After the absence of a minor league season in 2020, 2021 saw minor league baseball return to action. With our 2022 preseason prospect rankings on the horizon, we are kicking off with position-by-position breakdowns of White Sox prospects. Here’s a look at a the top five left-handed relief pitchers in the White Sox minor league system.
1. BENNETT SOUSA
FutureSox Top 30 ranking: unranked
Last level: Triple-A Charlotte Knights
Bennett Sousa has been around for a while, and he checked in at #10 in last season’s FutureSox overall reliever rankings, but it wasn’t until Spring Training 2020 that the lefty reliever started turning himself into a potentially interesting option for the big league bullpen. Just before the pandemic halted training camps across baseball — and eventually wiped out the full minor league season — injuries to Hunter Schryver and Jace Fry made it possible for Sousa to receive extended looks out of the bullpen for the White Sox in Arizona. He made the most of them and continued his impressive climb up the ranks in 2021, seemingly leaving the control problems that plagued him in college and earlier in his Minor League career behind.
Strikeouts have never been a problem for Sousa, who has consistently dropped K/9 numbers above 10 in his career. In 2021, he even upped that number to a whopping 13.50 in 47 innings for Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. A manageable 1.20 WHIP combined with the outrageous K-rate made the White Sox protect Sousa from the Rule 5 Draft (which was eventually canceled). He is a serious candidate for the White Sox bullpen in 2022.
2. HUNTER SCHRYVER
FutureSox Top 30 ranking: unranked
Last level: Triple-A Charlotte Knights
Ranking relievers No. 2, 3 and 4 on this list turned into an exercise of personal preference and belief. Discussions ranged from Perez at 2, Schryver at 3, Luna at 4, to Schryver at 2, Luna at 3, and Perez at 4, to even not ranking Schryver at all due to recent injuries and an uneven 2021 season with Triple-A Charlotte. We eventually looked at Schryver as still a potential option for the White Sox. At 26 years old, he might be among the first relievers called up when needed.
On the surface, Schryver’s most recent season looks problematic. Coming off of Tommy John surgery in 2020, the former 7th rounder of the Tampa Bay Rays pitched a limited 43.1 innings in 2021, in which he produced a not-so-pretty 4.98 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. He was, however, pretty great in the first few months of the season. In fact, Schryver only gave up seven earned runs in 20 innings between Opening Day and July 14th, when he finally ran into a Gwinnett-colored buzz saw.
The lefty struck out 22 and walked just nine batters over the same period. The second half of the season was one to soon forget for Schryver — though he did almost pitch an immaculate inning on September 3rd. His less successful half led to the White Sox foregoing Rule 5 protection for Schryver, but the lefty remained a part of the organization.
On top of that, pitching in Charlotte can be quite difficult, as evidenced by Schryver’s severe home/away splits. His ERA was almost 2 points higher at Truist Field than elsewhere. Another couple of months removed from recovery from Tommy John means 2022 is a good year to gauge if Schryver can return to the ‘future Major Leaguer’ status he had prior to undergoing the surgery.
3. ANDREW PEREZ
FutureSox Top 30 ranking: unranked
Last level: Double-A Birmingham Barons
One of the better kept secrets in the White Sox organization is Andrew Perez. That might not last much longer, however. After banging the Perez-drum for over two years, one certain FutureSox writer went as far as to rank Perez in his 2021 organizational top 30 prospects, writing: “I’m pretty much the lone Andrew Perez believer here at FutureSox, and I’m keeping him at 30. He dominated High and Low-A ball in 2019, so I’m excited to see what he does in 2021.”
‘El Platano’ did not disappoint this past season, and he did all the things that made me (yes, the writer was me, if that wasn’t evident yet) a believer in him in the first place. He even popped up in our Team of the Week of July 26th. The long and short of it basically is: if you like filth, Andrew Perez is your guy. After striking out 31 batters in 31.1 innings in 2018, he followed that up with a whopping 86 K’s in 67.1 innings in a 2019 season split between Kannapolis and Winston-Salem.
A promotion to Birmingham for the 2020 season would have been the next step, but the pandemic pushed that plan back a year. In 2021, at 24 years old, Perez was excellent for the Barons. He struck out 59 batters in 43.2 innings, while walking just 12 and wrapping up the year with a solid 3.50 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. After giving up just one (!) homerun in 99.0 career innings up until this season, he did surrender six bombs in 2021. Other than that, Andrew Perez is a name to follow. We have drinks, snacks, and strikeouts: there is plenty of room on the Platano Train. Hop on board.
4. GIL LUNA JR
FutureSox Top 30 ranking: unranked
Last level: Single-A Kannapolis
Gil Luna Jr is a new face in the organization, after being drafted in the 9th round (275th overall) in the 2021 Draft out of Arizona. The 22-year old only pitched 15.1 innings in 2021, but he certainly showed what he is capable of. He tallied 24 strikeouts (17 in 9.0 innings in the Complex League, but still), and succesfully converted all four of his save opportunities (two in the ACL, two in Single-A). That said, Luna Jr was clearly pitching at levels below his skills, because it suddenly seemed all the issues that made him an ineffective college reliever had disappeared.
The strikeouts have always been there for Luna, as evidenced by his 97 K’s in 73.1 innings in the PAC-12. It’s been the control that eluded him more often than not in his first three years in college. With BB/9 of 7.23, 12.54 and 11.00 in ’18, ’19 and ’20, it was pretty clear Luna had to make a change. He did so in 2021, when he suddenly dropped his BB/9 to 4.64 over 21.1 innings. He also posted his highest K/9 of his college career at 13.08.
It will be very interesting to follow Luna Jr’s development in 2022. If the upward trajectory maintains, the lefty will have a chance to shoot up rankings boards. The mid-90s fastball, 20 mph slower breaking pitch and a developing changeup give him a nice reliever profile.
5. SAMMY PERALTA
FutureSox Top 30 ranking: unranked
Last level: Single-A (Adv.) Winston-Salem
Samuel Felipe Peralta, from Queens, New York, is a guy with an interesting story. Before being drafted by the White Sox in the 2019 draft (18th round, 530th overall), Peralta traveled around to play baseball quite a bit. He pitched four innings in 2017 for San Jacinto (Junior) College, before finding another temporary JUCO home in Florida with Palm Beach State. After a succesful 51.0 innings in the NJCAA that season, the University of Tampa made room for him on their roster. Peralta lit up the strikeout column of his stat page. He K’d 74 batters in just 42.0 innings for Tampa (a 15.86 K/9!). Despite giving up his fair share of hits and walks, the White Sox liked him enough to pick him in the 18th round.
Since joining the organization, Peralta has only gotten better. A great 2019, split between Arizona and Great Falls, led to a promotion in 2021. He started the year with Kannapolis and performed well (49 K’s and 12 walks in 34.2 innings, 3.89 ERA). He finished the year in Winston-Salem. Though he continued to give up a lot of hits (almost 1 per inning), he maintained his low walk rate and high strikeout rate. He seems destined to start the year in Winston-Salem in 2022.
Photo Credit: Birmingham Barons PR
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