White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 24, 2024

The White Sox have a plan for Hagen Smith. He'll make three Saturday starts with the idea of throwing three innings apiece.

After watching the first of his three scheduled outings Saturday night, it's fair to wonder if the White Sox are content on low-stress reps, or if they have any designs for him making a playoff appearance for Birmingham.

Smith threw three scoreless innings for the Winston-Salem Dash against the Aberdeen IronBirds in his professional debut at Ripken Stadium, but the box score doesn't quite sum up how much he overpowered his first slate of High-A hitters.

Smith struck out four over three innings, sure, and MLB.com put together a clip of the punchouts for the hype reel:

But what's noteworthy is that the other seven batters all hit grounders, and six of seven hit the ball into the ground. There's only one that had anything close to a launch angle, but it was a sawed-off two-hopper to first base.

It's hyperbole to say the IronBirds didn't stand a chance against Smith, because they had runners on second and third with one out in the third after the singles you saw above (Smith stranded them by striking out his final two hitters). They just didn't stand a chance of lifting him, and when you combine that with four strikeouts of 11 batters, that's the best or worst of both worlds, depending on whose side you're on.

The severe offset of the (left) center field camera and absence of radar-gun readings made it hard to tell whether Smith threw any cutters, or just firmer sliders with more horizontal action. What we do know is from MiLB.com's recap of it, Smith eliminated changeups from the conversation:

“It was pretty cool just making my debut today,” Smith said. “My fastball and slider were really good. I didn't throw any changeups, but I wanted to attack hitters and get after it.”

Charlotte 10, Memphis 1

• Bryan Ramos went 2-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Zach DeLoach, 2-for-5 with a double.
• Tim Elko went 1-for-5 with a double.
• Oscar Colás was 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• Colson Montgomery was 3-for-4 with a walk.
• Nick Nastrini: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 53 of 87 pitches for strikes.

Birmingham 3, Biloxi 2

• Wilfred Veras went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and a stolen base.
• Same for DJ Gladney, who returned to the lineup.
• Jacob Gonzalez went 2-for-3 with a double, walk and stolen base.
• Terrell Tatum singled, struck out twice and stole a base.
• Noah Schultz: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 45 of 64 pitches for strikes.
• Peyton Pallette: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 23 of 35 pitches for strikes.

Highlights:

*Tatum's stolen base was just your ordinary steal of home to win the game.

Aberdeen 2, Winston-Salem 1 (10 innings)

• Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-5 with a triple and a strikeout.
• William Bergolla, 1-for-4 with a K.
• Caden Connor was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Wes Kath wore the collar and silver sombrero.
• Calvin Harris also went 0-for-4, striking out twice.
• Casey Saucke was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Eddie Park, 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Samuel Zavala, 1-for-4 with a K.
• Hagen Smith's pro debut: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 26 of 38 pitches for strikes, 1 HBP, 1 WP
• Tommy Vail: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 21 of 34 pitches for strikes after leaving his last start after two batters.

Kannapolis 5, Fayetteville 1

• Sam Antonacci doubled twice, singled, walked, struck out and stole a base.
• George Wolkow went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
• Ronny Hernandez was 1-for-3 with two walks.
• Jeral Perez struck out thrice during an 0-for-5 night.
• Ryan Burrowes struck out thrice while going 0-for-4.
• Lyle Miller Green went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Nathan Archer went 1-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
• Aaron Combs: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 15 of 21 pitches for strikes.