White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 15, 2024

Even a few minutes after blooping a 10th inning walk-off single into short center field, Bryan Ramos' proclamation read more as a needed self-reminder.

"I know I can hit."

The 22-year-old third baseman has realized his dreams to play in the majors this season, and finding his way against mostly older competition in Triple-A doesn't mark his progress as behind schedule. Still, between a curiously slow start at a Double-A level where he had previously thrived, seeing major league pitchers rapidly adjust their plans around his abilities in Chicago and now treading water at Charlotte, Ramos has yet to enjoy a sustained stretch of offensive success in 2024.

Despite launching three homers and three doubles in 11 games in an encouraging start to August, Ramos is hitting just .239/.313/.378 with the Knights this year.

"Even at a minor league level, he's been a little bit more streaky," said director of player development Paul Janish. "He can defend at the major league level, which is a really big deal. But from an approach standpoint he's going to have to really bear down on getting good pitches to hit and really forcing guys in the zone. Because his swing, he's so strong and powerful that when he swings at strikes, the rest kind of takes care of itself."

"When he stays in the middle of the field and he's in a really good spot with his direction, he stays on the ball and he's in the zone a lot longer," said Justin Jirschele, who was still Ramos' Triple-A manager just over a week ago. "He's able to see the ball better, longer, make better swing decisions with that and is not getting quick in and out of the zone."

Staying up the middle and swinging at strikes can sound like very general prescriptions for Ramos' offense, but the way they work in concert together comes into view over the course of a night of watching him get spammed with right-handed sliders.

After Ramos chased an 0-2 slider to strike out in his first at-bat, a steady wave of them followed. With exposure he was able to start fighting some benders off, which only served to set him up for the real villainy; the fastball on his hands that punished him for reaching out and produced a weak jam-shot groundout to second.

Once knocked for being pull-happy, staying up the middle now is a reminder for Ramos to not let waves of sweeping sliders coax him into surrendering the inner half of the plate, or allow pitchers to start yo-yoing him across the extreme edges of the zone.

"When I see too many sliders, then they say 'I got him now,' and after that they throw in. Then in my head, I'm thinking about that now that they're coming inside," Ramos said. "When I try to stay right-center, I definitely get better results."

A celebratory ice bath after flicking yet another slider off the end of his bat makes it easier to say, but Ramos said the past two weeks are the best he's felt offensively this season. It's not his best work, but more of a sign that things are slowing down for him after bouncing between three levels with a quad injury in between.

A stretch of good results at Triple-A over the final weeks would do a lot to remind the league that Ramos has the tools to be an above-average hitter. But with an understanding of what he's working through, Ramos is content to take his own word for it for now.

"This is what I tell myself in the batter's box: Don't worry about [the pitcher]. You can hit, you are better than him." Ramos said. "I just try to keep that in my mind. Because at the end of the day, this is hard. If you don't get the result, oh well. But if you stay positive, you can do better each day."

Charlotte 3, Toledo 2 (10 innings)

• Oscar Colás went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• So did Zach DeLoach, who doubled.
• Tim Elko was 2-for-5.
• Walk-off hero Bryan Ramos went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts, and reached on catcher interference.
• Colson Montgomery went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Notes:

*Mason Adams, who departed his Triple-A debut after just three-plus innings on Saturday, was placed on the 7-day injured list.

Tennessee 8, Birmingham 6 (12 innings)

• Terrell Tatum entered the game as a pinch runner and hit for himself twice, singling and striking out.
• Wilfred Veras went 1-for-4 with a homer two walks and a strikeout.
• Jacob Gonzalez went 2-for-5 with a strikeout.
• Tyler Schweitzer: 4 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 45 of 83 pitches for strikes.

Jersey Shore 3, Winston-Salem 2

• William Bergolla went 0-for-4, but he stole a base.
• Ryan Galanie, 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Casey Saucke was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
• Caden Connor tripled, singled and struck out twice.
• Samuel Zavala singled, walked twice and struck out once.
• Lucas Gordon: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HR

Kannapolis 6, Charleston 2

• Ryan Burrowes went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• T.J. McCants homered, singled, walked, struck out and was caught stealing.
• George Wolkow went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
• Jeral Perez singled and struck out thrice.
• Ronny Hernandez had a perfect night, going 4-for-4 with three doubles.
• Sam Antonacci was 0-for-4.
• Jake Peppers: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 48 of 80 pitches for strikes.

DSL White Sox 6, DSL Nationals 4

• Christian Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
• Eduardo Herrera was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Jurdrick Profar, 1-for-3 with a walk.