White Sox Farm Report: The Birmingham Barons Are Elite
The White Sox have not given fans much to get excited about this year, as they are one of the worst teams in the major leagues. But luckily enough, a strong collective of the prospects in the minor leagues have gotten off to fantastic starts. This has happened across all the levels, but Birmingham is where most of the top end talent is showing off.
The Birmingham Barons have one of the best records in AA, as they have gotten off to a fantastic 15-6 start, nothing like the major league ball club in Chicago. Due to this, almost every single player on the roster deserves to be shouted out in this article, but unfortunately we can only cover a few. I am going to exclude the players involved in the Dylan Cease trade, as they are also off to great starts, but you can read about their start here.
Besides Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte, there is another member of the Barons rotation that is off to a fantastic start, Ky Bush.
Bush was one of the two players acquired from the Angels in the Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez trade, and he is turning out to be a steal. After a brutal season after he returned from injury last year, Bush has returned to his pre injury form and is absolutely dominating AA.
So far through four starts, Bush has pitched 21.1 innings, en route to a 1.27 ERA. He has struck out 26 batters, while walking 12. The walks are a bit elevated, but he hasn’t been hit hard at all thus far.
The 24 year old lefty could not have asked for a better start to the season. If he continues this dominant stretch, he will get a promotion to AAA very shortly. If the White Sox unload Fedde and Soroka, among other pitchers at the deadline, there is a real chance we could see Bush make some starts towards the end of the year. While Rick Hahn likely deserved to be fired, he made some fantastic trades at the deadline, as Bush could in the rotation in Chicago for a long time.
The next prospect that has been off to a hot start and is at the top of the leaderboards in almost every single offensive category in AA is Brooks Baldwin. This is a name that not many people might be familiar with, as Baldwin was a 12th round pick in the 2022 draft, but he is currently outplaying his draft status.
So far in 76 at-bats, he is hitting .425 with one homerun and 15 RBIs. He has added three stolen bases and has a very high 1.064 OPS. He is also in the lead or second in most major hitting categories in the AA Southern League.
Baldwin has the positional versatility to help his case for a promotion, as he has played every position in the minors except for first base and catcher. This should help him get an extra look, as the White Sox are bound to promote him soon if he keeps hitting anywhere near like he has.
Almost every player in Birmingham is off to a great start, including Edgar Quero, the catcher acquired in the Lucas Giolito trade. We should see some promotions from Birmingham soon, as the White Sox will likely need to continue to shuffle up their roster.