Despite there being no minor league season in 2020, there were a significant number of White Sox prospects who made big strides. The White Sox had 12 players make their MLB debuts.
We are taking a look back at how they fared and what it means for their future. Jimmy Lambert was one of a number of pitchers that debuted in the White Sox bullpen (Codi Heuer, Matt Foster, Zack Burdi, Bernardo Flores, Garrett Crochet). Lambert’s year got cut short, but what were we able to learn about him?
Relevant stats: 2 IP, 0 R, 2 K, 0 BB, 2 H in the regular season (2 appearances)
Lambert’s 2020 featured a promising big league debut and another injury setback. Just as Lambert was working his way back from Tommy John surgery, he went down again after just two outings.
His minor league career has been a winding journey. He was drafted in the fifth round in 2016 and reached full season ball that summer with Low-A Kannapolis. He earned a midseason promotion to High-A Winston-Salem in 2017, but posted a 6.04 ERA in 76 innings for the Dash.
Then, 2018 was a breakout year. His strikeout rate shot up from 6.1 per nine innings in 2017 (between Kannapolis and Winston-Salem) to just over 10 per nine (between Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham). That took him from fringe prospect to someone with a legit big league future.
Unfortunately for Lambert, the injuries started the following year. Lambert got in 11 starts with Birmingham in 2019 before being shut down. He had Tommy John surgery in late June of that year.
While the surgery was obviously a major setback, the delayed start for the 2020 season worked in his favor. He was on track to return just before Summer Camp in 2020. He was with the White Sox in Summer Camp and impressed enough to make the 30-man Opening Day roster as a reliever.
Lambert made his MLB debut July 25 in the opening series against the Minnesota Twins. He struck out Miguel Sano to start and gave up a single before getting the next two batters. Lambert’s fastball was 91-96 mph and he showed a knuckle curve, change and slider.
Three days later he came on in relief against the Cleveland Indians and his fastball velocity was down a few ticks. He was 90-92 mph with his fastball. His hardest fastball was 92.7, a 4.3 mph difference from the 96.0 he topped out at against the Twins. All but one of his fastballs on his debut were harder than the hardest one from his second outing.
The White Sox put Lambert on the injured list the next day with a forearm strain. He didn’t pitch the rest of the season.
From a results standpoint, Lambert was effective. He showed his stuff can work against big league hitters. In each of his outing he gave up one hit with no walks and struck out one batter in an inning.
However, if this is another serious arm injury, Lambert could be in real trouble. There hasn’t been word of Lambert needing Tommy John surgery again, but the fact that he was shut down for more than two months obviously isn’t a good thing.
If Lambert is healthy come next spring training, he would likely be fighting for a spot on the roster again. The White Sox could decide to keep him in the bullpen if they are unsure of his arm holding up as a starter. If he’s not healthy, that could mean another long recovery. We’ve seen Zack Burdi do that, although one of his major injuries was knee surgery and not two related arm surgeries.
So 2020 was mixed for Lambert. He made his MLB debut and proved to be deserving. He also went down with injury again, clouding any future projection for him.
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