South Side Prospect Report: Bonemer Keeps Hitting, Shelton Finds His Swing in Birmingham — July 31, 2026
By Gordon Kairis ·
Bonemer Belongs at Double-A
Caleb Bonemer (AA, SS, Rank: 2) came into this week already riding one of the hotter bats in the Southern League, and he did nothing to cool the conversation. He drove in 10 runs over the week on 5 hits, including 3 home runs and a double, working a walk and taking a hit by pitch while striking out 6 times in 21 plate appearances. For a 20-year-old who made the Futures Game earlier this month, it is starting to feel less like a hot stretch and more like a statement. Over the last 30 days at Birmingham, he is hitting .288 with a .658 slugging percentage, 8 home runs, and 19 RBI in 85 plate appearances. The full-season line across both levels now reads .252/.382/.554 with 27 home runs and 70 RBI through 93 games. He went from High-A to Double-A and barely slowed down.
The 60-grade power is showing up in games, which was always the carrying tool. Bat speed and strength give him real power rather than pull-happy noise, and the walk totals at every stop have kept the on-base foundation sturdy enough that pitchers cannot simply attack the zone and coast. The strikeout rate at Double-A is worth watching; upper-level arms that can mix velocity and spin at the edges are the pitchers who could expose the current swing-and-miss. So far, Bonemer has not let that concern become a reality. His defensive home at shortstop still has polish questions, and third base is the more likely landing spot long-term, but the offensive profile is strong enough to carry that transition if it comes. An everyday corner infielder with a .550-plus slugging percentage at this age is a legitimate organizational pillar.
Colby Shelton's Birmingham Reboot
When Colby Shelton (AA, SS, Rank: 22) arrived in Birmingham after tearing through High-A Winston-Salem, there was a reasonable concern that the move would deflate him the way Double-A has deflated plenty of left-handed bats who thrived on fastball counts below. Instead, Shelton went 10-for-26 this week with 4 home runs, 3 doubles, 9 RBI, and 2 walks. The power he showed at Winston-Salem, where he hit .339/.464/.661 in 140 plate appearances, has not evaporated. Over the last 30 days entirely at Birmingham, he owns a .689 slugging percentage with 7 home runs and 8 doubles in 83 plate appearances, which pushes his combined 2026 line to .252/.343/.513 with 19 home runs and 29 doubles.
Context matters here. The season-long AA numbers are being dragged by an early Birmingham stretch that was genuinely rough. Even with his hot week, Shelton has a .210 average with a .276 on-base percentage over 259 plate appearances. Whatever mechanical or approach adjustment he made is now producing real results. The scouting concern is a fringe-average hit tool and a profile that is more up-down than every day if the strikeouts climb. The strikeouts have not gone away, with 6 this week alone, but the power production has been legitimate, and a left-handed bat with a 50-grade raw power tool that slugs .689 over a month at Double-A forces the evaluator to at least revisit the projection. He profiles as a bat-first third baseman, and right now the bat is carrying its weight.
Quick Hits
Kyle Lodise (A+, SS, Rank: 11) · went 5-for-23 on the week, but the real story was 4 home runs and 10 RBI to go with 7 walks and a hit by pitch. That power output from a 55 hit tool, 55 speed profile that projects to second base is a pleasant surprise. His season slugging sits at .401, which already exceeds the raw power ceiling some scouts assigned him coming in. He's now at 13 home runs on the year, and I'd take the over on any preseason power projection you had on him. The walk rate, 67 free passes through 373 plate appearances, remains the real foundation of this profile.
Samuel Zavala (AA, CF, Rank: 25) · collected 6 hits and 2 home runs over 21 plate appearances with 4 walks and only 4 strikeouts, his cleanest contact week in some time. The last 30 days show a .500 slugging percentage and 4 home runs across 71 plate appearances, a real uptick from a profile that slugged .372 in 486 plate appearances all of last season at High-A. The season batting average at Double-A remains at .216, so the contact questions have not disappeared, but a power and discipline combination showing up together in the same week is what his development needed to look like. A bench outfielder projection still fits, but July has at least added some teeth to the offensive profile.
Rikuu Nishida (AAA, 2B, Rank: 45) · went 8-for-22 with 5 walks and just 1 strikeout, an absurdly clean plate-appearance week for a player who already leads Charlotte in walks by a wide margin. His Triple-A OBP sits at .441 through 319 plate appearances, and the .490 OBP over the last 30 days is a reminder that the strike-zone control is genuinely elite. The power remains nonexistent, 1 homer all season across three levels, which keeps the role projection in up-down territory. However, a bat that makes contact at that rate, draws walks at that volume, and still runs well enough to post 16 steals at Triple-A has a real use case off a big-league bench.
Grant Umberger (A+, LHP, Rank: 49) · struck out 7 over 5.1 innings and allowed just 1 earned run on 3 hits with no walks. The command profile, a 55-grade tool, showed up with the walk column empty, which is the clearest path for a 91-to-93 mph sinker-slider arm to generate outs at High-A and beyond. The season ERA at 5.57 across 84 innings tells a tougher story, and the last 30 days carry a 6.00 ERA. One clean outing does not fix the High-A number, but a seven-strikeout, zero-walk line at least confirms the bat-missing ability is real when the command clicks.
Zach Franklin (AAA, RHP, Rank: 39) · punched out 6 over 3 hitless innings, though 3 walks kept the outings from being immaculate. His last 30 days at Charlotte show a 2.45 ERA across 11 innings with 14 strikeouts. The season ERA of 4.37 over 45.1 innings is held back by some rough outings earlier in the year, but the fastball, sitting 94 to 95 mph with deceptive extension out of his arm slot, continues to generate swings and misses that his secondary stuff alone could not produce. A 7th-8th inning relief role at the big-league level is a real possibility if the walk rate stabilizes.
Alexander Albertus (A, SS, Rank: 17) · had 5 hits, a homer, a double, and 3 walks across 17 plate appearances. His last 30 days at Kannapolis show a .393 OBP with 2 home runs and 13 walks in 84 plate appearances. The power uptick is modest but notable for a profile that grades 45. A 55 hit tool with a professional approach and positional versatility across the infield gives him a utility floor; the question is whether the bat can carry enough at the higher levels to avoid getting exposed on contact quality.
Javier Mogollon (A+, 2B, Rank: 21) · drove in 4 runs on 7 hits with a homer, 2 doubles, and 5 walks in 29 plate appearances. His recent promotion to Winston-Salem has him hitting .300/.533/.700 in 15 plate appearances at that level, a small sample but an encouraging debut. The strikeout rate, 81 whiffs in 256 combined plate appearances this season, is still the primary developmental hurdle for a 50-grade power, 55-grade speed profile that needs the bat to get to average. He has the athleticism and arm to fit at second base long-term; the bat just has to catch up to the body.
Ely Brown (A+, OF, Rank: 44) · went 8-for-30 with 3 doubles and 6 RBI, adding 5 walks and just 5 strikeouts. The .409 on-base percentage over the last 30 days continues a pattern of genuine plate discipline from a left-handed bat that does not generate much over-the-fence damage. Brown has 2 home runs through 87 games this season. The bench outfielder projection is honest, and the power ceiling is a real constraint, but a 22-year-old posting a .409 OBP at High-A with 70 walks on the season is doing something right.
Tanner McDougal (AAA, RHP, Rank: 5) · worked 3 clean innings with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk at Charlotte, no runs allowed on 2 hits. His Triple-A ERA sits at 2.94 through 33.2 innings, and the 97-to-100 mph fastball paired with a 60-grade slider is a genuine bat-missing combination when the command is functional. The last 30 days have been bumpier, a 4.50 ERA over 12 innings, so the sharp outing this week was a needed recalibration. The changeup remains the developmental variable that determines a mid-rotation starter from a bullpen arm, and that answer is still outstanding.
Duncan Davitt (AAA, RHP, Rank: 27) · allowed 1 run on 2 hits over 3 innings with 2 strikeouts and a walk, a functional if unspectacular appearance. His last 30 days at Charlotte show a 2.53 ERA across 10.2 innings with 11 strikeouts and only 3 walks, a meaningful improvement over a season ERA of 6.22 in Triple-A. The slider is his best pitch and the only one that truly finishes at-bats against advanced hitters. He profiles as a swingman or long reliever, and the recent stretch at least supports the case that the stuff can play in that role when he locates the fastball to set up the slider.
Sebastian Romero (RK, OF, Rank: 40) · 17 years old in the DSL, collected 5 hits including a homer across 18 plate appearances with 2 walks. He's now hitting .296/.399/.600 through 38 games with 9 home runs and 3 triples, a legitimate production line for a teenager. The athleticism, an above-average tool across speed, arm, and field, gives him multiple developmental paths, though the aggressive approach and swing-and-miss against better velocity will be tested as he climbs. Still a long way from Birmingham, but worth tracking.
With the Trade Deadline approaching, the White Sox appear to be positioning themselves as Buyers. They hold a 57-51 record with a slim two-game lead over the Guardians, closely followed by the Twins and Tigers. This Buyer status often involves trading top prospects in pursuit of immediate success. Potential targets include Reid Detmers, Clay Holmes, and Freddy Peralta, with some bigger names possible like Tarik Skubal, or even Mason Miller. Acquiring such talent would likely cost the White Sox some key prospects, but it would transform their outlook from Rebuilding to Playoff contenders.