Southside Prospect Weekly: Bonemer's Birmingham Takeover, Murphy's AA Renaissance
By Gordon Kairis ·
Bonemer Is Making the Calendar Irrelevant
Caleb Bonemer (AA, SS, Rank: 2) is 20 years old and currently owns the most compelling offensive line in the White Sox system. This week he went 8-for-29 with two doubles, a triple, three home runs, four RBI, five walks, and three hit-by-pitches at Birmingham, and the week fits neatly into a month-long run that is becoming genuinely difficult to dismiss. Over the last 30 days at Double-A, he is slashing .274/.408/.655 with eight home runs, six doubles, a triple, and 21 RBI across 103 plate appearances. His combined season line across Winston-Salem and Birmingham reads .252/.387/.556 with 30 home runs, 23 doubles, 76 RBI, and 66 walks in 473 plate appearances. He is on the short list of minor leaguers who have cracked 30 home runs this season, and he got there before his 21st birthday.
The 60-grade power was always the carrying tool, and it is showing up in games in a way that goes beyond pull-side pull-happy noise. His swing rate has actually crept down to 43.2 percent over the last 30 days with a contact rate climbing to 73.2 percent, a combination that suggests he is hunting pitches rather than expanding zones. The walk totals back that up. The two real questions surrounding Bonemer are his defensive home and whether the swing-and-miss that showed up earlier in the season gets exploited more consistently at the upper levels, but a 31-walk month at Double-A from a 20-year-old with 30 home runs on the season forces the organization to start stress-testing those questions sooner rather than later. He profiles as an everyday third baseman long-term, and the offensive case for getting him to Charlotte before the end of the year is building itself.
Murphy Rediscovers His 2025 Self in Birmingham
The 2026 season for Shane Murphy (AA, LHP, Rank: 51) has been a study in split-screen contrast. At Triple-A Charlotte, he posted a 6.42 ERA over 68.2 innings with a home run rate that would make any pitching coach flinch, 24 surrendered in 11 starts. Then Birmingham happened. Across seven appearances at Double-A, including six starts, he owns a 3.05 ERA in 41.1 innings with a 1.06 WHIP and just two home runs allowed. This week he went 5.1 innings without allowing an earned run, scattering four hits and a walk while striking out six. Over his last four starts at the Double-A level, the ERA sits at 1.77 with a 28.5 whiff rate and a 1.08 WHIP across 20.1 innings.
None of this is a mystery if you look at what Murphy actually is. He has a 90-92 mph four-seamer that works both edges, a usable slider, and enough feel for sequencing to keep Double-A lineups off-balance. The concern at Triple-A was never really about stuff; it was about the paper-thin margin for error when his command backed up even slightly against hitters who can punish 91-mph mistakes in the middle third. At Birmingham he is locating to both sides of the plate, generating early-count strikes, and avoiding the elevated zone that fed the home run problem in Charlotte. His 2025 season at this same level, a 1.38 ERA in 110.2 innings, was not a fluke; it was a preview of what happens when a pitching-oriented left-hander is working in the right context. The realistic ceiling remains a long reliever or emergency starter, but right now he is pitching like the best version of that role, and for a rebuilding organization, that still has value.
Quick Hits
Colby Shelton (AA, SS, Rank: 20) · collected five hits and drew six walks in 20 plate appearances, adding a double and four RBI without leaving the yard. The passive-power aspect of this week matters: over the last 30 days at Birmingham he is hitting .333 with a .437 on-base percentage and a .611 slugging mark in 88 plate appearances, with four home runs and eight doubles. After a rough first half at Double-A where the .221 average reflected real contact struggles, the last month has looked a lot more like the Winston-Salem version of Shelton who slashed .339/.464/.661 in 140 plate appearances. He projects as an offensive-first third baseman, and the bat has been carrying its weight.
Javier Mogollon (A+, 2B, Rank: 21) · reached base at an excellent rate in his first real High-A stretch, going 7-for-24 with a double, two home runs, two RBI, and four walks in 24 plate appearances. Since arriving at Winston-Salem, his combined A+ line reads .283/.420/.566 with four home runs across 70 plate appearances. The 45 hit tool and 50 power profile always carried some skepticism, but at 20 years old with 25 stolen bases between levels and a walk rate pushing double digits at High-A, the development arc is pointed in the right direction.
Ely Brown (A+, OF, Rank: 49) · drove in five runs on eight hits in 26 plate appearances, adding two home runs while striking out only twice. He is hitting .350/.441/.550 over his last 30 days at Winston-Salem with a contact rate of 86.3 percent, the clearest expression yet of the 50 hit tool and patient, 38-percent swing approach that defines his game. His season walk total stands at 77 in 438 plate appearances, a 17.6 percent rate that almost no one in the High-A Carolina League matches. The power output, just five home runs on the year, still limits his ceiling to a bench-outfield profile, but five home runs in one month suggests there may be more pop in the bat than the season-long line implies.
Kyle Lodise (A+, SS, Rank: 10) · went 6-for-24 with three doubles, a triple, three RBI, and four walks this week. The hit tool is showing up even in a high-strikeout week; he is a 55 hit, 55 speed infielder with 34 steals on the season and a .393 on-base percentage over his last 30 days that speaks to genuine zone discipline. Across 426 plate appearances at Winston-Salem, Lodise has drawn 75 walks against 113 strikeouts. The power is modest, 14 home runs, but for a profile that projects to second base as an on-base contributor, the combination of contact feel and patience is the whole argument.
George Wolkow (A+, OF, Rank: 15) · hit two home runs in 24 plate appearances, finishing with six hits and four RBI for the week, his 20th and 21st home runs of the season. The power is the story. At 20 years old he already owns a .434 slugging percentage across 471 plate appearances at High-A. The rest of the line is harder to love; over the last 30 days he is hitting .191 with a 56.3-percent swing rate and a 65.7-percent contact rate, a combination that telegraphs how quickly the profile can swing between explosive and unproductive. The 60-grade raw power and 60 competitiveness give him real ceiling, but the bat-to-ball work is clearly ongoing.
Samuel Zavala (AA, CF, Rank: 23) · went 3-for-14 with a home run, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch. The limited plate appearances kept the counting numbers modest, but his last 30 days at Birmingham tell a more encouraging story: a .258 average, a .361 on-base percentage, and a .500 slugging mark with four home runs across 73 plate appearances. That is a meaningful power uptick for a profile graded at 40 raw power, and it comes alongside a walk rate that has always been one of the better tools in the profile. The full-season slugging of .359 remains below what the position demands, but the recent month raises the question of whether something has clicked with the swing.
Blaine Wynk (A, RHP, Rank: 47) · threw three innings of scoreless ball, allowing just one hit while walking four and striking out four. The walk count is the ongoing concern for a pitcher graded at 45 command, but over his last 30 days at Kannapolis he has a 0.73 ERA in 12.1 innings with a 1.05 WHIP and a 13.9 pitches-per-inning rate that classifies as genuinely efficient. His season ERA sits at 2.69 in 60.1 innings, and the 95-97 mph fastball backed by a firm cutter and changeup gives him a legitimate path to up-and-down depth if the strike-throwing takes even a modest step forward.
Tim Elko (AAA, 1B, Rank: 46) · launched three home runs in 23 plate appearances, driving in eight runs while walking four times and striking out nine. It is the most concentrated power display of his brief Charlotte tenure; his season Triple-A line now reads .220/.339/.460 with four home runs across 59 plate appearances. Elko's profile has always been about whether the 60-grade power can outrun the contact concerns, and at 27 he has limited runway to answer that question. Three home runs in a week keep him in the conversation for a roster look when Charlotte needs an extra bat.
Tanner McDougal (MLB, RHP, Rank: 5) · made his major league debut this week after the White Sox recalled him from Charlotte on August 8. He threw 0.1 innings in his first appearance, allowing three walks without recording a strikeout. The rough debut stands in stark contrast to his Charlotte run, where he posted a 2.86 ERA across 34.2 innings with 40 strikeouts. The jump from Triple-A to the majors is always an adjustment; the underlying performance at Charlotte earns him the chance to settle in.
Hagen Smith (MLB, LHP, Rank: 3) · had his contract selected from Charlotte on August 8 and delivered six strikeouts across his first two major league appearances while allowing no earned runs in three innings. At Charlotte before the promotion, he struck out 87 batters in 58.1 innings. The walk rate has been the persistent question mark throughout 2026, and the 5 walks in just 3 MLB innings suggest that concern is following him up the ladder, but the raw strikeout ability is not in doubt.
Billy Carlson (A, SS, Rank: 4) · was placed on the 7-day injured list at Kannapolis on August 11, retroactive to August 9. The nature of the injury has not been confirmed publicly. Over the 14 days before the placement, he went 7-for-35 with no home runs and eight strikeouts across 43 plate appearances. The season line at Kannapolis reads .256/.388/.338 with 13 stolen bases in 257 plate appearances. He is the fourth-ranked prospect in the system, and any extended absence at this stage of his development year carries weight worth tracking.