Sox Populi - A Chicago White Sox podcast Sox Populi

It’s a special edition of Sox Pop on the Farm! This one is devoted to the special Negro Leagues tribute game on Tuesday, with the Birmingham Barons hosting the Montgomery Biscuits at 6 p.m. CT on the MLB Network. The Negro League Birmingham Black Barons will be honored by our Double-A club, and more broadly the game will be played in tribute to Black Barons alum Willie Mays (who will be unable to attend). Barons president and GM Jonathan Nelson sat down with Brett Ballantini for a program devoted to the broad Birmingham baseball heritage and the specific mark the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons have made on baseball history:

The renovated, gorgeous Rickwood Field, which opened just a month after the Comiskey Park did, in 1910 — and the similarities that Regions Field incorporated from Rickwood

The Barons have paid tribute to the Negro Leagues and Birmingham’s baseball heritage since 1996, with Turn Back the Clock Days. What does it still mean to Jonathan for his team to play at Rickwood and honor the Negro Leagues?

The biggest challenge of not just moving to Rickwood for a game, but this time in coordinating with Major League Baseball for a “Rickwood Week” (Barons-Biscuits on June 18, Cardinals-Giants on June 20)

Did you know: Hall-of-Famers Satchel Paige and Willie Mays both began their organized baseball careers in Birmingham with the Black Barons?

Other Negro League greats came through Birmingham, including Mule Suttles and Willie Wells — and Country Music Hall-of-Famer Charley Pride, as well

Does Brett get in trouble for wearing his Chicago American Giants jersey, when that club upset one of the greatest Negro League teams ever, the 1948 Black Barons, in the World Series?

The underplayed, but extremely rich, baseball heritage of Birmingham

Worth reminding once more: The Barons play at Rickwood Field ON MLB NETWORK at 6 p.m CT on Tuesday, June 18!

Follow Jonathan Nelson on Twitter @JonathanN_Bham, the Barons @BhamBarons, and find tickets to an upcoming Barons game by clicking this link.
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SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and west coast correspondent, Will, are actually recording the day after a victory, an event so huge it mandates a change in poet James Russell Lowell’s famed “what is so rare as a day in June” to the more currently appropriate “what is so rare as a day in June with a White Sox win?”
The duo cover high points of the Seattle series (yes, there really were some), including pitching performances from Garrett Crochet, Drew Thorpe (Will thinks Thorpe’s a real old school bulldog type) and Jonathan Cannon and long balls hit by Luis Robert Jr. (among his strikeouts).
That naturally leads to trade deadline talk, about both Robert and Crochet as well as the many other players expected to shed white socks soon.
That in turn leads to long discussion of Leigh’s fantasy of the White Sox getting rid of every veteran, both on and off the field, and fielding an all-rookie team next year in the front office and the dugout and on the field. Will actually likes the idea (how often do sons like their dad’s ideas?) and had some more points to make along the same lines. Heck, he even agreed it would be good idea to go completely outside the lines of professional ball and bring in a successful college coach to manage the very young team.
As we said, fantasy. But likely a more successful than reality is going to be.
Alas, they find out just before ending the recording that José Abreu was released by the Astros.
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Once more it’s Brett Ballantini’s favorite week of the month, when he gets to again call on president and GM of the first-place Birmingham Barons, Jonathan Nelson. Somehow again talking during a tough series pitting the two best teams in the Southern League against one another (Birmingham and Pensacola), the two catch up on all the good coming out of Double-A:

Stats review: Just how dominant have the Barons been?

Drew Thorpe gets the call straight to Chicago ... and will his ability to pitch overshadow his lack of a “big arm?”

Duke Ellis gets the call straight to Chicago. Jonathan feels some generational pride there, but also warns of the danger of speed like his ... to opponents

Oh, and yeah, we’re just tossing out some crazy comps for these players

Thorpe was great in Birmingham, but two starters (Mason Adams and Ky Bush) have been essentially as good

No better way to patch a Thorpe-sized hole in your killer rotation than, oh, to call up the No. 1 pitching prospect in the system, Noah Schultz

What’s the plan for Noah the rest of the summer?

Looping back to speed, even with Ellis gone the Barons are stealing bases at a killer rate (85.8% success as a team, and they’re coming in bunches)

What has surprised Jonathan most about this Barons team?

And, what ho, as we wrapped up our podcast, the Barons had surged ahead in their Blue Wahoos brunch battle

Plus! Bonus Jonathan Nelson content next week, when we run our Rickwood Field/Birmingham Black Barons podcast!

Follow Jonathan Nelson on Twitter @JonathanN_Bham, the Barons @BhamBarons, and find tickets to an upcoming Barons game by clicking this link.
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Are you up to speed on everything happening around Major League Baseball right now? Tune in to hear Bayleigh and Chrystal talk about the White Sox, Red Sox, and noteworthy topics from the week.
On this episode:

The Astros lose Cristian Javier and José Urquidy to the dreaded Tommy John surgery

Corey Seager’s hamstring woes

The Yankees are about to get even better

Alek Manoah’s tough year

Knee discomfort 0/10, do not recommend

Tucupita Marcano learns a valuable lesson about betting

The ripple effect led by Marcano

Pedro Grifol isn’t going anywhere this season

The White Sox broke a record with 14 consecutive losses

John Henry, the idiotic billionaire

Steve Cohen responds with “Hold my beer”

Bryce Harper wants MLB players in the 2028 Olympics

Kevin Gausman’s first shutout

The Astros and Angels series

News and rumors ahead of the trade deadline

The Martín Maldonado All-Star Game voting

The London series including a celebrity double play and a rare double play for the Mets

Phillie Phanatic: cheating rumors and serving tea


Be sure to follow their Twitter account Soxy Chicks. You can also find Bayleigh and Chrystal on Twitter.
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One of these things truly is not like the other, as for the first season in ages the White Sox are fielding a competitive slate of affiliates, including two first-place and playoff-bound clubs. The exception, as you might have figured, is the Charlotte Knights, struggling to fill out a pitching rotation and to get some wins under them.
Our guy in Charlotte, Jonathan Lee, is here with us to talk about some key Knights figures ... look a bit into the future:

The team is about what was expected, arguably (based on past seasons, at least) better than hoped

Bryan Ramos skipped Charlotte on his way up to the majors, and now is rehabbing/reloading with the Knights. Jonathan and Brett chat on what Bryan brings to the table beyond his enormous talent

Colson Montgomery is continuing to struggle between jaw-dropping flashes. He’s young, and struggle is to be expected — but Jonathan has caught something in Montgomery’s self-awareness that could prove valuable as he moves toward the majors

Sean Burke’s lower-level rehab was completed and he’s flashed some “old Burke” since arriving in Charlotte

Literally as the pair were discussing Birmingham’s rotation and what Drew Thorpe has to prove in Double-A, first word was breaking that Thorpe would be promoted to the White Sox for a Tuesday start

Philosophical discussion on the nature of Triple-A and how often Double-A Barons might outright skip Charlotte, as we’re seeing with Ramos, Duke Ellis, and Thorpe

The value of a core of guys playing together at each step up toward the majors

Estimated dates for when we might start to see the rich Birmingham talent move east to Charlotte, possibly to create a very different Knights roster in the second half!

Follow Jonathan Lee on Twitter @followmefor3.
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As I write this blurb, the White Sox are down 11-0 in the sixth against the Red Sox. I’m just going to assume the White Sox will get swept in the series. Seattle could be a fresh start, as the Mariners seem to be in an offensive slump. Aaron Casey joined the show to talk about the first-place Mariners and brought a few questions about the White Sox.
Here is what we talked about:

What’s new in Seattle?

T-Mobile Park is a top-tier ballpark

Ice-cold bats

Only two teams will survive in the AL West

Grading the offseason

All-Star picks

How to stay in first place

Pitching matchups

Threats, fears, and keys to winning the series

Questions for Chrystal!

No one is safe during a fire sale

Hot takes and predictions

The Mets are going to Met and the Dodgers are going to Dodger

You can follow Aaron on Twitter and follow First Pitch Strike, a father-and-son tandem podcast talking about all things MLB.
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