Major League Baseball rosters have been frozen since late March, but that freeze came to an end today at noon ET. The White Sox need to submit their 60-player pool to use initially in advance of reporting to Chicago for spring training 2.0 on Wednesday. Five players were released from the organization earlier today and they’ll have a chance to latch on elsewhere before the end of the weekend.
The most noteworthy name on this list is 26-year-old left hander Caleb Frare. The southpaw was acquired from the New York Yankees back in 2018 for $1.5 million in international bonus pool space. The 6-foot-1, 210-pounder appears to have some other lefties in front of him on the organizational depth chart at present and the club released him in accordance to that.
Frare struggled in five games with the White Sox last season. He posted a 10.13 ERA and averaged 13.5 BB/9 over 2.2 innings. Caleb never returned to the big leagues after that after struggling with injuries and pitching across multiple levels. Frare didn’t fare much better with Triple-A Charlotte and he lost his roster spot last offseason before re-joining the club on a minor league deal. Caleb Frare is left-handed and throws really hard so he could quickly latch on elsewhere.
Zach Putnam returned to the organization this spring after being out of the sport battling multiple injuries since 2017. The 32-year-old right-hander had a pretty successful 3 1/2-year run on the South Side from 2014-2017. He was unlikely to pitch in the big leagues in 2020 anyway, but would have been decent depth at a minor league affiliate had he chosen to go that route. Without Minor League Baseball occurring this year, there likely wasn’t playing time available for the veteran righty.
Matt Tomshaw is a 31-year-old left-hander that was invited to big league spring training with the White Sox this spring. The southpaw threw 31.2 innings with the Knights last year and pitched for White Sox affiliates in 2018 as well. Tomshaw spent nine seasons in the minor leagues after being selected in the 42nd round of the 2011 amateur draft by the Minnesota Twins. Tomshaw might have bounced between Birmingham and Charlotte in 2020 if baseball wasn’t shut down by a pandemic.
Matt Skole played in 27 games for the 2019 White Sox after being promoted from Charlotte. With the Knights, Skole posted a 123 wRC+ with 21 homers earning him a shot in Chicago. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound infielder spent two seasons in Chicago after being selected in the fifth round of 2011 draft by the Washington Nationals. Skole spent parts of seven seasons in the Nationals’ organization.
Ramon Torres spent nine seasons in the Kansas City Royals’ organization and struggled in 42 major league games between 2017-2018. The 27-year-old infielder spent 21 games with Charlotte and posted a 136 wRC+. The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder is a versatile defender, but the impact of COVID-19 on Minor League Baseball will affect many players similar to Torres over the coming days.
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