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DJ Gladney crushed a solo home run on Wednesday to put the Barons ahead 1-0 in the fifth. In game 33, it was just the Barons’ 15th home run of the season. Birmingham wasn’t particularly homer-happy last season, launching only 77 in its 138 games. This year, the team is on pace for even lower power numbers, as they are currently on track to hit just 63.
There’s plenty of time for the Barons to find their swing, but the roster doesn’t boast many sluggers. With guys like Tim Elko and Edgar Quero having moved on, where could the team’s pop come from?
Wilfred Veras
Veras led the Barons with 16 homers last season and is out to an early lead again this year. The outfielder has slugged four so far, two more than anyone else on the team. After a strong showing in Double-A across parts of 2023 and all of 2024, the 22-year-old appeared to be nearly ready for Charlotte.
This season, however, strikeouts have plagued the outfielder. Veras maintained a 26% strikeout rate across his first 166 games with the Barons over the past two campaigns. This year, that number has jumped to over 30%. While Veras has improved his on-base percentage, his slugging percentage is much lower. He’s still hitting homers, though, but until Veras can bring his strikeout rate back down, he’ll likely stay in Birmingham as the team’s de facto power bat.
Wilfred Veras ties it up!
pic.twitter.com/bf1FniBhR2
— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) August 13, 2023
DJ Gladney
Gladney, the hero of the Barons’ Southern League Championship run last season, is struggling in the early going. The Oak Park native has a .247/.300/.346 line and a 39% strikeout rate through his first 22 games. He established himself in Double-A following a promotion last August, after which Gladney notched six homers in just 97 at-bats.
This year, Gladney has just two, both of which have come within his last five games. However, the outfielder typically homers in bunches, recording two multi-homer games with the Barons last season. In between those performances, he suffered a 13-game stretch in which he slashed .216/.250/.255.
There’s precedent for Gladney breaking out of cold stretches. As concerning as his early strikeout troubles are this season, he may be on the way to breaking out again.
Ryan Galanie
The team’s power savior might be a late arrival to the Magic City. Galanie, the White Sox’s 13th-round pick in 2023, hit 17 homers in 383 at-bats across Low-A Kannapolis and High-A Winston-Salem in 2024. The first baseman tore up Low-A ball, but had some issues making consistent contact in High-A.
This season, Galanie figured things out during his stint in Winston-Salem. He had 11 extra-base hits in 21 games, including four home runs, before getting the well-deserved call to Birmingham. He is off to a strong start with the Barons, as he’s crushed a pair of homers in 13 games to go along with a strong .954 OPS. If he keeps that up, Galanie will challenge Veras as the team leader in homers in no time.
Jeral Perez
While Galanie was raking, he didn’t lead the Dash in homers at the time of his promotion. That honor went to infielder Jeral Perez, who is now up to nine on the year.
Perez, just 20 years old, is a long shot to appear in Birmingham this season. His .219/.311/.508 slash line in High-A speaks to his power, but doesn’t suggest that more work is needed to refine his game before he is ready to move up. He started out strong, but an ice-cold start to May is further evidence that he’s not quite ready for the Double-A level. And even if he was, finding space for Perez in a crowded Birmingham infield would be no easy feat.
Jacob Gonzalez and William Bergolla have second base and shortstop, respectively, on lockdown. Rikuu Nishida has also spent half his season at second. Bergolla is just 20 himself, meaning Perez has at least a chance of seeing Birmingham later in the year. With the players already there, however, it’s an unlikely proposition.
And with that, Jeral Perez is tied for second in the SAL for number of Home Runs hit this season
@AtriumHealthWFB pic.twitter.com/PUeDVDXUCE
— Winston-Salem Dash (@WSDashBaseball) April 27, 2025
Braden Montgomery
In his first year of affiliated ball, the highly-touted Montgomery has a real chance of making it to the Double-A level. He earned the call to Winston-Salem after just 18 games with Kannapolis, and is still looking like he is more advanced than the competition.
The numbers speak for themselves with Montgomery. He boasts a .365/.452/.712 line after his first 15 games in High-A. The outfielder has seven home runs in 33 games across the two levels, and is walking nearly as much as he’s striking out with the Dash. At this rate, the Sox might have no choice but to again promote Montgomery in short order.
Lyle Miller-Green
This is a dark-horse pick, as Miller-Green has yet to flash significant power in affiliated ball. The first baseman has only five homers in 159 at-bats in Kannapolis across his first two seasons. Still, he was one of the most prolific sluggers in college baseball last season. He launched 30 home runs at Austin Peay, the sixth-most in the country. A change of scenery could help return his power stroke.
Miller-Green is playing well in Low-A so far in 2025, slashing .221/.345/.432. He’s also reduced his strikeout rate from 34% in 19 games last year to 30% in 26 games this year.
Galanie’s promotion has left first base wide open in Winston-Salem, and neither Alec Makarewicz nor Wes Kath has been able to come close to Galanie’s production. Miller-Green still has a long way to go to get to Birmingham, but he could soon be just one step away.
The scrappy Barons currently sit at just 17-16, yet lead the weak North Division. They need a boost in order to be true contenders, whether it’s from someone currently on the team, like Veras, Gladney, or Galanie, or someone trying to make it there, like Perez, Montgomery, or Miller-Green.
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Featured Photo: Birmingham Barons/X
The post Who can help solve the power outage in Birmingham? appeared first on Sox On 35th.