With the off day giving us no new problems with the White Sox offense to write about, I figured it'd be a nice change of pace to see the lack of help that is available at Charlotte, courtesy of
minorleaguesplits.com.
Josh Fields:Good: While he's only batting .238 (5-for-21) against lefties, his OBP against them is a whopping .448 thanks to eight walks. He has only struck out three times, and considering his BABIP is .235, it seems like the other numbers should come around. After a slow start, he's picked it up in May so far (.318/.373/.523).
Bad: He's sporting a .302 slugging percentage on the road, and has hit all five of his homers in Charlotte's tiny ballpark, and his .245 road average isn't adversely affected by BABIP. He's struck out 32 times in 105 at-bats against righties, so there appears to be a hole there, still.
Jerry Owens:Good: He hasn't seen much action against lefties, but he's hit them respectably (.280 average over 25 at-bats). Despite low batting average against righties (.244), he's sporting an above-average OBP (.352), and has walked more than he's struck out. Better OPS on the road, thanks to a OBP that's 100 points higher.
Bad: Has struggled in May after a better April, and basically, all Scott Podsednik comparisons still seem apt, from the weak power stats to the lack of a throwing arm. He does cost about $2.6 million less, though.
Andy Gonzalez:Good: Three of five hits against lefties in 17 at-bats have been for extra bases, and sports a .366 OBP against righties.
Bad: Lots of strikeouts (31 in 85 at-bats), absurdly high BABIP (.385), OPS is more than 300 points lower on the road.
Wiki Gonzalez:Good: Crushing lefties (9-for-16) so far, with a homer and a double as well. Only four strikeouts in 79 at-bats. While he's hit all five homers at home, OPSes aren't that drastically different away from Charlotte (.846 to .791) thanks to high OBP on road. High amount of contact will depress BABIP, but he could improve on .257 BABIP just with better luck.
Bad: No extra-base hits away from home, and sports a .670 OPS against righties.
Brian Anderson:Good: He's hitting better on the road than at home, with three of his four extra-base hits coming away from Charlotte.
Bad: Eleven strikeouts in 40 at-bats.
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Minor league round-up:- Charlotte 15, Columbus 2
- Jim Thome went 0-for-4 with a walk, a strikeout and a GIDP in his first rehab game. Toby Hall went 3-for-4 with three RBI.
- Pedro Lopez went 2-for-3 with three walks; Kenny Perez hit a three-run homer; Ernie Young hit a pinch-hit grand slam.
- Gavin Floyd gave up one run over four innings during his first start in a couple of weeks; Shaun Babula pitched four hitless innings in relief.
- Mississippi 7, Birmingham 0
- Jack Egbert gave up five runs over six innings, his second straight rough start.
- Thomas Collaro and Chris Getz had two hits apiece; Robert Valido went 0-for-3 and committed his ninth error of the year.
- Winston-Salem 4, Salem 3 (10 innings)
- Aaron Cunningham hit his fifth homer of the year, his only hit in five at-bats. Micah Schnurstein went 2-for-5 with double No. 20.
- Derek Rodriguez allowed one run over six innings, but John Lujan vultured the win by blowing the save.
- Carlos Torres struck out five over two scoreless innings of relief.
- Savannah 3, Kannapolis 2
- John Shelby Jr. hit a solo homer, and Brandon Allen had the Intimidators' two other hits on the night.
- Outside of a rough third inning, Jacob Rasner pitched well: 6 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 HR
- Kanekoa Texeira worked two scoreless innings, striking out four.