Late Thursday evening, after the ultimate horn had sounded on the final West Coast NHL recreation, new White Sox normal supervisor Chris Getz consummated his first commerce in his new position, sending sinker-balling lefty reliever Aaron Bummer to Atlanta for a five-player selection pack of “second division” gamers and reclamation tasks. The brand new White Sox are headlined by 26-year-old 2019 All-Star righty Michael Soroka, 28-year-old infielder Nicky Lopez, and 25-year-old lefty starter Jared Shuster, all of whom will be fairly anticipated to affect the 2024 squad. Chicago additionally acquired 25-year-old infielder Braden Shewmake, who can also be on the 40-man roster, and 2023 undrafted free agent starter Riley Gowens, who’s extra of a developmental venture from the College of Illinois.
Let’s discuss concerning the Braves’ finish of this commerce first. Most folk studying this are most likely conversant in Bummer, a well-established lefty reliever who has been a middle-inning stalwart for the Pale Hose for the final half-decade. His velocity took a leap in 2019, and his re-worked breaking ball helped him elevate his recreation once more in ’21. He’s coming off a season by which he posted a 6.79 ERA and career-worst 13.5% stroll charge, however from a stuff standpoint, he kind of appeared like himself, and Chicago’s poor infield protection did him no favors. His fielding-independent statistics hovered round a way more respectable 3.50, constant along with his profession norms.
We will take a look at this commerce from a sure viewpoint and marvel why the Braves traded 5 gamers for a center reliever, not to mention one with an ERA close to seven and who has posted two consecutive seasons with fastball velocities beneath his 2019–21 peak. However once you’re the Braves and have few holes to fill, you may pay a premium for a singular weapon, even when that weapon is prone to be deployed in medium-leverage center innings.
And Bummer is certainly particular in a couple of regards. Since he debuted in 2017, his 66% floor ball charge is second amongst all MLB pitchers who’ve labored not less than 250 innings throughout that span. He and Clay Holmes (66.7% GB%) are in a tier of their very own on the prime of that record, with lefty reliever T.J. McFarland (63%) a comparatively distant third. Bummer’s profession floor ball charge is outstanding although it was “solely” 58% in 2023, which is by some means low for him regardless of being 16 factors greater than the MLB common. The sink and tail on the low-slot lefty’s fastball makes it extremely tough for hitters to raise; he has allowed a barrel charge beneath 3% in two of the final three seasons. That’s regardless of him permitting a reasonably excessive hard-hit charge (44% in 2023, in MLB’s eleventh percentile), which helps illustrate simply how tough it’s for hitters to get beneath his sinker. And whereas Bummer does get hit onerous, it’s barely ever in a means that really leads to harm.
With A.J. Minter already in place and Tyler Matzek scheduled to return from Tommy John, the left-handed contingent of Atlanta’s bullpen seems to be fairly nasty. Bummer will make $5.5 million in 2024, after which Atlanta holds two membership choices, one for $7.25 million in ’25 and one for $7.5 million in ’26. If he continues to pitch as he has for the final a number of seasons, Atlanta will train these choices. It’s believable that he would possibly but have one other gear, and that the Braves would possibly have already got a tweak or two in thoughts that can assist intensify his expertise. They’ve demonstrated a extra constant potential to max out their gamers than the White Sox have, and much like the best way it took tweaks by the Yankees to unlock Holmes’ potential, it’s truthful to marvel if there’s developmental meat on the bone right here that Atlanta can see from afar. He suits as a premium middle-inning “inheritor,” the reliever who typically inherits runners as a result of he’s the almost certainly to get the bottom ball that produces a rally-killing double play.
Nearly as good as Bummer is, it isn’t as if any particular person reliever may considerably alter the near-term fortunes of the White Sox, nor the long-term trajectory of the franchise. They want a major reshuffling and a whole lot of assist, and so it’s a process-oriented win for them to flip a middle-inning man for a bunch of gamers who would possibly contribute to a longer-term trigger. Did they decide the suitable assortment of gamers? It’s unimaginable to know what their alternate options had been or who might need been on the desk in different gives, however this return is certainly extra about role-playing depth than upside.
Probably the most-known participant coming to the South Aspect is Soroka. The Canadian righty was an enormous time prospect who, at his age-21, 4-WAR peak, appeared like he is perhaps the second coming of Brandon Webb. Since then, the now–26-year-old has handled a myriad of extreme accidents, together with two Achilles ruptures that price him two complete seasons and shoulder irritation that ended his 2023 comeback marketing campaign. He has at all times been extra of a command-oriented innings-eater with good secondary stuff somewhat than a world-beating energy pitcher, and with the Braves in win-now mode, they’re probably not in place to let the option-less Soroka sink or swim on the huge league stage as a part of their 2024 rotation, assuming he’s even wholesome. The White Sox, nevertheless, have a for much longer, lower-stakes runway to seek out out if he will be wholesome and efficient as soon as once more. Even when he can’t, his fame as a hyper-competitive badass (I assure Soroka is aware of Mike Nikorak’s profession stats) would possibly assist the brand new Sox regime construct a extra aggressive clubhouse tradition because the staff navigates a couple of seasons of rebuild and transition.
If Soroka can keep wholesome, then he and all however one of many items coming again to Chicago are prone to put on an enormous league uniform all through 2024. Lopez was squeezed out of Kansas Metropolis’s gifted younger infield and traded to the Braves final season to shore up their skinny center infield contingent however was relegated to seldom-used bench obligation throughout their playoff run. He’s simply the perfect defensive infielder on Chicago’s roster and at this second must be penciled in because the starter at shortstop. His large 6-WAR 2021 season was largely pushed by an unsustainably excessive BABIP, and he has since settled in as a high-contact, slick-fielding utility man with bottom-of-the-scale pop. On a contender, he could be relegated to a job much like the one he performed in Atlanta, the place he was the staff’s fifth infielder, able to filling in at any infield place, and used situationally on offense when the membership badly wanted a ball put in play. His versatility will enable the White Sox to maintain him within the lineup persistently and transfer him across the diamond so their younger group of Latin American infielders — Lenyn Sosa, Bryan Ramos and José Rodriguez chief amongst them — can get adequate huge league reps and be well-evaluated forward of Colson Montgomery’s eventual arrival.
The White Sox additionally acquired two former Braves first spherical picks who made their huge league debuts in 2023 in Shuster and Shewmake. There was a quick interval a couple of years in the past when Shuster was throwing considerably tougher than he has of late, doubtless as a consequence of additional relaxation and lighter workload created by the pandemic shutdown in his draft 12 months. For the final a number of seasons, he has been a changeup- and command-oriented lefty with well-below-average fastball velocity. Maybe as a result of he’s needed to nibble extra along with his weak fastball as he’s climbed to Triple-A and MLB, his stroll charge rose to a regarding 12% in 2023, a lot greater than his profession norm; his strikeout charge additionally dropped to a profession low. His slider utilization has surpassed his changeup utilization not as a result of it’s develop into his greatest pitch, however since you want a non-fastball technique to get forward of hitters once you’re sitting 91 mph. Lefties with changeups nearly as good as Shuster’s screwball-style cambio and command on the extent that he has traditionally proven are inclined to have lengthy, productive MLB careers, and I feel it’s truthful to hope for a bounceback.
The opposite attention-grabbing factor Shuster would possibly deliver is a form of institutional information that the White Sox might but lack. Wake Forest, his alma mater, is among the many most superior collegiate packages in relation to utilizing knowledge and know-how to assist develop pitchers; the Braves additionally seem competent on this regard. Maybe he’ll deliver a few of that with him in a means that has a long-term affect on Chicago’s implementation of those ideas, which can be held up as a consequence of a scarcity of willingness to put money into them on the possession stage somewhat than a lack of knowledge within the entrance workplace.
This was an attention-grabbing buy-low alternative for the White Sox who, if Shuster can develop into the no. 4/5 starter I projected him to be as a prospect, will on his personal be a extra beneficial piece to the following good Sox staff than even a particular center reliever like Bummer would have been. I feel the three gamers I’ve mentioned in depth up to now — Soroka, Lopez and Shuster — are the first return on this deal, a bit for annually of staff management Bummer has remaining.
I’ve by no means been particularly excessive on Shewmake, who was drafted with the hopes that he’d add significant power and weight to his lanky body and stay at shortstop whereas maturing into significant energy. He’s basically sound at quick, however I wouldn’t name him an affect defender there, and he’s remained skinny and hasn’t put collectively a powerful offensive season above Low-A. If something, I feel he clogs and clouds Chicago’s infield combine in an pointless means. He’d have been a good upper-level depth possibility for Atlanta, which is as soon as once more very skinny on viable center infield defenders, however maybe the Braves worth the freed-up 40-man spot extra at this level.
Lastly, the White Sox acquired Gowens. The College of Illinois product missed his 2019 freshman 12 months and the little little bit of pre-shutdown 2020 due to an early-2019 Tommy John, which meant he was a draft-eligible redshirt freshman in 2021. Unselected in ’21 and ’22, he had a bit of velo spike in ’23 and was sitting extra 92–94 and touching 96 than the pedestrian 90–92 he had proven in earlier seasons. His fastball additionally has uphill angle and bat-missing carry. The White Sox can be tasked with teasing a greater slider out of him, as his present 82–85-mph model is brief and lacks depth.
This transfer fills Chicago’s 40-man roster for the second and cleared a ton of area on Atlanta’s; the Braves now have three open spots. Sooner or later this offseason, they’ll want to deal with the relative lack of viable center infielders within the org, however including Bummer helps fortify their already glorious bullpen.