I missed Friday's Charlotte Knights game to see Friday's White Sox game, but I'll be back in Nashville to see Noah Schultz today, assuming the flight is on time.
Speaking of Schultz, I talked to White Sox pitching coordinator Matt Zaleski on Thursday about the state of his game after returning from the injured list. While the knee problem didn't have anything to do with his usually trustworthy slider losing its shape -- as both have said before, the cutter has been the culprit there -- Zaleski says the injury did contribute to Schultz's inflated walk rate.
"The knee was [more related to] command issues because he had nothing to really brace and be stable on, and it kind of just would affect some of the command stuff. And now that that's feeling a lot better, just watching his side, watching his last game, it's like that's massively improved," Zaleski said.
Schultz had walked 44 batters over his first 68 innings, or 14.4 percent of batters faced, which is more than double his 6.7 percent walk rate from 2024. He didn't walk any of the nine batters he faced over his two innings against Norfolk on Sunday, and we'll see if that improved control carries over against the Sounds tonight.
Nashville 5, Charlotte 4
- Bryan Ramos with 0-for-3 with walk and a strikeout.
- Jacob Gonzalez doubled, walked and struck out twice.
- Jonathan Cannon: 4 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 56 of 90 pitches for strikes.
- Peyton Pallette: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 5 of 13 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 7, Tennessee 1
- William Bergolla was 0-for-4 with a walk.
- Sam Antonacci went 1-for-3 with a walk, two HBPs and a stolen base.
- Braden Montgomery singled twice, walked once and struck out twice.
- Wiflred Veras was 2-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- D.J. Gladney was 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Tanner McDougal: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 20 of 27 pitches for strikes.
- Tyler Schweitzer still has a 0.00 ERA at Birmingham: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 47 of 66 pitches for strikes.
Notes:
*Antonacci is now up to 31 HBPs on the season.
*Schweitzer is now up to 41⅔ innings without an earned run with the Barons.
Rome 2, Winston-Salem 1
- Samuel Zavala and Jeral Perez both were 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Kyle Lodise and Caleb Bonemer both were 1-for-4 with one strikeout.
- Ryan Burrowes, 0-for-2 with a walk, strikeout and stolen base.
- Lucas Gordon: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 51 of 68 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 10, Salem 7
- Ely Brown singled twice, walked thrice and stole a base.
- George Wolkow was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts and two GIDPs.
- Anthony DePino doubled, walked thrice and struck out once.
- Colby Shelton was 1-for-5 with a stolen base.
- Kaleb Freeman went 0-for-3 with two walks and a strikeout. He also started at catcher and had two throwing errors and a passed ball.
- Luis Reyes: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 WP, 34 of 55 pitches for strikes.
- Blake Shepardson: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 13 of 31 pitches for strikes.
