Autumn Dreamin

Cousin got his last outing of the Fall League out of the pen, and it was a good one to end on: 3 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 4 K (3 swinging) on 38 pitches. The one run was a solo shot, and it was his only baserunner as he retired the next 8 in order. He looked much more confident with his stuff today and was more efficient thanks to staying ahead in counts.

Marlins hired Skip after 2022, and presumably he brought in his own guys. The Angels are similarly changing regimes after moving on from Nevin.

Fall League wraps up this week, and the Sox boys decided to go out with a bang: Burke went 4-9 with two 2B, a HR, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored in his two games. Ramos was 5-15 with 2 HR (including a walkoff slam), 1 BB, 6 RBI, and 7 runs scored, earning him the Hitter of the Week title. Montgomery was 4-15 with 4BB and 5 RBI in the regular season slate, then took home MVP honors with a 2-2 (1B, HR) performance in the Fall Stars game. Some highlights: Just three games left, starting with tonight: Game 1: GDD vs. SUR (Gameday | Live Stream) Burke, Montgomery, and Ramos are all in the lineup. Live stream here: https://www.mlb.com/video/live-fall-league-sur-vs-gdd-90010

In addition to the Cleveland gig, Sizemore also had a coaching cameo in the Dbacks minors last year. There seems to be an emphasis on younger guys with MLB experience with the recent hires, wonder how/if that will carry over to the hitting coach(es).

Montgomery gets the Fall Stars MVP nod, nice practice for his future WS MVP ? I'm obscenely biased, obviously, but he really just does have an it factor about him.

Colson finished 2-2, with a single and that majestic HR. Here's another angle of it for good measure: Eder gets the W despite a leadoff double scored after a steal and a ground ball to first that the 1B was a second late on returning home for the DP. Had one swinging K and a walk. Leasure also had a leadoff double, but stranded his with 2ꓘ and a grounder to first.

Scoreless 2K frame for Leasure, stranded a leadoff double.

105mph, 409 feet on a 97mph heater

Colson just went yard lefty lefty ?

He's over 25 with pro experience, so the pool reset isn't a factor. Just waiting for the MLB declaration which just came through apparently:

Montgomery, Eder, Leasure for the Sox.

Would like this move very much.

Sox boys really showed out in a 9-5 win, scoring and/or knocking in all but one of the team's runs and playing solid defense. Burke finished 1-4 with a BB and a HR. Montgomery finished 1-3 with 2 BB and 2 RBI. He was intentionally walked with the winning run on 2nd in the 9th. Ramos finished 1-4 with a BB and a huge walkoff grand slam. Sox pitching also did their thing. Cousin started and left with the lead after 3 IP, 2 ER, 3 K. The runs were on a solo shot and a triple + sac fly. Ellard pitched a 1-2-3 inning with 2Ks in the 8th. Leasure pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 9th, and gets the W on the Ramos slam. Despite the pair of XBH that burned him in one inning, Cousin looked like he was getting more swings with the breaking stuff today. Just one walk, and the other three hits were a shallow flare single, and a pair of grounders that just missed IF gloves. Also...I want to emphasize again how good Ramos looks on the basepaths lately. Hustled out a potential DP ball to keep an inning alive early in the game, which paid off with a HR from the next batter. Peep Ramos with the little dugout point and bat drop, and Montgomery fist pumping around the bases ?

Game 3: GDD vs. PEJ (Gameday | Live Stream) Cousin gets the start and all three Sox hitters are in their usual spots, so it's nice timing for the lone stream of the week. Link: https://www.mlb.com/video/live-fall-league-pej-vs-gdd-89899 Also Merk is around for some extra coverage:

Fun little org highlight reel for the Sox MiLB all stars lineup: C : Xavier Fernández (AA/AAA: .301/.376/.517, 99 G, 15 HR, 56 RBI, 48 R, 41 BB) 1B: Tim Elko (A/A+/AA: .295/.347/.527, 131 G, 28 HR, 106 RBI, 80 R, 38 BB) 2B: Mario Camilletti (A/A+: .279/.429/.362, 111 G, 3 HR, 63 RBI, 72 R, 98 BB, 1 SB) 3B: Brooks Baldwin (CWS No. 30) (A/A+: .269/.349/.460, 93 G, 15 HR, 58 RBI, 63 R, 42 BB, 22 SB) SS: Colson Montgomery (CWS No. 1, MLB No. 17) (ROK/A+/AA: .287/.455/.484, 64 G, 8 HR, 37 RBI, 51 R, 56 BB, 2 SB) OF: Jacob Burke (CWS No. 20) (A/A+: .294/.392/.439, 85 G, 6 HR, 40 RBI, 63 R, 36 BB, 19 SB) OF: Wilfred Veras (CWS No. 21) (A+/AA: .286/.324/.466, 130 G, 17 HR, 93 RBI, 75 R, 28 BB, 24 SB) OF: Terrell Tatum (CWS No. 19) A+/AA: .248/.367/.367, 125, 6 HR, 51 RBI, 89 R, 100 BB, 47 SB And pitchers: RHP: Connor McCullough (A/A+: 8-8, 4.29 ERA, 113.1 IP, 130 K, 25 BB, .227 BAA, 1.07 WHIP) LHP: Tyler Schweitzer (CWS No. 25) (A/A+: 7-4, 3.94 ERA, 107.1 IP, 121 K, 45 BB, .227 BAA, 1.30 WHIP) RP: Ben Beutel (A: 7-4, 2 SV, 3.12 ERA, 52 IP, 47 K, 15 BB, .258 BAA, 1.25 WHIP) McCullough and Beutel were both UDFAs in 2022, so that's pretty cool. Full list with player blurbs: https://www.milb.com/news/chicago-white-sox-2023-organization-all-stars

Dogs win 11-2. Burke finished 3-5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. Montgomery finished 1-5 with a walk and RBI. Ramos finished 2-3 with a HR and 2 RBI. He also reached twice on catcher's interference (and scored both times). Coffey pitched a 1-2-3 inning with 1K. Burke's first RBI 2B, which nearly got out: https://www.mlb.com/video/jacob-burke-s-rbi-double Burke's second RBI 2B: https://www.mlb.com/video/jacob-burke-s-rbi-double-x4084 Ramos' HR: https://www.mlb.com/video/bryan-ramos-home-run

Game 2: GDD vs. SUR (Gameday | No Stream) Burke, Montgomery, and Ramos are all playing well through 3 innings: Ramos 1-2. Burke 2-2 with a double, RBI, and run scored. Montgomery 1-1 with a BB, RBI, and run scored. The RBI base hit followed a 10 pitch AB.

A few things of note: 1. Vote for Jacob! See the player in front with the Sox uni and amazing flow? That's our guy Jacob Burke, and if you have a minute, you can vote for him to make the Fall Stars game ? The game is Sunday, and the link to vote is here: https://www.mlb.com/arizona-fall-league/fall-stars-game/final-2-vote 2. Montgomery interview Colson Montgomery sat down for an interview with MLB Pipeline: They talked about his time in AFL, the Seager comps, and his confidence about sticking at short (though he said the Sox can stick him at 3B, RF, or wherever, and he's down if it gets wins). Maybe most interestingly, he confirmed that he's a Bledsoe guy (like Burger, Brent Rooker, Ryan Noda, Brandon Lowe) and iPitch fan. Like LRJ, he says he doesn't like to overdo it with too much data ("hitting is hard enough"). He also confirmed that he's swinging more aggressively by design to test some things out against AFL pitching, hence the uncharacteristic BB/K numbers. Interview starts about ~22 minutes into the episode. 3. Dominguez in DR Johan Dominguez pitched in LIDOM yesterday. He went 3IP, 1ER, 3H, 2BB, 1K. The run was a little unlucky, scored on a single and steal followed by two flyouts that both advanced the runner. He's at 6IP, 1ER total through 2 outings.

Here's Colson's first RBI hit: https://www.mlb.com/video/colson-montgomery-s-rbi-single And another angle of the walkoff: https://www.mlb.com/video/montgomery-s-walk-off-single Props to Ramos too for starting the 9th inning rally with a leadoff hit and scoring the tying run.

10 pitch full count walk off base hit for Colson wins the game. Eder was solid in his first 2IP (1H, 1BB, 2K), but walks and steals burned him later. He finished with 3.1IP, 4R. Ramos finished 1-4 with a run scored. Colson was 2-4 with a BB and 2 RBI including the game winner.