When the White Sox sent Aaron Bummer to Triple-A following a June 2 loss to the Brewers, it was a bit surprising. In 26 appearances to that point, Bummer had thrown 19 1/3 innings with 21 strikeouts against just six walks and a respectable 3.26 ERA. Still, the underlying numbers told us he was fairly lucky in the small sample size, as despite all that he was allowing a .321 opponent batting average, giving up 27 hits during that span. He rejoined the big club in September to worse results, allowing eight runs in just 12 1/3 innings. But still, his K/BB was fine in the small sample with 14 whiffs against just four walks, and it’s those numbers worth focusing on. Bummer still figures to be someone the White Sox hope to count on in their bullpens of the future — along with the likes of Ian Hamilton, Ryan Burr, and Jace Fry — and his ability to consistently throw strikes and show some swing-and-miss potential is his most obvious route to a spot with the team long-term.

Tyler Danish

After five years of trying to turn their former second-round pick into a viable mid-rotation starter, the White Sox put Danish in the bullpen for the majority of 2018. The results were … underwhelming. In 71 2/3 innings at Triple-A, Danish was fine from a results perspective, but he still doesn’t miss enough bats — or throw enough strikes, period — to warrant much excitement, posting just 53 strikeouts against 28 walks. Danish made seven appearances out of the White Sox bullpen in late July and August, tossing just 6 1/3 innings, giving up 5 earned runs with 5 strikeouts and 4 walks. At 25 by the start of next season, the hope for Danish becoming anyone worth rostering at the major league level has almost completely faded out.

Danny Farquhar

Everyone knows, of course, that Farquhar’s biggest victory of 2018 was fully recovering from a terrifying brain aneurysm that could have cost him much more than his baseball career. Farquhar threw only 8 innings for the 2018 White Sox, and an in-depth interview with The Athletic’s James Fegan revealed his progress in working toward a successful return in 2019. Here’s hoping we see Farquhar in a White Sox uniform — or any major league uniform, for that matter — next season.

Thyago Vieira

Adding a player like Vieira for what he cost to acquire is something any reasonable team does. The White Sox couldn’t spend any notable amount of IFA money after last year’s signing of Luis Robert and thus traded some to the Seattle last season during the Mariners’ pursuit of Shohei Ohtani. The scouting report on Vieira was that he had electric velocity but didn’t seem to have any clue where it was going. And let’s just say that checked out pretty well. Vieira struggled in Triple-A during the first half of the season, posting a 5.05 ERA with 50 strikeouts and 24 walks in 41 innings. He spent the last two months of the season in Chicago and 7.13 ERA in 17 2/3 innings. Vieira is probably the kind of guy who keep around in case one day he “figures it out.” But he doesn’t have any place in a major league bullpen at the moment.

Lead Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

1. Fulmer was about as effective as hoped following a precarious spring. He sat 94 with his fastball and consistently threw both his changeup and cutter for strikes. The cutter, in particular, was working from the start. In the first inning, he struck out Justin Smoak on three pitches following his only walk of the game, and ended a first-and-third threat by getting Randall Grichuk chasing on a 2-2 cutter.

In all, he threw 48 of his 73 pitches for strikes, including 12 of 14 changeups and 14 of 16 cutters. Nine of those 26 strikes were of the swinging variety, according to Brooks Baseball, and three of his five strikeouts came swinging.

There was a reason Fulmer only threw 73 pitches, of course, as Rick Renteria had a quick hook following back-to-back hits — a Josh Donaldson single and Smoak double — to lead off the sixth. But, in general, the start was exactly what we saw out of Fulmer at the end of last season, only against real professional hitters instead of the Quad-A rosters of teams 30 games below .500. The stuff has always been there for Fulmer, but his ability to maintain his mechanics and consistently throw strikes both with his fastball and secondary stuff are going to dictate whether or not he’s a starter long-term. It’s one start, but so far, so good.

2. After the Opening Day dinger-fest, I wrote that the White Sox probably aren’t going to lead the majors in home runs. Well … five games in, the White Sox lead the majors with 14 home runs, including Wednesday’s solo shots by Matt Davidson and Jose Abreu, the latter of which proved to be the game winner.

Of course, the aforementioned statement is still true, but there’s no denying the White Sox have been more powerful than one could possible imagine thus far. And it’s not just that the balls are leaving the yard, it’s how they’re leaving. Avisail Garcia’s 481-foot homer Tuesday was the longest by a White Sox hitter in the Statcast era. Yolmer Sanchez — YOLMER SANCHEZ — hit one 442 feet!

Abreu’s power is never going to be a surprise, and when Davidson makes contact and it doesn’t leave the yard, that’s surprising, but even in the current run-scoring environment, the White Sox weren’t particularly dinger-heavy a year ago. The likes of Anderson, Sanchez, and Welington Castillo getting into the act is a welcome sight, for however long it continues.

3. The White Sox bullpen got beat around in Tuesday’s 14-5 loss, but bounced back for four scoreless innings in Wednesday’s win. Sure, Aaron Bummer allowed two inherited runners charged to Fulmer to score, but after he got two outs, the game ended with 3 1/3 hitless frames by Danny Farquhar, Nate Jones, and Joakim Soria.

There’s a lot of volatility in the White Sox bullpen. Bummer and Greg Infante are erratic, and the likes of Farquhar, Soria, and Luis Avilan .. well, there’s a reason the veteran arms were available for very little. Still, after last year’s reliever clearing sale, the fact that the White Sox have any semblance of competence in the middle innings without breaking the bank is pretty impressive.

A team, whether it’s rebuilding or not, could do a lot worse than the Jones-Soria duo in the eighth and ninth innings, and while it’s yet to be determined how the rest will shake out, there’s a lot of upside in the eclectic mix of veterans and guys trying to prove themselves as major league relievers.

4. Oh yeah, back to the play. While it was refreshing to see replay work in what appeared to be correct fashion, and it obviously played out in the White Sox factor, the overturn also overshadowed what was a horrendous play on the basepaths by Castillo. With the bases loaded and one out, the leaping, falling-to-the-ground, initially-called-a catch by Curtis Granderson somehow didn’t turn into a run at first as Castillo didn’t tag up and attempt to score.

It was what amounted to a brain fart that didn’t have an affect on the game’s outcome, but baserunning woes have plagued the White Sox for some time now. Last year, they made 58 outs on the basepaths (doesn’t include pickoffs or caught stealing), which, while not among the worst in the league, was still worse than league average. This year that number is already at four through five games, and doesn’t include blips like Castillo’s.

The flip side of this, of course, is that aggressiveness can beget more runs if executed wisely. Last year, the White Sox were almost exactly average according to BP’s baserunning runs stat, ranking 14th in baseball at -0.1. Stats this year are, of course, far from stabilizing, but it’s maybe worth noting that they’ve taken the extra base on a league-high 67 percent of opportunities through this minuscule sample size after ranking slightly below average in the category a year ago.

There are a lot of noise in these stats, so take them with a grain of salt, but seeing how the White Sox balance aggressiveness with smart baserunning will be something worth watching throughout the season.

5. The White Sox home opener is today, weather pending, with James Shields making his second start of the season against Detroit and Jordan Zimmermann. There will be festivities — including A.J. Pierzynski throwing out the ceremonial first pitch — weather pending.

The Tigers have looked as bad as every expected them to be through five games, going 1-4 against the Pirates and Royals. The White Sox get to play them 19 times this season, so if they have any interest in staying competitive later into the season than anticipated, beating up on this team would be a good way to do so.

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Aaron Bummer: In some respects, Bummer is an unsual relief prospect.  Many relievers of consequence are starting pitchers who couldn’t hack it and got bumped to the bullpen for lack of durability, command, or a third pitch.  The White Sox had Bummer pegged for relief from day one, and the 19th rounder with Tommy John surgery under his belt still blitzed through the minors at blinding speed.

Bummer dominated High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A en route to the majors all in 2017 with his mid-to-high 90s heat from the left side and slurvey breaking ball. His time on the South Side didn’t go smoothly, which is understandable given how rapidly the quality of his opposition improved.

The pedigree and profile will always foster doubt. But heat from the left side is heat from the left side, and one has to imagine he has a solid claim on a bullpen spot next year, and crazier things have happened for players with his repertoire to turn into good setup men. Sometimes they’re just LOOGYs and then sink back into the ocean.

Dylan Covey: Scooping up former Top 10 picks in the Rule V draft is a perfectly good idea for a team in the 2017 White Sox’ position. Hence Covey. But, you know, he was available in Rule V for a reason. His DRA of 7.61 matches the eye test as major league hitters absolutely tuned him up between DL stints

Fortunately, there’s still some hope for him, especially now that he has made it through ’17 and the White Sox have secured his services if they want them.  And, while it is not true of every failed starter as some would have you believe, Covey’s velocity and breaking stuff visibly improves when he airs it out in a relief role. He could even wind up being a pretty good one, and getting pretty good relievers for free is more valuable than it has ever been.

Tyler Danish: In his first full crack at Triple-A after only 29 innings there last year, the 22 year old should have gradually improved at the level and been knocking on the door for some starts in the second half of the year. Instead, he was generally effective right out of the gate, and earned a spot start in late May with the big club.  He somehow struck out 6 and also walked 6 over 5 shutout innings, then went back to Triple-A and was dreadful the rest of the year.

He’s young, but he doesn’t project to add anything to his stuff. He has what he has and he’s going to go as far as his command takes him. Some have had him pegged as a reliever for most of his career, but I’m of the opinion, given his repertoire, that either he’s a back-end starter or he’s not a major leaguer.  Even with injuries and uncertainty plaguing the ’18 rotation, Danish is almost certainly going to go back to Charlotte to keep refining in the hopes that he can break through next year instead.

Lead Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Jace Fry on Tuesday became the eighth member of the 2017 White Sox to make his major league debut. That number doesn’t even include the more heralded young players on the roster, as Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, and Reynaldo Lopez all saw time in the majors late in 2017. But nonetheless, I thought I’d take a look at those eight newcomers to the league, ranked in order of who I believe has the best chance of having a prolonged big league career.

1. Nicky Delmonico

Major league debut: Aug. 1
First plate appearance: Swinging strikeout against Toronto’s Marcus Stroman
First hit: Same day, single to center field against Toronto’s Ryan Tepera

Delmonico has simultaneously been the most surprising and most successful player to make his major league debut for the White Sox in 2017, hitting .307/.429/.573 with more walks than strikeouts in 91 plate appearances before going on the DL with a wrist injury (he’s expected back soon). Delmonico has been written about on a number of occasions in this space already this season, but it’s worth remembering he wasn’t among the White Sox Top 30 prospects even before the influx of talent, nor was he among the hundreds of players who received comment in last season’s BP Annual. However, he’s proven he can handle the bat at the major league level thus far, albeit in a very small sample size. While he’s limited defensively, whether it’s at an outfield or infield corner, he’s at least earned himself a further look going forward.

2. Aaron Bummer

Major league debut: July 27
First hitter faced: Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo, who struck out swinging
First strikeout: Rizzo

Bummer is one of the more fascinating players to debut this season. As a 19th round pick just three years ago, the odds of him making the majors, let alone this quickly, were incredibly slim. But he’s shown throughout his minor league career the ability to get left-handed hitters and as a potential LOOGY with three pitches and mid-90s heat, is obviously someone the White Sox see as a part of their future bullpen. He’s struggled through 18 appearances and 13 2/3 innings, with 10 strikeouts, nine walks, and a 6.59 ERA, but that’s to be expected given his inexperience. Like everyone else on this list, Bummer’s debut might not have happened if it weren’t for the state of the White Sox roster. Unlike most, however, his chances of sticking around are a little better than slim.

3. Willy Garcia

Major league debut: April 14
First plate appearance and hit: Same day, double to left-center against Minnesota’s Adalberto Mejia

The White Sox claimed Garcia off waivers from Pittsburgh in the offseason, and narrowly missed out on making the team out of spring training before making his debut just two weeks later when Melky Cabrera went on the paternity list. Garcia performed adequately in just 105 plate appearances, hitting .258/.317/.441 while playing passable if unspectacular defense in the corners. He’d undoubtedly still be getting run if it weren’t for the concussion he suffered in a nasty collision with Moncada, and the odds of him finding a role with a contending tim remain slim (sensing a theme here?) but for a player trying to prove himself for a non-contender, you could do a lot worse than Garcia has shown in 2017.

4. Adam Engel

Major league debut: May 27
First plate appearance: Swinging strikeout against Detroit’s Buck Farmer
First hit: Same day, a single to left field against Detroit’s Shane Greene

Engel actually scored his first career run before ever stepping foot in the batter’s box, appearing as a pinch runner and crossing home plate on a Leury Garcia triple in the first game of that day’s doubleheader. His first start, first plate appearance, and first hit came a few hours later in game two. Engel has gotten a lot of playing time for the rebuilding White Sox, something that might not have been the case on a team trying to compete. This is mostly because of his inability to handle the bat, and he’s proving that point through 246 plate appearances with a .170/.249/.284 line. Engel’s speed and defense plays, and he could very well find a spot on a major league roster beyond 2017 if his bat improves any. But right now, that seems like a long shot.

5. Dylan Covey

Major league debut: April 14
First hitter faced: Minnesota’s Brian Dozier, who singled to right field
First strikeout: Same day, Byron Buxton swinging

Cover was virtually guaranteed to be given every opportunity to stick around given his status as a Rule V pick in the offseason as well as the White Sox lack of pitching depth. A two month stint on the disabled list made it easy for them to avoid sending him back to Oakland despite his struggles. In 46 innings, Covey has a 8.41 ERA with 20 walks, 27 strikeouts, and an even-more-absurd-than-those-numbers 17 home runs allowed. Once the season ends, the White Sox will be able to send Covey to the minors with no repercussions, and he’ll likely continue his development and represent additional pitching depth going forward as a member of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.

6. Jacob May

Major league debut: April 4
First plate appearance: Strikeout looking against Detroit’s Justin Verlander
First hit: April 22, single to right field against Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco

Remember when I said you could do a lot worse than Garcia if you’re a player trying to prove himself for a non-contender? You should. It was like five lines ago. Anyway, that’s May. The surprising Opening Day addition to the roster started his professional career 0-for-26 in 30 plate appearances before finally getting a hit as a pinch-hitter nearly three weeks later. He was back in Triple-A Charlotte just two weeks later and spent the rest of 2017 there. We spent a lot of ink wondering what the White Sox had in May in the days leading up to the start of the season, and he’s not unlike Engel in that both are outfielders with good speed and the potential to play solid defense. But May’s April (or is it April’s May?) was downright disastrous. If he never sees a major league field for the rest of his career, he’ll still have those two professional hits to remember for the rest of his life. For his sake, I’m hoping he gets another shot somewhere down the road.

7. Jace Fry

Major league debut: Sept. 5
First hitter faced: Cleveland’s Carlos Santana, who singled to left-center field
First strikeout: N/A

Fry, of course, is the most recent of the newcomers, facing three batters in Tuesday’s loss to the Indians. He allowed the single to Santana, got Giovanny Urshela to line out, and walked Lonnie Chisenhall before giving way to Chris Beck, who promptly allowed a three run homer to Yan Gomes. Fry spent the entirety of 2017 before Tuesday with Double-A Birmingham, and has undergone two Tommy John surgeries in the last five years. That fact alone gives him long odds of having any type of lengthy major league career, so his story is the kind that I’m talking about when I say I find joy in any major league debut.

8. Brad Goldberg

Major league debut: June 3
First hitter faced: Detroit’s Justin Upton, who hit a home run
First strikeout: June 22 against Kansas City’s Alex Gordon

The White Sox have seen a lot of bad pitching performances in 2017 but Goldberg’s 11 appearances put together were about as disastrous as they come. In 12 innings of work, Goldberg walked 14 hitters and struck out just three, and allowed 11 earned runs. He exited a game unscored upon in just four of those 11 appearances. 2017 wasn’t all bad for Goldberg, however, as he helped a really fun Team Israel qualify for the World Baseball Classic and tossed two scoreless innings during their run in pool play. There isn’t much positive to say about Goldberg’s major league career thus far, and it’s tough to say whether he’ll get another shot (the White Sox are sure to be bad again in 2018, and he is a reliever, so you never know), but he’ll always have that.

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While people are welcome to digest baseball however they please — it is, after all, entertainment — there was nothing wrong with how Renteria managed*, and there was absolutely nothing surprising about the game’s outcome.  The White Sox have traded away David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, Dan Jennings, and Anthony Swarzak.  They’ve lost Zach Putnam, Nate Jones, and Michael Ynoa to the disabled list.  They even traded away Tyler Clippard!

*As easy as it is to roll one’s eyes at a manager aggressively playing matchups, particularly in a lost season, Aaron Bummer is potentially a long-term bullpen piece and he’s going to need to learn how to come in to face elite lefties like that.

In other words, 100 percent of the current bullpen is comprised of backups.  Other than Petricka, these were options 9-16 heading into the season.  So while the White Sox entered the year with a surprisingly excellent relief corps — a group much better than a number of teams that currently have vice-like grips on playoff spots — it has been razed in exchange for minor league talent.

It’s impressive that Rick Hahn & Co. got as much as they did for what they had, packaging Robertson and Kahnle together with Todd Frazier — a rental bat whose value was increasingly in question given the returns for similar players at this deadline — to get a Top 100 prospect in Blake Rutherford.  Even Jennings and Swarzak got flipped for potential future contributors.

But games like Wednesday are the cost of those trades.  Jennings and Clippard are hardly Andrew Miller and Craig Kimbrel, but on most nights they can get you three outs before surrendering two runs.  They’re competent major leaguers.  The relievers left in the current White Sox bullpen are either hoping to be as good as Jennings and Clippard some day or are stop gaps to get through the rest of the year. Factor in the Dodgers lineup and you’re going to get games like Wednesday, and there are going to be lots of games like Wednesday between now and the end of the year.

The triumph, rather, was that Carlos Rodon has now rattled off four straight quality starts while pitching against Cleveland, Boston, Houston, and the Dodgers — the last two opponents featuring the two best TAv’s in all of baseball.  Across those outings, he has thrown 29.67 innings with 28 strikeouts while only allowing 26 hits, 7 runs, and 6 walks.  On the down side, he did pop up two bunts, so perhaps it makes more sense to just let him swing away during his rare interleague road games.

The triumph was that Nicky Delmonico continued his blistering major league debut with two more home runs, raising his line to .396/.463/.625 in his first 54 plate appearances.  The triumph was that Leury Garcia continued his breakout 2017 season with a leadoff home run off Yu Darvish in a 2-for-5 night.

But the games aren’t all going to be the Astros series, where they bludgeoned their opponents, or held them down long enough for Yoan Moncada to perform superlative heroics.  Sometimes Juan Minaya and Jake Petricka and Gregory Infante are going to get shelled, and that’s kind of what they signed up for.

Lead Image Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Just look at the most recent White Sox wannabe-contenders. Despite having a core of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Adam Eaton, and Jose Abreu, the White Sox floundered while giving everyday at bats to the likes of Jerry Sands and J.B. Shuck. Quad-A bats and arms surrounded the White Sox stars and ultimately played a large role in dooming the White Sox in their ill-fated pursuit of the playoffs.

One of the benefits of going fully scorched Earth with their rebuild, as the White Sox have, is that you begin to get a closer look at players with a chance to fill those roles. Watching Moncada every day and Lopez every fifth day is the highlight of the remaining two months, undoubtedly, and seeing players like Matt Davidson, Avisail Garcia, Yolmer Sanchez, and Leury Garcia take steps forward in their development has been a pleasant surprise, but the White Sox have a few other, even lesser known players, with a chance to prove they can fill certain roles in the future. I’ve highlighted four players below who have been given rare opportunities and have shown, at times, flashes of that type of potential thus far this season.

1. Nicky Delmonico set a White Sox franchise record on Saturday when he reached base in his 12th consecutive game to start his major league career. The sample size is obviously incredibly small (49 plate appearances), but he’s impressed in the short term. Delmonico has played both the outfield and infield corners during his minor league career, but his versatility may be a bit overstated because while he can, in theory, play those positions, he’s yet to prove he can play any of them well. Thus, his ability to stick around at the major league level will be based almost entirely on continued offensive production. So far, so good, as both his swing and contact percentages are right in line with the league average, as are his strikeout and walk rates. Still, a .483 BABIP suggests quite a bit of luck when contact is made, so the jury’s still out as to whether or not Delmonico’s surprising debut is more than just that of a guy who finds some small sample size success during the second half of an otherwise lost season.

2. As a 19th round pick in the MLB Draft just three years ago, and someone who had Tommy John surgery just two years ago, Aaron Bummer has already surpassed most reasonably expectations for his major league career. And while he’s thrown just 7 2/3 innings in the majors thus far, his quick ascent through the minor league ranks speak to the White Sox confidence that he could be a valuable bullpen asset. Given that he’s a left-hander whose fastball sits 93-95 mph with a wipeout slider to boot, it’s easy to see why. Bummer’s ceiling is likely that of a mid-inning reliever, but considering where he came from, finding someone you can potentially plug into mid-relief for the foreseeable future is not nothing.

3. If there’s one thing we knew about Adam Engel throughout his minor league career it’s that his speed was real and his defense in center field seemed to be a strength. What we weren’t sure about is if his bat could hang around against major league pitching.

Mercy!

WATCH: https://t.co/DI9I0eQvR2 pic.twitter.com/1V11u4Wj5L

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 12, 2017

Must C: Adam Engel races back to the warning track, leaps up and makes an outstanding catch to rob Brian McCann of a home run. pic.twitter.com/EzXBoETlv2

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 9, 2017

Engel’s defense is legit, and the metrics agree as he’s put up 4.5 FRAA in limited playing time. The same can’t be said about his bat as he’s put up a .204/.273/.331 line and a 29.9 percent strikeout rate in 177 plate appearances entering play Sunday. He was always fighting an uphill battle offensively, and it’s possible he ultimately falls into the category of “above average defender who becomes unplayable because of his offensive shortcomings,” but with any improvement, there’s at least a chance he hangs around as a fourth outfielder/pinch runner/defensive substitute long term.

4. The offensive threshold for backup catchers isn’t very high, and thus, there’s nothing wrong with the .276/.307/.381 and 82 wRC+ Kevan Smith has put up in 194 plate appearances this season. Smith is different from the other three guys I’ve mentioned in that he’s not young — 29 years old despite not making his major league debut until last season — but he’s proved he can handle the bat at least to a certain extent at the major league level. Likewise, while the threshold for White Sox catchers is incredibly low over the last two seasons, he’s proved to be better in terms of framing than any other White Sox catcher in 2016 or 2017. The issue with Smith behind the plate is the running game, as opposing base stealers are 42-for-45 in attempts with Smith behind the plate this year. At 29 with a limited skill set and one very glaring weakness, both his ceiling and his floor are pretty low, but if the White Sox ever do figure out their catcher situation — internally or externally — there are worse backup options around than Smith.

The line between these aforementioned players having meaningful major league careers and being nothing more than roster filler for a bad team during a bad season is very, very thin. But all have been given a rare opportunity to show the White Sox they can stick around beyond this year.

5. The White Sox hadn’t made a trade in two whole weeks, but our long trade-less spell finally ended when news broke late Sunday that they traded Tyler Clippard to the Houston Astros in exchange for the well-traveled PTBNL or Cash Considerations.

Clippard threw 10 innings in his White Sox career after coming over as salary filler in the deal that sent David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, and Todd Frazier to the Yankees, and was mostly fine. After allowing two runs in his first 2 1/3 innings post-trade, he threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings over his final eight appearances.

This means very little in the long term, of course. As I mentioned, Clippard was a veteran throw-in that helped save the Yankees some of the money they were taking on in the form of Robertson and Frazier. He’ll likely provide some help to the slumping Astros and in exchange for either further salary relief or a non-prospect throw in we’ll learn about a few months down the road.

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As editor emeritus James Fegan pointed out on Twitter, Jennings has held hitters to a .146/.224/.270 line since June 1.  Jennings doesn’t offer classic LOOGY platoon splits or anything, but can be used for more than one inning and does a very good job of limiting home runs.  As a result he has been generally effective as a low-leverage option despite his poor K:BB numbers, and the White Sox definitely came out ahead in acquiring him for Andre Rienzo.

Tampa Bay sits only one game out of the Wild Card and two games back of Boston for the AL East lead, so a soft buy for a reliever on a modest salary makes sense.

As for Gillaspie, here are the pros:

• Former first round pick;
• Baseball America’s #74 overall prospect heading into 2017, and #69 overall prospect on their May 11, 2017 Top 100 update;
• Hit .286/.387/.482 across Double-A and Triple-A in 2016;
• Switch hitter;
• He’s a big dude;
• Conor’s brother!

That’s pretty much it for the good news. Gillaspie has had a down ’17 in his second look at Triple-A, turns 25 after this season and comes to the White Sox on the DL with a broken toe.  He can only play first base, even before his recent struggles he projected only as a 55 hit / 55 power ceiling guy, and our evaluators have questioned his swing, his contact skills, and his power.  If everything goes right, Gillaspie could look like a league average first baseman, but the Baseball America ranking looks like a bit of an outlier at this point.

That’s not to say this was a “bad” trade for the White Sox.  Gillaspie likely represents a competent major league bench bat, and if that doesn’t sound like much, remember that the most recent White Sox playoff “contender” was hoping to get bailed out of their DH black hole by Jerry Sands and Justin Morneau.  It’s a low ceiling without a whole lot of fallback options if he doesn’t hit, but he’s close to the majors and not without pedigree.

The White Sox have called up Aaron Bummer to take Jennings’ place in the bullpen.  At a glance, one could describe this as simply calling up a lefty reliever from Triple-A to replace the loss of a lefty reliever from the major league bullpen.  However, it does raise a bit of an eyebrow, as Bummer started this year in High-A, started last year in rookie ball, and had only thrown five innings in Charlotte.

A 19th round draft pick in 2014, Bummer missed 2015 with Tommy John surgery.  The organization is clearly high on the 6’3″ lefty who throws in the mid-90s, touching 98-99, and singled him out as someone to watch before the year for the High-A squad.  Bummer has missed bats at every level, and has seemed to improve with each promotion.

It’s the type of profile where one simply has to trust the organization’s pitching development and ability to find diamonds in the rough. If they think a hard-throwing lefty can succeed in a relief role, I hesitate to contradict them, and he has as much of a chance to succeed as anybody else who’s still left in the current White Sox bullpen.

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