Saturday’s doubleheader between the White Sox and Cardinals did not yield the right results in the win/loss column. Despite having had two days off and facing a club coming off a two-week hiatus following a substantial amount of positive COVID-19-tests, the White Sox as a unit looked lethargic against St. Louis for the full 14 innings played. A 5-1 and 6-3 loss were the results.
There were multiple areas in which the team looked bad, but there were some ‘good vibes’ coming from the group of rookies.
POSITION PLAYERS: LUIS ROBERT AND DANNY MENDICK
Robert broke out of a little slump by going 1-for-2 with a double, a walk and a strikeout in game 1 of the doubleheader. He followed up the performance by going 1-for-3 with a homerun (and another strikeout) in game 2.
Robert did continue to struggle with breaking pitches. He struck out on an Adam Wainwright curve low and outside the zone in game 1. He also wasn’t able to put any good contact on Alex Reyes’ breaking pitches in game 2 (and he eventually struck out on a 99 mph heater down the middle). The good news was that Robert will still punish mistakes, as the slider down the middle from Cardinals starter Jake Woodford was gone before you could blink twice.
Meanwhile, all Danny Mendick continues to do is make contact. With the news of Leury Garcia’s injury (and subsequent move to the 45-day IL), it appears Mendick is the new starting second baseman until Nick Madrigal returns from his IL stint. The 26-year old is making the most of it, as he went 2-for-2 with a run scored in game 1. Game 2 was a bit more of a mixed bag, as Mendick went 0-for-2 and struggled a bit in the field. The infielder did show a good eye at the plate, not biting on a nasty Alex Reyes curve, which should help him in the future.
PITCHING: MATT FOSTER, CODI HEUER, ZACK BURDI
In game 2, Ricky Renteria relied on three rookies to open the game on the mound. Matt Foster (2.0 IP) got the start; he was followed by Codi Heuer (1.0 IP) and Zack Burdi (1.0 IP). All three rookie arms looked good, to varying degrees.
Foster had the most eye-opening performance of the bunch. The 25-year old right-hander looked in control from the beginning, using a 95 mph fastball and a devastating 84 mph changeup to his advantage. He struck out two, walked none and kept the Cardinals scoreless. In fact, Foster looked so nasty, he even made it onto Pitching Ninja’s daily shortlist.
With the outing, Foster has now pitched 9.2 innings of scoreless baseball in his big league career. Opponents are hitting .066 against him and he has struck out 15 of the 32 batters he has faced. On Saturday, 16 of his 25 pitches were strikes and he accumulated five swinging strikes (20%). Foster’s performance is revelatory, as he did not make our pre-season Top 30 list. After a solid season in Triple-A and encouraging words from Chris Getz in the preseason, the right-hander did appear to be at or around the top of the list of contributors in 2020. So far, Foster is certainly living up to the confidence.
POWER ARMS
Foster was followed by two of the more electric young power arms in the White Sox bullpen in Codi Heuer and Zack Burdi. Heuer continued his impressive rookie campaign. The 24-year-old from Montana pitched one inning in relief of Foster, striking out one and walking one while giving up no runs. For the season, Heuer now carries a 3.68 ERA and 0.95 WHIP with 9 K’s in 7.1 innings pitched, with most of the damage stemming from one outing against Detroit.
Zack Burdi did give up a homerun in his one inning of work. The 25-year-old fireballer relieved Heuer and displayed some of the nastiest stuff of all game 2 pitchers. His performance should quell any rumors that his raw abilities have diminished since Tommy John surgery. An ominous beginning to the inning — Paul Goldschmidt smacked Burdi’s second pitch, a 96 mph fastball, over the left field wall — led to an uneven, but encouraging performance.
Other than the homerun pitch to Goldschmidt, there were several positives to take away from Burdi’s outing. The 100 mph heat is back, the slider looked crisp, and the occasional 94 mph changeup is.. not something you see every day either. Burdi’s lone strikeout victim, Tyler O’Neill, saw four 89-91 mph sliders and one 99.5 mph fastball, before being sent back to the bench. Burdi painted the corner on the strikeout pitch, a slider off the plate.
On the other hand, command has been (and could remain) a problem for the native of Downers Grove; he did blast a couple of fastballs (way) wide of James McCann. That did put Burdi on Pitching Ninja’s radar as well, by the way.
That’s a solid dent in the Hankook sign. Burdi finished his performanced with 1’s across the board: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 HR. His ERA now stands at 3.00 after 3.0 big league innings. The flame thrower has also struck out three on the season and holds a 1.00 WHIP. Analysis: Burdi does not like even numbers?
Photo credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox