Now having won back-to-back Southern League championships, the Double-A Birmingham Barons (81-57) were once again the bright spot in the Chicago White Sox
minor league system this season. The Barons finished with the best record in the Southern League by three games and exhibited domination on both sides of the ball: They posted the best run differential (+101), and the lowest team ERA (2.99).Lefthander Noah Schultz started with the Barons
before being promoted to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights and struggled with his control early on in the season, posting a 1.588 WHIP with the Barons while still managing a 3.34 ERA. Despite only tossing 56 2/3 frames with Birmingham, Schultz recorded the fourth-most walks on the team with a 14.4% walk rate and a 1.61 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
At the next level, opponents were attacking Schultz more (.359 batting average). In 16 1/3 innings (five games), he allowed 17 earned runs on 23 hits, and accumulated a 9.37 ERA with a 1.96 WHIP, though he did reduce his walk rate to 11.7% while maintaining the same strikeout rate. Schultz floated on and off the IL with the Knights with an apparent knee injury, and was shut down for the final few weeks of the season to avoid further damage. There is still hope and expectation that Schultz will be up with the big league squad come 2026, and hopefully he can get healthy and work to improve his control to be the asset we know he can be.
In his first full professional season, Hagen Smith finished the year very strongly, complemented by some clutch playoff performances on the road to the Barons championship victory — including a 10 K start to secure a win while facing elimination. Smith was shut down a bit for part of May and most of June with elbow soreness, but it thankfully wasn’t serious and he was able to return at the end of June.
In 20 starts (75 2/3 innings), the southpaw posted a 3.57 ERA, which is even more impressive when you factor in his struggles with his command. Hagen walked the most batters for the Barons (56) — seven higher than Riley Gowens in half the innings, and was tied for eighth for most walks in the Southern League while posting the highest walk rate in all of Double-A (17.6%). Smith also had five games where he walked five or more, including a five-walk playoff performance despite Birmingham winning that game. He very clearly has the talent to be an elite pitcher, so his main focus this off season should be establishing command so he’s able to effectively make the jump to the next level — or even the bigs — in 2026.
Just as he did in 2024, Riley Gowens missed bats left and right, throwing the most strikeouts in all of Double-A (151) while his 27.7% strikeout rate ranked fifth. The righty made 27 starts with the Barons in 2025 and finished with a 7-6 record and a 3.34 ERA, and his reliability makes him a solid potential addition to the future White Sox pitching staff. Gowens could still use some work with cutting down on walks (9% walk rate), but he has improved his WHIP with the Barons as he finished last season with a 1.355 WHIP and brought it down to 1.189 in more than two times the innings as he threw in 2024 (122). It’s unclear why Gowens didn’t make the jump to Charlotte this season, but we’ll likely see him get an invite to big league camp to begin Spring Training.
Shane Murphy speed-ran the White Sox minor leagues this season. He began the year with the Winston-Salem Dash for three games (10 innings), was promoted to Birmingham toward the end of April, and closed out the season with the Triple-A Charlotte Knights (three games, 14 innings). It’s no wonder he was consistently promoted, because his stats with the Barons are borderline out of control. Among all qualified Double-A pitchers, Murphy posted the top ERA (1.38), best WHIP (0.831), lowest opponent batting average (.197), lowest walk rate (3.7%), and least hits allowed (77), and his 89.4% left-on-base percentage is nearly 10% better than the next pitcher. Murphy was also efficient upon joining the Knights, and in those 14 2/3 innings, he allowed four earned runs and posted a 2.45 ERA. Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of this come 2026 — including on the South Side.
Significantly improving from 2024, Jake Palisch was a key piece out of the bullpen for the Barons, but he was also efficient as a spot starter (13 of his 29 appearances were starts). The 27-year-old posted a 2.14 ERA and a 1.067 WHIP in his 105 innings with the Barons, and while he doesn’t strike out batters at a lofty rate (16.1%) he’s still quite efficient. Palisch was called up once to the White Sox in late June as a paternity leave sub for Adrian Houser, and had one tough inning where he allowed two runs on three hits. I’m personally hoping he gets the call-up next season at some point, as this bullpen needs all the help it can get. Someone with a lower WHIP could potentially make an impact in this White Sox pitching staff.
The bats were just as solid for the Barons.
Though Braden Montgomery didn’t begin in Birmingham he was still a staple to the team with his defense in the outfield and his offensive production. Montgomery worked through both Single-A teams and impressed at both levels before earning the promotion to the Double-A squad in mid-July. In 34 games with Birmingham, Montgomery ended up with the second-highest OPS (.780) on the team as well as the top slugging percentage (.416). The first-year pro even represented the White Sox alongside Schultz in the MLB Futures Game during the All-Star break.
Sam Antonacci was outstanding immediately upon being drafted by the White Sox last season, and he certainly earned his promotion to Double-A in 2025 after slashing .279/.425/.412 with the High-A Winston-Salem Dash. Antonacci remained an on-base merchant in Birmingham, and ended the season tied for first in all of Double-A (minimum 100 PAs) with a .435 on-base percentage. He rounded out the season with an .816 OPS, and I’m looking forward to seeing Sam continue to develop . He’s been a blast to watch so far.
Speaking of fun to watch, Rikuu Nishida might just be the most exciting player in the White Sox minors. Like Antonacci, Nishida reached base frequently — and when he did he often found a way to score, as his 72 runs scored were the highest of the Barons. Among qualified hitters, Nishida ranked second in on-base percentage in all of Double-A, and he ranked 10th in stolen bases with 40. His speed on the bases and in the outfield have already made an impact, and he’ll be an asset to the White Sox as he moves through the organization, with outfield being the weakest position group in the organization.
And also, he rules:
The player who accounted for the most hits on the Barons was William Bergolla (139). The infielder’s .286 batting average was the second-highest on the team behind Antonacci, and he ended up tied for the most doubles on the season (19), with 36 RBIs. Bergolla’s strengths are that he rarely strikes out, although his insane 4.7% walk rate was the lowest in all of Double-A and two times better than the next lowest (9.2%) of qualified batters.
It’s no wonder that Birmingham was able to secure back-to-back championship titles with all of the talent on their team. There has been a bit of a trend with some players falling off a bit as they move up to the Triple-A Knights, but overall the Barons have played well as a team and have individually made significant strides in terms of player development. Time will tell where these players begin next season, but for now we can still celebrate all of their accomplishments from 2025.
Enjoy the offseason, Barons, you earned it!
