White Sox Minor League Update: May 7, 2025

Led by two walk-off homers, the affiliates went 2-2

Charlotte Knights 12, Memphis Redbirds 11 (10 innings) (Statcast box)
The Knights (17-18) blew a lead in the latter portion of the game, but they pulled through with three runs in the bottom of the 10th. As a result, for the second straight day, the Knights won a game in extra innings on a walk-off.

Charlotte’s starting pitcher was [redacted], who had a poor outing, which is not exactly a surprise. Five of the first Redbirds to come to the plate reached base safely, with three singles and two doubles. After that hit parade, Memphis had a 4-0 lead after one inning, and overall, [redacted] only pitched two innings. Although he did not allow any runs in the second frame, he did not put the Knights in a good position to win.

The score remained 4-0 until the bottom of the third, when the Knights started to rally. Jason Matthews broke the ice with a solo blast, his first home run with Charlotte and his second homer of the season.

With one out in the fourth, Tim Elko doubled, and two batters later, Kyle Teel found a sweeper to his liking and crushed it.

The very next batter, Bryan Ramos, hit a cutter 394 feet to left, and just like that, the game was tied at four.

With the game still tied in the fifth, Zach DeLoach led off with a double, and Matthews followed with a bunt single. Dominic Fletcher hit a sacrifice fly, Corey Julks doubled, and Elko drove in an insurance run with a single.

Knights reliever Chase Plymell pitched from innings 3-5 and did not allow anyone to reach base. In other words, Plymell was terrific, but after he left the game, the pitching staff struggled. Reliever Eric Adler allowed two runs in the top of the sixth, and the game was tied once again.

However, the Knights regained the lead in the bottom half, putting three more on the board. DeLoach drove in a run with another double, Julks hit an RBI single, and Omar Narváez added an RBI single of his own.

Knights reliever Adisyn Coffey struck out the only three batters he faced, so he could not have possibly been more effective. By contast, James Karinchak allowed two runs in the eighth, and Charlotte’s lead was down to one.

Keone Kela took over in the ninth, and his task was to protect that 9-8 lead. Kela did not quite get that job done. After a leadoff single, a stolen base, and two strikeouts, Kela was one out away from the save. However, a double by Ryan Vilade sent the game into extras.

In the top of the 10th, Penn Murfee allowed a single and a sacrifice fly to drive in the free runner. After a walk, a wild pitch, and another single against him, Memphis led, 11-9.

In the bottom half, DeLoach struck out, and Matthews grounded out, so it appeared that the Redbirds would hold on. Fletcher extended the game with a walk, and the free runner (Andre Lipcius) raced home to score on a wild pitch. That set the stage for Julks.

Well, would you look at that? What a game. Bravo to Julks for coming through while the Knights were down to their last out. Julks now has an OPS (1.054) that is within striking distance of Tim Elko (1.101). As of this game’s conclusion, Elko leads all of Triple-A in OPS, while Julks is No. 4, not far behind.

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Columbus Clingstones 13, Birmingham Barons 7,
The Barons (14-14) struggled immensely to keep opposing hitters off base, so they lost their second game in as many days to Columbus (11-17).

Five pitchers appeared in this game for the Barons, and all but one of them (Zach Franklin) had more earned runs allowed than innings pitched. Starter Riley Gowens needed 83 pitches to make it through three innings, and although he struck out seven, he walked six. Overall, only 46 of his 83 pitches (55%) were strikes, which did not get the job done.

Despite the surprisingly poor performance by the pitching staff, the Barons offense prevented the game from becoming a massacre. DJ Gladney launched a homer, and the Barons went 6-for-9 with runners in scoring position, as they had plenty of timely hitting. However, in this game, it just was not enough.

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Winston-Salem Dash 7, Bowling Green Hot Rods 6
With their backs up against the wall, the Dash (11-18) put a heroic rally together to take down the Hot Rods (15-14).

Dash starter Jack Bockenstedt did not have his finest stuff, and Winston-Salem trailed for the vast majority of this game. With two outs in the top of the first, the Mac Horvath doubled, Noah Myers hit an RBI single, and Ryan Spikes homered. Suddenly, it was 3-0, and Winston-Salem was playing from behind for a long time.

The Dash picked up a run in the second, when Wes Kath drove in Jackson Appel with a single. In the third, Braden Montgomery reached on an error, which allowed Jeral Perez, who had doubled, to score. Then, in the fourth, Arxy Hernández tripled and scored on a walk with the bases loaded to Sam Antonacci.

However, when Bockenstedt left the game, Bowling Green had a 5-3 lead, although one of those runs was unearned. Bowling Green added one more in the fifth, when Jake Peppers issued a walk, he had two wild pitches, and he allowed an RBI single.

The bullpen performed admirably for the rest of the game, as the Hot Rods did not score again. Unfortunately, the score remained 6-3 until the bottom of the ninth, as the Dash offense also got cold. That changed in a big way in the final frame.

Kath struck out to open the inning, Jordan Sprinkle doubled and stole third, and Samuel Zavala struck out. At that point, Bowling Green had a 98.5% chance to win, but the Dash had other ideas. Antonacci was hit by a pitch, and Perez singled to drive in a run and extend the game. That brought up Braden Montgomery, who did a Braden Montgomery type of thing.

What in the world? This was a fantastic performance for Montgomery, whose WPA was +98.2%, a sky-high figure that easily led all players in this game. The walk-off homer increased Winston-Salem’s odds of winning the game from 9.0% to 100.0%.

What a start to the season for Montgomery, who cruised through Kannapolis and is on fire in Winston-Salem. Across the two levels, Montgomery, 22, is slashing .323/.412/.586. Montgomery is primarily a center fielder, a position that generally has below average production at the plate, making his bat even more valuable. In addition, Montgomery defends this position nicely, and per MLB Pipeline, his arm rating is 70, well above average. Montgomery is starting to turn a lot of heads, and that attention is deserved.

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Carolina Mudcats 1, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0
The Mudcats (20-8) pitching staff shut down the Cannon Ballers (16-13) to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

Cannon Ballers starter Christian Oppor continued his strong performance to open the season, only allowing one run on three hits in four innings. Oppor struck out four and did not issue any walks, and his ERA is down to 2.42.

Despite Oppor’s strong outing, he got charged with the loss, as the Cannon Ballers did not score at all. Kannapolis only collected five hits, and all of those were singles. Zero Cannon Ballers had a multi-hit game, and they finished 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Carlton Perkins and Pierce George combined to pitch five shutout innings in relief of Oppor. When you do not score, though, you cannot win.