White Sox Minor Keys: Aug. 2, 2025

The White Sox named their Minor League Players of the Month for July, and one of them came from off the board, at least if you consider the names we see in Minor Keys or Farm Fortnight posts "the board."

Shane Murphy earned the honor among pitchers for his 1.08 ERA over 25 innings and four starts last month. He allowed just 20 baserunners (15 hits, four walks and an HBP) while striking out 15, and it lowered his Birmingham ERA on the season to 1.37.

For position players, 24-year-old first baseman Alec Makarewicz came to the fore, hitting .315/.390/.534 with 21 RBIs over 20 games with Winston-Salem. If you're wondering if that means we've slept on him, he was hitting .210/.290/.341 over 61 games entering this month.

Apropos of nothing, there's a photo of Oscar Colás coming out of the batting cage and admiring an animatronic dinosaur. I'm in Huntsville this weekend, watching the Barons play Colás and the Rocket City Trash Pandas in order to see what Braden Montgomery and Sam Antonacci look like in person. I'll let you know what that's like when I have more to say about it.

Rochester 9, Charlotte 8

• Curtis Mead went 3-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
• Will Robertson was 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
• TIm Elko, 2-for-5 with a K.
• Bryan Ramos was 2-for-5 with a double, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
• Jacob Gonzalez, 2-for-3 with a double, walk and a stolen base.
• Martín Pérez: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 32 of 47 pitches for strikes.
• Ben Peoples' organizational debut: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 14 of 21 pitches for strikes.
• Wikelman González: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 16 of 27 pitches for strikes.

Notes:

*Some points from the Statcast data: Pérez topped out at 90.1 mph, averaging 88.5 with his sinker; Peoples threw two-thirds fastballs, averaging 95 mph; Gonzalez's double was 104.9 mph.

Birmingham 3, Rocket City 2 (11 innings)

• Rikuu Nishida went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• William Bergolla was 2-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base.
• Sam Antonacci, 0-for-3 with a walk, sac bunt and strikeout.
• Ryan Galanie went 2-for-5 with two doubles and a strikeout.
• Braden Montgomery was 1-for-4 with a walk, strikeout and stolen base.
• Riley Gowens: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 HR

Notes:

*Hat tip to Garrett Schoenle for pitching out of a runners-on-the-corners-nobody-out jam in the 10th.

Winston-Salem 5, Greenville 3 (Game 1, 7 innings)

• Jeral Perez went 2-for-4 with a stolen base.
• Samuel Zavala was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
• Ryan Burrowes walked once and struck out twice.
• Christian Oppor: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 40 of 60 pitches for strikes.

Greenville 3, Winston-Salem 2 (Game 2, 7 ininngs)

• Samuel Zavala doubled, singled, walked and struck out.
• T.J. McCants was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
• Lyle Miller-Green, 1-for-2 with his first High-A homer and a walk.
• Ryan Burrowes, 0-for-3 with a K.
• Gage Ziehl's org debut: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 43 of 65 pitches for strikes.

Highlights:

*There's some of that power that Miller-Green had been hiding.

Kannapolis 7, Delmarva 0

• Caleb Bonemer went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
• George Wolkow, 2-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Adrian Gíl went 1-for-4 with a double and two strikeouts.
• Abraham Nuñez hit a grand slam as the centerpiece of a 2-for-4 night, striking out once. He also stole a base and cut down two runners.

Highlights:

*Here's Nuñez's bomb:

DSL Pirates Gold 13, DSL White Sox 5 (6 innings)

• Frank Mieses went 0-for-2 with two walks.
• Jose Mendoza was 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
• Eduardo Herrera was 1-for-3 with a double, walk and strikeout.
• Yobal Rodriguez: 1 IP, 0 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 HBP.