White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 29, 2024

When the White Sox promoted Rikuu Nishida to Winston-Salem, it was long overdue, but it also posed a threat to his ability to run up the score in the runs column. He scored 84 times over 90 games with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, and while it's slightly less impressive coming from a 23-year-old in Low-A, it's still cool to lead all of the minor leagues in any category.

Nishida's pace hasn't slowed much since joining the Dash. He still leads the minors in runs after scoring three more on Thursday night, which puts him at 102 for the season and makes him the first White Sox farmhand to score triple digits since Luis Robert Jr. crossed the plate 108 times over 122 games in 2019.

They reached the milestone in very different ways. Robert hit 32 homers, and he also mixed in 11 triples, 31 doubles and stole 36 bases, so when he didn't drive himself in, he often shortened the distance from home plate himself. Nishida is running right alongside Robert in the steals department with 43 steals in 54 attempts, but he's produced just 20 total extra-base hits (13 doubles, six triples, one homer). He's riding the strength of a .420 OBP, including a .441 OBP over his four weeks in Winston-Salem.

Regardless of how or how old, Nishida accomplished a pretty rare feat among White Sox prospects. The organizational leaderboard typically looks something like this:

Clicking back through this century's minor league leaderboards, Nishida is just the fifth player to score 100 runs. The complete list:

• 2005: Noah Hall (112) and Chris Young (100)
• 2013: Marcus Semien (110) and Micah Johnson (106)
• 2019: Luis Robert Jr. (108)
• 2024: Rikuu Nishida (102 and counting)

All of the above players were credible White Sox prospects to one degree or another with the exception of Hall, who was a 28-year-old in Winston-Salem. He played in 1,176 affiliated minor league games across 14 seasons, followed by three more in Atlantic League, without appearing in the majors. In an era of minor league and organizational roster contraction, that's not the kind of career somebody can have anymore.

As for Nishida, Paul Janish has taken note of his ability to get home:

"He leads the league in personality, No. 1. That’s my favorite thing about him. In terms of ceiling, that’s a really difficult thing to say. What I will say is that he’s produced so far, leads the minor leagues in runs scored. He is infectious in the clubhouse, all that stuff. He plays a very good second base and is versatile, plays the outfield as well. It is a unique profile, right, because he’s not knocking the outfield wall down per say, but he is productive. The name of the game is to score runs and he’s good at that. Just excited about him. Everything he’s doing, he’s having a great first full season and I don’t see any reason to not expect him to continue to do so."

Nashville 5, Charlotte 1

• Yoán Moncada DH'd and went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
• Tim Elko was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
• Oscar Colás, 0-for-3 with a walk.
• Colson Montgomery went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Bryan Ramos, 1-for-4 with a K.
• Sean Burke: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR, 61 of 87 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*Knights reliever Aaron McGarity sang the National Anthem:

Birmingham 10, Chattanooga 6

• Wilfred Veras went 2-for-4 with a homer, double, two walks and a strikeout.
• DJ Gladney went 0-for-6 with two strikeouts.
• Jacob Gonzalez was 1-for-4 with a double, walk and strikeout.
• Terrell Tatum, 0-for-3 with two walks and a strikeout.
• Jairo Iriarte: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HBP, 53 of 86 pitches for strikes.

Winston-Salem 6, Brooklyn 5 (10 innings)

• Rikuu Nishida went 3-for-4 with a walk.
• Caden Connor was 0-for-5.
• Casey Saucke was 0-for-4 with a walk and three strikeouts.
• Wes Kath went 0-for-4 with a walk and a K.
• Calvin Harris went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Samuel Zavala broke out of a 1-for-23 slump by going 2-for-3 with a homer and an HBP.
• Eddie Park went 1-for-4.

Notes:

*The Dash placed William Bergolla on the 7-day injured list.

Kannapolis 8, Fredericksburg 7

• Jeral Perez went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, and he was picked off.
• Geroge Wolkow was 0-for-3 with two walks and two strikeouts.
• Ryan Burrowes, 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and an HBP.
• Lyle Miller-Green doubled, walked twice and struck out twice.
• Nathan Archer was 1-for-4 with a walk, strikeout and two stolen bases.
• Justin Sinibaldi: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K