KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Having seen benefits of melding top prospects, instructors and coordinators together at their alternate training site in 2020, the White Sox are building off the experience with “Project Birmingham,” an innovative endeavor that will see most of their top up-and-coming players from Class A play at Double-A Birmingham for the remaining four weeks of the season.
“Having a pool of our top players with our top staff, with each other on a daily basis, bringing that to life during a minor league season,” Sox assistant general manager and director of player development Chris Getz said. “The idea is to get a pool of our top minor league players to our Double A affiliate in Birmingham starting Tuesday to take that to the end of the year [Sept. 18].”
That means top Sox prospects such as Colson Montgomery, Bryan Ramos, Wes Kath, Luis Miesses, Jared Kelly, Norge Vera, Andrew Dalquist, DJ Gladney, Cristian Mena, Wilfred Veras, Kohl Sims and Adam Hackenberg will be promoted for the final month of the season.
Getz views this as an advanced instructional league. The team at Triple-A Charlotte will stay intact.
The Sox farm system entered the season near or at the bottom of most rankings with no top 100 players. Montgomery, a shortstop, was Sox’ first-round pick a year ago who was elevated to 38th by Baseball America, a needed shot in the arm for the scouting and player development staff. Cuban outfielder Oscar Colas, who is already at Birmingham and having a big season, is 99th on Baseball America’s list.
“We’re really proud of some of some of the accomplishments we’ve made on the player development side,” Getz said.
Montgomery has been “excellent,” Getz said.
“Whether it be spring training, to the beginning of the year in Kannapolis, the way he’s controlled his at-bats, both against lefties and righties, making good decisions at the plate, using the whole field, he’s been hitting for power, and he’s been solid defensively,” Getz said.
Between Low-A Kannapolis and High-A Winston-Salem this season, Montgomery is batting .295/.408/.450 with nine home runs and an .858 OPS. He made headlines with an on-base streak of 50 games earlier in the season but goes to Birmingham having batted .200/.327/.375 over his last 50 plate appearances.
Blame it on Elton
Conspiracy theorists who thought Sunday’s game postponed due to unplayable field conditions was a Guardians maneuver to avoid Dylan Cease should know the game was in the hands of Major League Baseball.
Manager Tony La Russa and players said the outfield was unplayable Sunday. The warning track was flooded, and the left-field area wasn’t draining well with new sod laid after the field took a beating from an Elton John concert July 31.
Umpires held out hope the field would dry up but the game was called after a three hour delay, even though it wasn’t raining at the time. Uutfielder Andrew Vaughn said he knew it wasn’t happening when coach Daryl Boston jumped on the sod “and water splashed over his head.”
“You just can’t risk it,” said La Russa, who described the conditions as “scary.”
The game is expected to be made up in Cleveland on Sept. 15, but is not official.
Grandal recovering well
Catcher Yasmani Grandal was walking around the clubhouse at a brisk pace, almost as if nothing happened to his left knee, which he was clutching after being tagged out at home Saturday.
“It’s amazing,” La Russa said of Grandal, who was helped off the field after suffering a hyperextending the knee.
Grandal, who left the clubhouse in Cleveland on crutches Sunday, is getting treatment and was “taking a few swings” in the cage, La Russa said. He is expected to miss 10-14 days.
