The Double-A Birmingham Barons have been the brightest spot in the Chicago White Sox organization over these last few dreadful seasons, winning their second consecutive Southern League championship in 2025. This season will have a mix of familiar faces alongside some recent free agent signings, but it’s likely we’ll see some fluctuation throughout the season depending on how the major league season progresses.
Starting Pitching With Hagen Smith, Noah Schultz, Wikelman González and others moving up
to Triple-A, the 2026 rotation might look a little different.
Righthander Riley Gowens will return as a staple to the Birmingham starting rotation after settling into Double-A ball nicely in his first full season at that level. Gowens tossed the most innings on the team in 2025 (132) at a solid 3.32 ERA and 1.189 WHIP. He also rang up 151 batters at a strong 28% strikeout rate. His walk rate is still a bit higher than the White Sox would like (9% BB%), but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him make the leap to Charlotte early this season; he’s more than proven that he can perform at his current level.
Despite making just four starts with the Barons in 2025, lefthander Lucas Gordon was impressive upon moving up from the High-A Winston-Salem Dash towards the end of the season. In 21 innings, he allowed five runs on nine hits, posting a 2.11 ERA and 0.750 WHIP while striking out 24 batters and walking seven. Gordon’s strikeout rate also jumped from 25.4% with the Dash to more than 31% with Birmingham, and his 2.06 FIP is in close alignment to his ERA, showing consistency if you strip out the defense.
Connor McCullough was injured for majority of the 2024 season but came back strong in 2025, joining the Barons in July after a rehab assignment with Winston-Salem and shifting back into a starting role almost seamlessly. McCullough made 13 starts (41 innings) and despite recording four losses, he ended the year with a 3.43 ERA and 0.894 WHIP, highlighting his stellar 5.8% walk rate to accompany his sound 23% strikeout percentage.
Balancing out the rotation with another durable lefty arm is Jake Palisch, who made 13 starts last season of his 29 appearances, ultimately getting the call up to the South Side at midseason but appearing in just one inning. Across both starting and relief roles, Palisch flashed a 2.14 ERA in 105 innings with a 1.067 WHIP, though he had a below-average strikeout rate (16.1%) with the Barons last season. Palisch’s elevated 3.30 FIP in comparison to his ERA suggests that an elite defense behind him might also be providing some support, so it would be interesting to see how he would perform in the majors with the current mess of a White Sox defense.
Relievers
The bullpen has quite a few returning players in Eric Adler, Phil Fox and Jared Kelley. Adler struggled throughout the 2025 season, putting up a 4.78 ERA with the Barons while averaging at a 5.89 ERA on the season, but both Kelley and Fox posted ERAs in the mid-3.00s. In his first pro season, Fox tossed 59 2/3 innings with the Dash and his 11 K/9 and 30% strikeout rate definitely helped.
New additions to the Birmingham arm barn include three recent left-handed pitching signees in Chase Watkins, Jacob Heatherly and Rylan Kaufman.
- Heatherly has struggled with shoulder injuries in the past and holds a career 5.35 ERA. Though some of his pitches have decent scouting grades in the 50-55 range, he lacks command and accumulated a whopping 22% walk rate in 2023 and even higher at 25% in 2024, completely offsetting his high strikeout rates.
- Kaufman is a former Top 30 prospect in the Kansas City but he couldn’t fully adjust to the advanced competition, averaging a 5.41 ERA in his minors career. He ended up needing Tommy John surgery and was out for the 2025 season, but has worked his fastball back up into the mid-90s.
- The South Siders picked up Watkins just last week, after he was released by the Cubs on March 23. Watkins amassed a 2.65 ERA across 40 2/3 innings in High-A, and a sharp 0.92 ERA in 29 1/3 innings once moving up to Double-A.
Catchers
Both returning from last season, Calvin Harris and Jorge Corona will continue to split duties behind the plate, with Harris likely getting more innings. Corona has floated on and off the development list, ultimately slashing .170/.314/.270 in 100 at-bats. Harris made the jump to the Barons 31 games into the season after posting a solid .768 OPS in 119 at-bats, and slashed .253/.317/.312 in 186 ABs with Birmingham, and allowed three passed balls in 469 2/3 innings.
Position Players
If you don’t know his name by now, outfielder Braden Montgomery is one to watch this season, ranking as the top White Sox prospect at South Side Sox and at 34 in the MLB Top 100. The 22-year-old flew through the minors in his first year with the team in 2025, slashing .270/.360/.444 with a solid .804 OPS in 448 at-bats. Upon moving up to Double-A, his stats remained consistent against the tougher competition, and his defensive ability in the outfield (strong arm, speed) give him to the tools to be an All-Star caliber player in the future.
Another exciting player within the White Sox organization is Rikuu Nishida, whose ability to get on base and subsequently steal them is almost unmatched. Aside from Sam Antonacci, Nishida’s .403 OBP led the team in 2025, and he is excellent at being selective at the plate, swinging 39% of the time but making contact on nearly 86% of his swings. Not only is he elite at making contact, but Nishida walks at a higher rate than he strikes out with 75 walks compared to 69 strikeouts last season. Nishida started as a second baseman, but has since adjusted into the outfield, playing the majority of his games in right and center last season. He begins his second full year and third overall in Double-A, however, so someone at the White Sox is not impressed.
Rounding out the outfield will be Caden Connor and Wilfred Veras. Connor posted a .708 OPS with a .266 BA in 342 at-bats with the Barons, and earned a promotion up to Charlotte for 13 games. He was even better with the Knights, and posted a .422 on-base percentage that factored into his .832 OPS. If not for the half-dozen fringe major-leaguers the White Sox acquired in the offseason, Connor could well be starting 2026 in Charlotte. Veras’ arrow is pointing in the opposite direction, as his performance regressed compared to where he was at in 2022 and 2023. In fact, Nishida has nothing on Veras, as Veras is beginning his third straight full season and fourth overall in Birmingham. He slashed just .215/.293/.327 with a .620 OPS that dropped by 17% year-over-year. It’s possible Veras has reached his peak, and it will be interesting to see if he’s made any adjustments heading into this season.
Last but not least, the infield will have mostly all returning playerss with Jason Matthews, Jordan Sprinkle, Ryan Galanie and the recently-signed Andy Weber.
- Matthews had a hard time at the plate last season, putting up a measly .549 OPS in 211 ABs with Birmingham.
- Middle infielder Sprinkle was efficient enough with the Low-A Cannon Ballers (.271/.411/.295) to be promoted to Winston-Salem where he struggled to adjust, and ultimately to Double-A to close out the season. Sprinkle is quick and is able to steal bases when he gets on, but he lacks the raw power to efficiently drive in runs.
- Galanie holds down first base with plenty of power, and he’s fairly selective at the plate and doesn’t strike out a lot. He led the team in RBIs in 2025 (71), and mashed 19 doubles and seven homers.
- Weber was was signed to a minor league contract after electing free agency out of the Diamondbacks system. Likely to play second base, Weber was mostly with the Arizona’s Triple-A team last season where he posted solid numbers with a .310/.368/.434 slash line.
There’s plenty of talent with the Barons, and we’ll likely see a revolving door of players throughout the season. While maybe not having the most raw power at the plate, they have some solid arms that can keep them in games. So it might be best not to rule out a three-peat.
