White Sox bullpen has strong homegrown flavor

The White Sox have not been short on bullpen prospects in recent years. We are seeing the fruits of that labor in the current ‘pen.

With Ian Hamilton’s call-up on Monday, the White Sox currently have five pitchers in their bullpen who were drafted by the organization. Hamilton, who was drafted in the 11th round in 2016, joins Aaron Bummer (19th round, 2014), Jace Fry (3rd round, 2014), Codi Heuer (6th round, 2018) and Jimmy Lambert (5th round, 2016).

Heuer and Lambert made their White Sox debuts in the season-opening series against the Minnesota Twins while the other three entered this year with MLB experience.

It’s usually not a good sign for a team’s farm system if relievers are prominently placed within prospect rankings. However, these are not high draft picks. Once you get past the first few rounds, any player who makes the majors is a good pick.

Fry is the highest pick of the group as a third-rounder in 2014. Teams don’t typically draft relievers in the third round, but Fry was drafted as a starter out of Oregon State. He had Tommy John surgery in June of 2015 and didn’t return until 2017. When he did come back he shifted from starting to the bullpen. He earned his MLB debut as a September call-up and has been a fixture in the White Sox bullpen ever since.

Fry has been far from dominant in the bigs. He has flashed great stuff with an 11.3 K/9 rate while struggling with command (5.4 BB/9). But the reality is he is one of four players from that 2014 third round with a positive career WAR. That’s a win as a draft pick.

The next highest pick is Lambert, but he still likely profiles as a starter. If 2020 played out as a normal season with minor league teams in action, Lambert probably would be working his way into the Birmingham rotation right now. He was slated to miss at least the first couple months of 2020 as he worked back from Tommy John surgery.

Instead, Lambert made his MLB debut on Saturday. He showed off command of a mid 90’s fastball to go with a sharp breaking curve. That combination could be enough to tempt the White Sox into thinking of him as a reliever long-term. Considering he is coming off surgery, the White Sox will likely keep him in the pen as a way to limit his workload. He should still have a shot to return to starting in 2021, but there’s no reason to think he can’t at least stick in the majors as a reliever.

For what it’s worth, Adam Virchis was the area scout for both Fry and Lambert.

A day before Lambert made his debut, Heuer made his. He was 97-98 with his fastball and pitched a one-two-three inning with a strikeout. Like Fry, Heuer was a starter in college and started in rookie ball in 2018. Heuer struggled at Wichita State, with an ERA above 5.00 in each of his three seasons. He also had a 6.16 ERA in Great Falls in 11 starts.

The White Sox moved Heuer to the bullpen last year. They sent him straight to High-A Winston-Salem, skipping Low-A Kannapolis. That was a clear sign that they liked what they saw. Heuer paid off that faith with a strong season. He earned a midseason promotion to Birmingham and finished the year with a 2.39 ERA, 65 strikeouts and 15 walks in 67 2/3 innings.

With his debut Friday, Heuer became the second player from the 2018 draft to appear in an MLB game. Cubs’ first-rounder Nico Hoerner was the first. Heuer edged Royals’ first-rounder Brady Singer by a day.

Fry, Lambert and Heuer began their pro careers as starters. Hamilton and Bummer have been relievers their entire pro careers.

Hamilton was Washington State’s closer for two years before transitioning to a starting role in 2016. He had a 4.97 ERA, which likely hurt his draft stock. The White Sox took him in the 11th round and moved him back to relief.

He consistently performed well as a minor leaguer, leading to his big league debut in 2018. Last year was a nightmare for Hamilton. He got into a car accident in spring training in 2019, when he was fighting for an Opening Day roster spot. That disrupted his ramp up to the season and he got off to a poor start with Triple-A Charlotte.

Then in May, he got hit in the face with a foul ball while watching from the dugout. Multiple surgeries later and now Hamilton is back on the White Sox roster. It’s a heck of a turnaround story if he can stick with the White Sox.

To keep up the area scout connections, Robbie Cummings gets credit for Heuer and Hamilton. He has since moved up to being the Midwest Crosschecker for the White Sox.

Bummer has proven the most in the majors so far of this group. He has been in the majors since 2017 and was a standout of the White Sox bullpen last year. Bummer started at Nebraska, but moved to the pen professionally. After missing all of 2015 and most of 2016 due to injury, Bummer took the fast route to the majors in 2017.

If we’re talking area scouts, Bummer’s was Mike Shirley, the current amateur scouting director for the White Sox.

None of these five (could be six with Matt Foster on the taxi squad) are currently cornerstones for the White Sox. However, Fry is the oldest of the group and he turned 27 earlier this month. Cheap, young relievers are a nice luxury.

More importantly, they show good work from the White Sox in terms of drafting and developing players in later rounds of the draft. It’s easier to get picks like Nick Madrigal and Andrew Vaughn right when you’re drafting that high. It’s tougher to find value after that.

The White Sox rebuild has been mostly based on trading for prospects (Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Dane Dunning, Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Basabe, Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease). Luis Robert is fantastic, but was a can’t miss, big money signing. The organization needs to show it can draft and develop talent as well. Players like Codi Heuer, Jimmy Lambert and Jonathan Stiever, for example, are just as important for the long-term health of the club.

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