On Saturday, Matt Foster took the mound as the starting pitcher, which is something he has not done since the White Sox drafted him in 2016. The decision to start Foster was a much-deserved one, as he’s impressed during his brief time with the club this season. Foster continued that by tossing two scoreless innings.
You couldn’t have asked for more out of Foster. When having to do a bullpen day, you hope to get multiple innings out of the initial pitchers so you don’t have to use up a ton of arms on a day where you are already without a true starting pitcher. And Foster did just that, tossing two scoreless innings without allowing a hit, striking out three, and walking just one batter.
HE GONE! pic.twitter.com/9hGncf477h
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 8, 2020
Matt Foster has primarily been a fastball, changeup pitcher during his time with the big league club and it’s worked in his favor thus far. Through his 5.2 innings pitched this season, opponents have posted a .100 batting average against his fastball and a .250 average against his changeup. His arsenal isn’t overwhelming, but his ability to locate his pitches and throw strikes makes up for it.
On Saturday, he focused on attacking the Cleveland Indians in the upper and lower quadrants of the strike zone and didn’t leave much over the middle of the plate. As a result, he did not allow any hard contact and the Indians struggled to get anything going against him.
Additionally, Foster managed to stay ahead in all of his counts, except for one that resulted in a walk to a very patient hitter in Carlos Santana. Although it’s a small sample size, Foster continues to show flashes of the potential to become an important bullpen piece for the White Sox now and in the future.
Zack Burdi’s debut
Foster wasn’t the only bullpen arm that had an impressive day in what was overall a rough game for the White Sox. Right-hander Zack Burdi made his MLB debut after being called up that same day.
Burdi, a member of the 2016 draft class along with Foster, seemed like he would’ve made his debut much sooner after reaching Triple-A in his first season with the White Sox organization. Unfortunately, injuries derailed the development path for Burdi and kept him sidelined frequently over the next few years. He had Tommy John surgery in 2017 and after a successful rehab process, he returned to the field in 2018. The following year, however, saw Burdi miss extended time again as knee surgery kept him out for the remainder of the 2019 season after registering just 22.2 IP.
Burdi’s fastball is an elite, 80-grade pitch and when someone with a power fastball like that has to go through Tommy John surgery, you hope that they can retain most of the velocity post-procedure. On Saturday, he showed that the velocity was still present during his MLB debut. He threw the 12 fastest pitches out of both teams, with his fastball ranging from 96.9 mph to 99.2 mph.
He did miss some of his spots during his lone inning of work, which can be expected with Burdi, especially considering this was his debut. That his velocity is still present was the biggest takeaway from his debut. However, one other thing that was impressive was his ability to paint the lower edges of the strike zone multiple times with 97 and 98 mph fastballs.
Two strikeouts in a scoreless inning! Congratulations, Zack! pic.twitter.com/vRkur25zHi
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 8, 2020
Burdi finished his day by completing one full inning, giving up one hit, and racking up two strikeouts. It’s been a long, bumpy road for Burdi to get to this point. He’s had to deal with a lot of injuries along the way, but he’s maintained his confidence in himself and his work ethic through it all.
Zack Burdi: “I don’t think I knew for sure that I was going to make it, but I knew I wasn’t going to give up.”
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) August 8, 2020
Since Burdi was drafted he was always labeled as the future closer for the big league club. After multiple surgeries, Burdi showed that he still has the stuff to believe in. It’s just one inning of work so far, but after seeing how he looked on Saturday, White Sox fans should feel excited about what he can bring to the organization.
It’s been a roller coaster of a 2020 season thus far. However, one thing that has been both exciting and consistent up to this point is the developments of the young bullpen arms that are contributing to the big league club. Saturday was an ugly loss for the White Sox, but both Foster and Burdi provided bright spots for the team and were the story of the afternoon.
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