The deadlines are early, which makes sense because building a whole book, hundreds of pages long, from scratch in just the months from the end of one season to the beginning of the next, is tough work. We had to have the list submitted to our editors by the middle of September.

This is relevant to this article for one reason: When Nick and I built our list and prepared to submit it, it didn’t include Jace Fry. At the beginning of September 2017, we found 75 White Sox players worth writing about, and Fry was so far off our radar that he didn’t merit inclusion. He found his way in the book only after a last-second addition following his surprising promotion and major league debut on Sept. 7.

Fry was the White Sox best reliever in 2018.

What the hell?

Fry’s transformation from fringe starting pitcher prospect to high-leverage reliever came on the heels of two Tommy John surgeries, the most recent in 2016. His surprising promotion and ascent to a major league bullpen this year is thanks in part to the continuously growing bullpens and even more to his ability to be Death To Lefties.

It’s that second part that’s worth examining further, because while relievers who can come in and blow mid-90s stuff past past hitters with the platoon advantage have become a dime a dozen nowadays. But as Fry continued to gain more trust from the White Sox coaching staff, he wasn’t used like a traditional LOOGY, and that’s because his deep repertoire of offerings has made him successful against right-handed hitters, even if the numbers against left-handed hitters still far outweigh it.

Fry vs. LHB: .143/.217/.190
Fry vs. RHB: .234/.317/.374

Fry was the White Sox most used high-leverage reliever, particularly late in the season when Joakim Soria, Luis Avilan, and Xavier Cedeno were sent out of town. He finished the year with an unimpressive 4.38 ERA, which speaks more to the high usage and learning curve against righties than his true talent level. Among qualified relievers, he had the 16th best K rate and 10th best FIP. The nine players who ranked ahead of him in the latter stat all had ERAs that begin with the numbers 2, 1, or 0 (hello, Blake Treinen).

All of this is to say that Fry was really good, and combined with Ian Hamilton, Ryan Burr, Caleb Frare, and maybe Aaron Bummer, the White Sox have built a surprisingly solid stable of young and cheap relievers not long after jettisoning every veteran reliever with value during the last 16 or so months. Fry’s ascent gives the White Sox another closing option and a valuable bullpen option as they hope to transition into contenders over the next few years. Not bad for a guy so far off the radar a year ago that he hardly warranted inclusion in the Annual.

1. James Shields threw seven shutout innings on Wednesday night.  I’m not advocating for Cy Young votes or anything, but he’s sitting at a 4.29 ERA with a 4.27 DRA and 4.43 FIP to match while throwing the 6th most innings in the majors.  It would have been cool if he had managed this in 2016 instead, but I continue to be pleasantly surprised with how he has adjusted to his diminished arsenal, and these results are beyond what I would have predicted for 2018.

2. We’ve pointed out how thin the White Sox had become at outfielder, due to an unambitious Opening Day pool of talent to begin with, which was then severely eroded by injury.  Leury Garcia and Avisail Garcia returned from the disabled list at the same time and the boost to the lineup has been fairly clear.  Leury is hitting .471/.471/.529 in his return to Chicago, meaning his batting average is about 100 points higher than Trayce Thompson’s OPS. Avisail hasn’t walked yet in 2018, but he’s homered in back-to-back games while he tries to get back to 2017 form.  Either way, the offense has clearly benefited from turning 22% of the lineup into competent major league regulars again.

3. The bullpen continues to evolve from a weakness at the start of the season to a strength. Joakim Soria has held opponents to a .114/.262/.114 line in June and is now having as good of a season as he’s had despite his rocky start to the year.  Jace Fry continues to use his starting pitcher’s arsenal in a relief role to great effect.  Xavier Cedeno is doing his Jace Fry impression results-wise, having thrown 8.33 shut out innings since his call up from Charlotte while striking out more than a batter per inning using a crafty lefty arsenal.  These performances have helped the White Sox hold leads a lot better as they fight toward a .500 June, even in the absence of Nate Jones.

4. Eloy Jimenez hit his second home run in Charlotte on Wednesday, improving his line since promotion to .276/.344/.483.  Jimenez remaining in Charlotte after eight games is not an outrage the way, say, Vladimir Guerrero Junior hitting .800 or whatever for three months in Double-A was.  But he has shown no real signs of an adjustment period so to speak now that he’s facing the major league veterans in the International League as a 21-year-old, and there’s every reason to suspect he will start beating the door down to the majors in the coming weeks.

5. With Lucas Giolito turning in his most exciting start of the year over the weekend, looking like he had combined the improvements he made to his secondary pitches from last fall with the resurgent velocity he showed this spring, and Dylan Covey’s string of good starts, Carson Fulmer has been off the radar screen.  That’s just as well, as he continues to struggle at Triple-A. Despite a mediocre 4.46 ERA, Fulmer has walked 28 batters in 38.33 innings since his demotion.  Teams always burn through starters at a terrifying rate in this sport, but with the potential improvements from Covey and Giolito, Michael Kopech, Jordan Stephens, and now Spencer Adams catching him in Triple-A, I’m not sure how much longer you bother with Fulmer in the rotation.

Lead Photo Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

Carson Fulmer’s demotion Friday — following yet another disastrous start — made sense in that even in a rotation rife with poor outings, his inability to show any semblance of getting through a major league lineup was doing no good for him or the team. Fulmer was drafted as someone who was expected to be close to major league ready and move quickly through the system. He did, even if he never really showed the ability to get even minor league hitters out.

At the risk of overreacting, it’s entirely possible that Fulmer is a lost cause at this point. The White Sox will continue to work him as a starting pitcher in Triple-A Charlotte, and while the assumption has always been that if he fails as a starter he still has the ability to be a productive reliever, there’s no guarantee of that either. Regardless of his future, sending him down made sense as there was just no point in seeing him get pounded every fifth day.

2. The logical replacement, you and I both say, is to call up Michael Kopech, who rebounded from his first truly poor outing of the season by striking out nine and allowing just four baserunners in seven shutout innings Friday. There’s plenty to be said about why the White Sox are keeping Kopech in Triple-A for the time being — whether they really want him to continue getting comfortable with the change-up or if it’s merely service-time manipulation — but regardless, it appears that’s not where they’re going … at least not yet.

Fulmer’s replacement on the roster in the short-term is Dylan Covey, who was called up prior to Saturday’s game against the Rangers. While it’s yet to be determined if Covey will take Fulmer’s spot in the rotation or if he’s merely serving as bullpen depth until that spot comes back around, I wouldn’t expect him to stick around for all that long. The White Sox rotation options are lacking at the moment behind James Shields, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Hector Santiago (who appears to be in the rotation by default at this point), but Carlos Rodon made his first rehab start Saturday in Low-A Kannapolis and is still expected to join the rotation in early June. It’s entirely possible the White Sox hang with the aforementioned incumbents and Covey until Rodon’s return.

If Kopech is off the table, there isn’t much of a choice. Along with Covey, the only other reasonable options are equally unappealing. There’s other Triple-A journeymen like Donn Roach or T.J. House; Tyler Danish has been pitching primarily in relief this year, and Jordan Stephens — probably the next most appealing option outside of Kopech — has just one start since joining Charlotte last week. These scenarios are hardly appetizing, but it’s the reality in which we seem to be living right now.

3. Lopez provided some relief to the White Sox rotation woes Sunday, putting together arguably the best start of his career in helping the White Sox to their first series win since the first series of the season. Even outside of his most recent outing when he was downright bad in lasting just 2 1/3 innings, Lopez’s peripherals hadn’t matched the results he had put up thus far this season. Sunday, Lopez was both efficient and filthy in tossing a career-high eight innings, striking out eight, walking two, and giving up two base hits.

Lopez showed the swing-and-miss-ability we’ve long known him to have, generating 16 whiffs, including 12 on a fastball that averaged 96 and hit as high as 98. Beyond that, he effectively worked ahead and kept the ball down except when he was elevating the fastball for a strikeout. Through six innings, only one of the Rangers’ recorded outs were fly outs, and they ended with only four in the entire game. That he lasted eight innings was a credit to his efficiency, and his 107 pitches were also a career high.

It was one start against a particularly bad offense, but a solid sign of progress from a unit that desperately needed it.

4. Speaking of struggling positional groups, Nicky Delmonico was hit by a pitch Friday and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist. After a surprisingly strong debut in 2017, Delmonico has struggled mightily thus far, showing the same keen batter’s eye, but almost no pop whatsoever, slugging just .302 through 135 plate appearances.

The White Sox outfield options are perhaps even more grim than the rotation. While Avisail Garcia remains disabled and is now expected to be out until late June at the earliest, and until the team decides it’s time for Eloy Jimenez to come up, the options outside those already on the 25-man roster are limited, as evidenced by the decision to replace Delmonico on the roster with an infielder — Jose Rondon — as opposed to another outfielder. Some combination of Leury Garcia, Adam Engel, Trayce Thompson, and Daniel Palka will be run out there on a daily basis, although Rick Renteria intimated recently that they may consider giving Yolmer Sanchez — he of two career innings in the outfield — a shot at some point. Beyond that, internal options are severely lacking. Charlie Tilson has a .592 OPS in Triple-A, we’ve played the Jacob May game once already, Ryan Cordell is broken, and any other outfielder with a semblance of promise is too far away.

We’ve said on a number of occasions that the rebuild provides opportunities for players who might not otherwise get the chance to prove they belong, and there’s no better example than the outfield as currently constructed. Until Jimenez is called up or Garcia (who also struggled mightily pre-injury and is far from “established” even if he’s more so than the other guy), we’ll be seeing a whole lot of the aforementioned foursome.

5. An unexpected bright spot on an otherwise desolate season is that Jace Fry is apparently now a lights-out reliever. The 24-year-old lefty, who struggled in a brief debut in 2017, has now tossed 8 1/3 hitless innings since his return to Chicago, striking out 12 and walking just two. In Saturday’s win, Rick Renteria trusted him with a two-run lead in the eighth inning, and on Sunday he got the call in a 3-0 game to nail down his first career save.

Fry is an interesting case in that he wasn’t really on the radar prior to last season. Two Tommy John surgeries will do that to you. After last season’s reliever exodus, he earned an opportunity, and likely would have at the start of this season as well if not for an oblique injury. Relievers are volatile enough that him becoming an out-of-nowhere asset wouldn’t be the strangest thing in the world, but it would be far from predictable. It’s only been eight innings, but Fry has absolutely showed signs of becoming a valuable piece in another White Sox unit that could use something good to happen.

Lead Photo Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

It’d be difficult for any pitcher to epitomize the fact that relievers are weird than Danny Farquhar. After alternating between good and bad seasons, and bouncing between Triple-A and the majors the last few seasons with Seattle and Tampa Bay as a result, the veteran right-hander finished 2016 on a strong note and entered this season as one of the primary bullpen pieces for a Rays team that had thoughts of contention. But after walking basically everyone under the sun through the first 3 1/2 months and with Tampa in the thick of the wild card race, he was cut in July and promptly picked up by the White Sox, spending a few weeks back down in Triple-A before an August call-up in the aftermath of the White Sox Great Reliever Purge of 2017.

Like a good number of the pitchers to take the mound for the White Sox during the final two months of the season, Farquhar’s role was simply to eat innings, and he ate exactly 14 1/3 of them. But he also has the stuff and reputation that it wouldn’t be out of the question for him to be a member of the bullpen during what will likely be another rebuilding year in 2018. He has an out pitch in his changeup, and despite striking out only 12 in his time with the White Sox, has a career K/9 of 10.2 in 264 career innings that portends success if and when he’s commanding. Farquhar isn’t a shiny new arm or anyone you’d expect to be on the next White Sox contender, but he’s interesting enough as a rebuilding bullpen option that I guess it’s probably time to make sure you know how to spell his name.

In early September Nick Schaefer and I were putting a list of players together for the White Sox player comments in next year’s Baseball Prospectus Annual. We included every player on the team’s 40-man roster, pretty much any prospect with any hint of potential, and a few other random organizational guys we thought were interesting. The list grew to 70. The day the list was due for submission, the White Sox surprisingly promoted Jace Fry to the major league roster. Fry was not among the 70 White Sox players we were set to include.

It’s not that we weren’t aware of Fry, it’s just that expectations for the former third round pick who’s already had Tommy John surgery twice in his baseball career weren’t exactly sky high. But the White Sox relief situation became, well … we’ve covered that already. The second surgery sent Fry from semi-enticing starting pitching candidate to someone whose chances of sticking around as a reliever were slim, but his numbers at Double-A Birmingham warranted a September trial where he got 6 2/3 innings of major league experience he’ll never have to get back. The perks of pitching for a rebuilding organization afforded him that opportunity, but the odds of a prolonged major league career remain long.

Two years ago if you’d have told me that in 2017 Carson Fulmer would walk nearly five batters per nine and post a 5.79 ERA in Triple-A Charlotte I’d have quickly identified you as some sort of soothsayer and asked you a bunch of sports results I could bet on so I could make a lot of money. I’d then have realized what you told me and become really sad. Since Fulmer was selected eighth overall in the 2015 MLB Draft, the White Sox have added a good many quality arms to their system, making Fulmer’s success less of a requirement than it was at the time. That’s not to say Fulmer’s struggles this season weren’t troubling, just that it’s a lot easy to muster a failed pitching prospect when your team has five or six of them than when they have just one or two.

Of course, Fulmer is not yet in the category of “failed pitching prospect” given he just completed his second full season of professional baseball and showed glimpses of why the White Sox still believe he can be an impact starting pitcher during the last month of the season. September stats are tricky to decipher, but after struggling against Triple-A competition for the majority of 2017, back-to-back September starts where he struck out a combined 14 and allowed just two earned runs in 12 innings is something to build off of, if nothing else. Still, Fulmer’s pendulum is definitely tilted closer toward “reliever” than “starter” at this point.

Fulmer’s stuff has always been such that you can see the potential if and when everything’s clicking, but while he’s shown glimpses, the command hasn’t been consistent enough for him to put it all together for any lengthy period of time. When his fastball has the kind of life we saw in September and he’s throwing it for strikes, it makes his offspeed stuff that much more dangerous. When none of that is happening, walks and dingers usually come in bunches. We’ve seen more of the latter during Fulmer’s time in the White Sox organization, including in 2017, but enough of the former to envision a world where Fulmer re-adds his name to the list of White Sox pitching prospects on which to dream.

Lead Photo Credit: Ken Blaze-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.

Lead Photo Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports

1. The White Sox requested waivers for Derek Holland to grant him his unconditional release.   It’s a sad result for a clubhouse leader who has been very candid about his struggles.  Brought in on a one-year deal to rebuild his value, Holland likely thought the White Sox would be the best possible fit given their track record on both reclamation projects and pitcher health.  After all, Holland had been a well-above average pitcher throughout his mid-20s and doesn’t turn 31 until this winter.

For the first month or so of the season, it looked like a very cagey signing for both organization and player.  Through six starts, Holland had a 2.02 ERA, and although there was certainly luck involved, he represented a potential bounceback candidate who might fetch something good at the deadline.

It’s been a nightmare since, as over his last 100 innings, Holland has pitched to a 7.70 ERA while opposing batters hit .322/.417/.595 against him.  For reference, Mike Trout is a career .308/.411/.567 hitter.  He didn’t look much better in relief and evidently enough was finally enough.  One wonders what options will be out there for Holland this offseason, but I’d expect a minor league relief deal or NRI will see him in the majors again at some point next season.  It could be that he simply cannot handle a starter’s workload anymore and preparing to pitch all season in relief could yield several more years of effective work.

2. In happier news, the White Sox called up Jace Fry from Double-A Birmingham.  A 3^rd round pick out of Oregon State in 2014, Fry hasn’t pitched much—in June 2015, Fry underwent Tommy John surgery which was already his second.  There isn’t a long list of guys who have gone on to have long careers after two such surgeries, and I believe an underrated aspect of a player getting his first surgery is that it means should another one be required he may be completely done.

Prior to his second surgery, Fry was a potential starter, but all of his 2017 appearances have been in relief.  Fry has generally pitched well when he’s been on the mound, and hopefully the workload out of the bullpen agrees with him, as he misses bats and at keeps the ball in the park.  As a lefty, there is certainly plenty of major league work to be had if he can simply stay on the field.

3. In happiest news, Yoan Moncada has been reactivated after being placed on the DL with a bruised shin.  One hopes he can pretty up his batting average before the end of the season, if only to mitigate some anxiety.  If nothing else, he provides one more thing to watch in games where Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez aren’t on the mound.

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