If you had forgotten which White Sox prospects the team had deployed to the Glendale Desert Dogs roster in the Arizona Fall League this year, the box score of Tuesday's opener might provide all the necessary memory refreshment alone. Between manager Ben Johnson's substitution-heavy introduction and an insane amount of runs scored by both teams, all nine Sox prospects appeared in Glendale's 15-13 victory over Peoria.
We'll get to the box score at the end, after which we'll recap the results on a weekly basis, but in case you need to know the "what" and "why" to go along with the "who," consult the paragraphs that follow.
Position players
Colson Montgomery: Montgomery is returning to the Arizona Fall League, and when looking back at his performance from the last time around, you could see the cracks in his game starting to show. He hit .244/.300/.415, and while the batting average matched his clip at Birmingham, he struck out 27 times against six walks in 90 plate appearances.
There are too many variables in the AFL environment to guess which performances foreshadow success or failure from the stat line alone, but in Montgomery's case, the uptick in strikeouts followed him into 2024. He hit just .214/.329/.381 in Charlotte, and struggles covering the upper half of the zone and using the opposite field were reflected in both an uptick in strikeouts (164 over 130 games), and diminished usefulness on the contact he did make (.281 BABIP, down from .425 in Winston-Salem and .308 in Birmingham in 2023).
He'd been working on reducing the amount of movement in order to better sync up his levers, and a .264/.357/.458 line in September -- albeit with 24 strikeouts over 84 plate appearances -- gave him some momentum to work with.
Unlike last season, when Montgomery was limited to 64 games due to injuries, he's not heading to the AFL to make up for lost time. Having set career highs with 130 games and 573 plate appearances, the idea is that the environment will give him a setting to continue implementing mechanical changes, putting him in better position to hit the ground running in 2025. He'll require a 40-man roster spot in order to be protected from the Rule 5 draft this winter.
Tim Elko: Here's another guy who doesn't need the reps, because he played in 139 games between Birmingham and Charlotte, hitting .289/.346/.439 across the two levels. But it doesn't hurt Elko to keep facing live arms, because he has significant in-zone contact concerns and turns 26 in December. If the White Sox go the most severe route at the non-tender deadline and bid farewell to both Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets, all sorts of playing time would open up at first base, so it's in Elko's interest to do anything that puts him closer to front of mind.
DJ Gladney: The hero of Birmingham's championship-clinching victory, Gladney was limited to 91 games due to a recurring oblique issue that delayed his matriculation to Double-A, but he hit well enough for the Barons around the interruptions, posting a .278/.314/.505 line over 106 plate appearances after his promotion in August. The power is real, and so is the disparity between walks and strikeouts, but he reduced his strikeout rate at the higher level with no loss in power:
- A+: .234/.299/.430, 8.2 BB%, 31.0 K%
- AA: .278/.314/.505, 3.8 BB%, 21.9 K%
Gladney, who was selected by the White Sox in the 16th round back in 2019, is eligible for the Rule 5 draft this December, but wouldn't be a likely threat for selection.
Michael Turner: Normally, 96 games would be a respectable amount for a catcher in a minor league season. But because Turner spent the first four months of the season behind Edgar Quero on the Birmingham depth chart, he only caught 46 of those contests, with Sergio Santos rotating him around to first base and DH to give him more oxygen.
Turner couldn't build upon his impressive full-season debut with Winston-Salem in 2023, where he hit .309/.430/.441, but he responded better to regular playing time over the course of his first year in Double-A. He hit .255/.358/.314 over the final three months, including a productive showing in the Southern League playoffs.
Pitchers
Grant Taylor: A lat strain limited Taylor to 19⅓ innings in his first professional season, although at least he showcased all of the potential that compelled the White Sox to use a second-round pick on him in 2023 despite Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire previous year as well. He needs the additional workload, partially for the development that comes with it, and partially for the opportunity to show that he's not uniquely susceptible to injuries. Brian Bannister's description of Taylor's delivery depicts a guy who pushes his body to its limits.
“He’s electric,” said Brian Bannister. “It’s big, outlier extension [in his delivery]. He was getting at least seven and a half feet of extension. So when you see a lat injury for a pitcher who is way out there, it makes sense.”
Taylor, who threw 60, 55, 58 and 60 pitches in his four four-inning appearances with Kannapolis this season, and threw 56 pitches over 1⅓ innings in his AFL debut, including 31 pitches in the second inning. If the hope was for a gentler reintroduction to competitive pitching, that plan went by the boards.
Peyton Pallette: He fits the role Jordan Leasure occupied on last year's Glendale roster, as a pitcher who could prominently figure into the next season's bullpen plans if he sustains the success he had in his conversion to relief work (.404 OPS against, 57 strikeouts against 37 baserunners over 44⅔ innings). Leasure expedited his path by acing both the AFL and spring training, so there's the template for Pallette to follow.
Eric Adler: Adler didn't walk or hit a batter over his final six appearances of the 2024 season with Birmingham, largely while working as their closer, which is the best stretch of control he's demonstrated as a professional. He walked 20 batters over his first 28⅓ innings, which was the primary contributor to his uninspiring performance in terms of run prevention, as the 4.45 ERA masked five additional unearned runs. He hasn't allowed homers, or much else in the way of hard contact, so there's reason for optimism if he stops creating his own problems.
Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa: He pitched in the AFL last year while in the Rangers system, as he had to make up for time lost to a shoulder issue before he approached his first year of Rule 5 eligibility. His strong fall didn't culminate in a 40-man roster spot, but it helped put him on the radar. After a subsequent successful debut at Double-A Frisco, the White Sox acquired him for Robbie Grossman in May. AHT pitched well for the Barons, but his first month in Triple-A was a rough one (8.2 IP, 11 H, 13 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 8 K, 1 HR), so his 40-man forecast remains cloudy. Unlike last year, at least he's within one-small-tweak range of reaching the majors.
Andrew Dalquist: After two years of hitting his head against the wall as a starter, working exclusively out of relief helped Dalquist provide useful innings for the White Sox. He traded walks for hits from one half to another, which caused his ERA to regress ...
- First 19 games: 21.1 IP, 11 H, 15 BB, 22 K, 147/.289/.227, 2.01 ERA
- Last 19 games: 24.2 IP, 25 H, 12 BB, 30 K, .275/.352/.363, 4.01 ERA
... but provided a better idea of how his stuff competes, since he can't get away with a 17 percent walk rate against MLB hitters. He's Rule 5 eligible for the first time, but his stuff isn't especially monstrous to suggest he'll be taken.
If Pallette is the most likely Leasure comp, you're free to debate in the comments which pitcher is the more likely parallel to Fraser Ellard, whose path to 25 appearances with the White Sox this season started with a breakout performance in the AFL last year. Ellard came away from the experience particularly fond of the league's format for pitchers, which splits the difference between offseason development and in-season competition, without the pressure to earn a roster spot that comes in spring.
"It's a really good opportunity to take development on steroids, because you're using stuff you're working on in the game, but you're also having time to hone that in as you go on through the rest of the week because your outings are usually more spread out," Ellard said, not referring to actual steroids. "I'm probably not going to be throwing my fifth-best pitch in a major league game to try to work on something, but in the Fall League it's great and you're still facing good competition. You're getting to see the eye test immediately rather than working on something in a vacuum in the offseason. You hear guys all the time 'Oh yeah I've got a new pitch,' and they come to spring training and they don't have that pitch by the end of the month because for whatever reason it's getting hit."
Glendale 15, Peoria 13
- Colson Montgomery started at third base, reaching on a double, single and HBP in his three trips.
- DJ Gladney appeared as a late-game replacement and walked in his only plate appearance.
- Tim Elko was 2-for-4 with a homer.
- Michael Turner also homered, finishing 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Grant Taylor did not respond to a long layoff after a scoreless first: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 34 of 56 pitches for strikes.
- Eric Adler: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 7 of 15 pitches for strikes.
- Andrew Dalquist: 1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 14 of 32 pitches for strikes.
- Peyton Pallette: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 13 of 25 pitches for strikes.
- Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoga: 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 18 of 25 pitches for strikes.
