White Sox Minor League Update: May 6, 2022

Have you heard the good word about Yoán Moncada?

Box score link

New friends, old friends, and injured friends alike put the smackdown on the Gwinnett Stripers Friday night, broiling them 12-2. Yoán Moncada, mercifully hurtling towards the end of his rehab assignment, went a full 3-for-3 with a double, home run, and three runs scored. And an RBI. Also a walk. Also a sacrifice fly.

Moncada was matched, in RBI anyway, by Blake Rutherford, a name that may be familiar to some readers. Rutherford took advantage of two walks and a single that loaded the bases for him and went deep, the grand slam his third dinger of the year.

Every Knights player had at least one hit, Adam Haseley, Moncada, Zavala, Laz Rivera, and Zach Remillard with at least two. Seby Zavala homered in the seventh. Carlos Pérez hit a double and is batting .323/.354/.624. Yermín Mercedes, still technically rehabbing, had one of everything in the box score: one run, one hit, one RBI, one walk, and one strikeout.

Davis Martin, the 14th round pick out of the 2018 draft, threw six good innings of baseball in his Triple-A debut, both runs allowed on solo shots, and those not until the fifth and sixth innings. Joe Kelly both lives and is real, and he threw one scoreless inning in his third rehab appearance. Yacksel Ríos and JB Olson both added scoreless innings of their own.

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Box score link

I’m going to be real: if my last name was Blewett, I don’t know if I would have the psychological fortitude to be a pitcher, let alone one in a professional league of any level. If Scott Blewett had such qualms, they were not apparent tonight; despite allowing five runs (only three earned), the command was sharp and he walked none while striking out eight over five innings.

This one did continue to get away from the Barons the later it got: Hansen Butler was hung with a three-run line over two innings and Yoan Aybar struggled when he was sent out for a second inning as well, allowing a ninth-inning home run to start the frame. He would load the bases before being swapped for Declan Cronin, who popped, struck, and ground balled his way out of the jam without further damage.

Yesterday, Lenyn Sosa and Tyler Neslony put on a show at the plate; today, Sosa and José Rodríguez didn’t reach the same level of power, but they did get three hits apiece, combining to go 6-for-8 with two runs scored, two RBI, a walk, and a home run (Sosa). Rodríguez also stole a base and made an error, his third.

There was a mini-rally mounted in the bottom of the ninth, with Rodríguez’s walk kicking it off and Craig Dedelow and Evan Skoug both singling, keeping it a station-to-station situation. Ian Dawkins got the vaunted Ground Out RBI, JJ Muno added another run with a sac fly, and Sosa singled to keep two on and the inning alive, but Neslony struck out swinging to end the game.

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The Dash and the Cannon Ballers, who were both suspended shortly into play due to rain, will not be appearing in this story.