from his Double-A production, so it's nice to see that show up early in Charlotte.

*Zach DeLoach hit the lone homer by either team in the Nashville series, and had a decent two weeks on the whole (.282/.333/.462,. five extra-base hits in 10 games).

*Oscar Colás had a strong series in Nashville negated by finishing the Norfolk series with one hit over his last 14 at-bats and striking out eight times. He and DeLoach seem to be mostly treading water.

Pitchers

*Nick Nastrini has a hard time throwing two uncomplicated innings in a row, which led to 12 runs over 6⅔ innings spanning his starts against Nashville and Norfolk. I wonder if we'll see a shift to the bullpen before the end of the season.

*Sean Burke went nearly two weeks without pitching around the All-Star break, then failed to make it out of the first inning when he issued five walks and hit a batter over two-thirds of an inning in Nashville. Then he bounced back to throw 5⅔ innings of one-run ball against Norfolk, so maybe rust really was the issue.

*Jake Eder has given up 18 runs over his first 10⅓ innings in Triple-A. The hope is that he turned a corner against Norfolk, because he recovered from five first-inning runs and a rain delay to retire the last 10 batters he faced. Otherwise, the reliever forecast that Nastrini is facing comes into play here.

Birmingham Barons

• Last two series: 3-3 @Tennessee; 0-6 at Montgomery
• Record: 52-50 (11-22 in second half)
• Next two series: @Rocket City, vs. Tennessee
• Individual stats

If Sergio Santos is indeed under consideration to replace Pedro Grifol as manager of the White Sox for next season, then he's getting great on-the-job training in Birmingham right now. The Barons have scored just 94 runs in 33 games in the second half, including a sweep in Montgomery where Birmingham hitters went a staggering 1-for-44 with runners in scoring position.

The Barons are still good at preventing runs, although now that Jairo Iriarte is the last member of the original five-man rotation still in Double-A, the pitching staff is the normal sort of inconsistent for which a woeful lineup can't compensate.

Position Players

*Jacob Gonzalez had a couple of spasms of success, going 2-for-5 against Tennessee on July and 3-for-4 against Montgomery on Friday. Over the other 10 games of the two series, Gonzalez went 1-for-38. Also, he went the entire month of July without a homer. Perhaps sound another alarm.

*Wilfred Veras is great at struggling quietly. For instance, he's only had consecutive hitless games once over his last 33 games, but you'd expect somebody who's great at avoiding 0-fers to do better than .235/.287/.311. There just isn't much in the way of impact.

*Terrell Tatum just turned 25, but it's not a happy birthday for a guy with a .442 OPS over 184 plate appearances since the start of June.

Pitchers

*Jairo Iriarte is now pitching in unprecedented territory, as his previous high in innings was 91⅓. He appears to have caught a second wind, as he's allowed just two hits over his last 15 innings. Granted, he's also walked nine batters and hit four over that time, but he's allowed just two runs, so his general effectiveness is back.

*Mason Adams will be in Charlotte's section the next Farm Fortnight, as he was promoted to Triple-A to take Ky Bush's spot. He threw six innings of two-run ball in each of his last two outings, which means that he lasted five innings in all of his 18 appearances for Birmingham this season.

*Noah Schultz hasn't been scored upon in his three appearances since his rocky Futures Game appearance. If there's any sign of fatigue from what's been his longest season on record, he's walked six batters and plunked two over those 11 innings, but otherwise it's top-prospect stuff.

*Tyler Schweitzer is on an every-other-outing run right now. He held Montgomery to one run over six innings on Tuesday, but then got knocked around for five runs on 10 hits and two homers by the Biscuits on Sunday. That inflated his Double-A era to 4.47 over 48⅓ innings, but he's still on track to set a professional high in innings after throwing 107⅓ last season.

Winston-Salem Dash

• Last two series: 1-5 @Bowling Green; 4-2 vs. Greensboro
• Record: 48-54 (17-19 in second half)
• Next two series: vs. Greenville, @Jersey Shore
• Individual stats

Part of the reason for Birmingham's struggles is the lack of upward mobility from the Winston-Salem Dash lineup. There are some signs of progress at the individual level, but nobody looks particularly ready for a long look at Double-A.

The Dash infield received some reinforcement in the form of Rikuu Nishida (promoted from Kannapolis) and William Bergolla (acquired from the Phillies for Tanner Banks). They have combined for two homers over 716 plate appearances this year, so the power will have to come from within.

Position Players

*Samuel Zavala has cut his strikeout rate to 21.6 percent this season, an astounding reduction from 27 percent last year, which makes it all the more remarkable that he has nothing to show for all of that extra contact. He has four hits in his last 45 at-bats, and is running a .231 BABIP on the season. The South Atlantic League's BABIP is .309.

*DJ Gladney is picking it up, as he went 12-for-41 with a homer, three doubles and three walks over 11 games against Bowling Green and Greensboro. He's hitting 327 and slugging .571 since the All-Star break.

*Rikuu Nishida could've been called up to Winston-Salem weeks earlier, but his action-packed stylings are thus far transferring to the higher level. He's 6-for-18 with two stolen bases in three attempts over his first five games with the Dash.

*Wes Kath, who turned 22 on Saturday, is riding a seven-game hitting streak, and which includes three doubles, and no multi-strikeout games. He's hitting .310/.385/.583 over 25 games since the start of July.

*Eddie Park defied my prediction of his strikeout total surpassing his walk total by drawing six walks against three strikeouts over nine games against Bowling Green and Greensboro. That's about all he's doing (.241/.389/.241) right now.

*William Bergolla is 3-for-10 since joining the White Sox organization from Philadelphia in the Tanner Banks trade. He's made all three starts at shortstop, which is a change after he played most of his games at second base for High-A Jersey Shore. Perhaps the Sox feel emboldened by Brooks Baldwin's development here.

Pitchers

*Peyton Pallette continues to thrive in a bullpen role, as evidenced by his line over eight games there (15.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 24 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP). He's throwing a whopping 68 percent of his pitches for strikes as a reliever.

*Juan Carela has 22 strikeouts against one walk over his last 15 innings. That might be the kind of stretch that gets him to Birmingham, and he probably needs to get to Birmingham, because otherwise he'll have spent his last two full seasons in the South Atlantic League (plus seven starts the year before that).

*Lucas Gordon recovered from his worst start of the season -- an ugly 3⅔ innings against Bowling Green -- with four hitless, scoreless innings against Greensboro cut short by a rain delay. He's allowed just two hits combined in the three outings that weren't against the Hot Rods.

*Tommy Vail is new to this board, and while he should be handling A-ball for a 25-year-old undrafted free agent out of Auburn, the level to which he's doing it -- and the seamless transition from Kannapolis to Winston-Salem -- has my attention.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

• Last two series: 1-4 @Charleston; 2-4 vs. Salem
• Record: 56-45 (15-20 in second half)
• Next two series: @Columbia, vs. Charleston
• Individual stats

The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers are still biding their time until the White Sox assign draft picks their way, with the promotions of Nishida and Aldrin Batista clearing out the top spots in the lineup and rotation. Securing a postseason berth with a first half division title gives them the luxury of time.

Position Players

*Ronny Hernandez is DHing more often than not as he approaches the end of a season that will be his longest one by far, but the good news is that he's hitting well enough to support the move from behind the plate. He's on a seven-game hitting streak, and is batting .342/.435/.430 over his last 21 games.

*George Wolkow hasn't homered in 20 games, but he started to pick it up with other production over the last two weeks. He hit .250/.349/.333 over 11 games with a triple, double and five walks. He also struck out 19 times, and is running a .481 BABIP this season.

*Ryan Burrowes had a 10-game hitting streak come to a halt on Sunday, so the arrow continues to point upwards, albeit gradually.

*Jeral Perez joined the Cannon Ballers after coming over from the Dodgers in the three-way trade. He's 3-for-13 with a double, three walks and four strikeouts over his first four games in Kannapolis.

Pitchers

*Aldrin Batista will make his next start in Winston-Salem, so the 21-year-old righty can call the Kannapolis chapter of his season a success.

*Jake Peppers has pitched his best baseball over the last three starts, but two of those outings were interrupted by rain, so they haven't put the dent in his season numbers. He can't control the weather, only his performance around it, and it's been pretty good (10.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HBP).

*Tanner McDougal pitched five scoreless innings in his return to Kannapolis after two months of struggles in Winston-Salem's rotation. Unlike Pallette, he's still starting.

DSL White Sox

• Record: 15-30
• Individual stats

One thing that's jumped out to me while looking at the DSL White Sox's box scores every day is the number of unsuccessful stolen base attempts. They've been thrown out 29 times, but it turns out that it's an unremarkable total in the DSL, as 18 teams have more.

Except then you look at the stolen-base column, and that better explains the vibe. Every team with more than 25 CSes has stolen anywhere from 66 to 130 bases this season -- every team except the DSL White Sox, that is. They've only stolen 48.

It's not their biggest problem, but when they can't exploit DSL defenses with their legs and they're slugging .299 as a team, it's easy to understand why they've spent the entire season battling to stay out of last place.

Position Players

Time's on his side, but the struggles of Eduardo Herrera take on a different light after watching the White Sox release seven-figure signing Erick Hernandez after never finding any sort of sustained success. The good/bad news is that he fits right into the field, as none of the DSL White Sox hitters are raking.

Pitchers

Yhoiker Fajardo resumed pitching standard-length starts after a two-inning outing a few weeks ago. He struck out 15 batters against one walk over nine innings, so everything's still great there, and unimpressive everywhere else.