• Ian Hamilton is the most exciting of this group.  Acquired 10 rounds later than Burdi in the 2016 draft, Hamilton’s progress has gone virtually as well one could possibly imagine.  He boasts a fastball touching triple-digits and pairs it with a vicious low-90s slider.  In the two years since he was drafted, Hamilton has used that arsenal to emphatically suplex minor league hitters into the dumpster.  2018 saw him throw 51 2/3 innings across Double-A and Triple-A wherein he posted an ERA of 1.74 with 52 strikeouts against only 8 walks and one home run.  It took major league batters to finally challenge him, as he did give up two homers in Chicago in only eight innings, and his strikeout rate was middling in that brief audition.  Hamilton had mentioned his slider occasionally not behaving the way he wanted it to, but there’ are plenty of reasons to pencil him into the high-leverage portion of the 2019 bullpen right out of the gate and to expect him to thrive.  One negative corollary here is that an 11th round pick basically did what you wanted your first rounder to do.  Second, it shows that even when a relief prospect hits his 80th or 90th percentile outcome (at least so far), it doesn’t really change the organization’s overall outlook.  That said, finding stud relievers after even the second round is a huge bonus, and as we can see in Milwaukee, if the starting pitching is even OK, you can get a lot done with a plus bullpen.
• Ryan Burr must be named alongside Hamilton, but his timetable has basically matched his flashier 18th century counterpart.  Like Hamilton, Burr was acquired relatively cheaply in a trade for international free agent pool money sent off to Arizona.  He doesn’t throw as hard as Hamilton, and his results were not nearly as shiny at pretty much any level.  He also changed his pitching style to work more up in the zone at the White Sox’s request, and had an adjustment period before breezing through Charlotte to make his debut at the end of the 2018 season.  Renteria used him sparingly once he arrived on the South Side, and he certainly had a rocky time of it in his first look at the majors.  He may not be the closer/elite-eighth inning fireman type Hamilton and/or Burdi look like they should be, but the White Sox got him essentially for free and can just plop him into the heart of what is looking like a really strong home-grown bullpen.
• Caleb Frare is one of an increasingly large fraternity of pitchers: relief prospects the Yankees found out of nowhere who they have to get rid of because they have too many to protect on their 40-man.  The Yankees got Frare out of Custer County High School in Montana in the 11th round of the 2012 draft. Throwing in the mid-90s from the left side with a nice slider, Frare also got a brief look at the majors in September.  While he slots in behind Jace Fry as the best lefty in the bullpen, Frare should also break camp with the major league team barring another Jake Peter-for-Joakim Soria-and-Luis Avilan style trade over the winter.  Between Jace Fry, Frare, and Aaron Bummer, the White Sox now have three lefties who look like credible assets and … well are you noticing the trend here? Frare was acquired for IFA money the White Sox couldn’t use and he may be part of a really strong bullpen as soon as 2019.

Given how shaky the position player group has looked and how downright terrifying the starting pitching situation is, it really isn’t hard to see that 2018 saw the tip of a potential flood of really strong relievers who may be an organizational strength over the coming years. This trio rates highly among them.

Then, right before Carlos Rodon went out and threw another quality start, the White Sox made a trade and a few other roster moves.  First the bad news: Jose Abreu is on the DL with an abdomen/groin surgery and early projections have him out until mid-September or so.  Given how many plate appearances they may need to devote to sorting through options like Nicky Delmonico, Daniel Palka, and Matt Davidson — not to mention, hopefully, Eloy Jimenez — perhaps we have seen the last of Jose Abreu for 2018.

The White Sox also made a trade! They sent Luis Avilan and his unremarkable left-handed competence to Philadelphia in exchange for Felix Paulino.  Paulino is a slightly undersized right-handed relief prospect who has spent his age-23 season finally pitching his way out of High-A and has had a rough go of it in his first look at Double-A. Paulino sits in a 90-95 mph band on his fastball and features both a slider and a cutter but he hasn’t missed as many bats as you’d hope for a slightly older pure reliever. Presumably the White Sox picked him because they saw something, as although moving Avilan (who is in his final arbitration year for 2019) clears a 40-man spot, Paulino will need to be added this winter to avoid being claimed in the Rule 5 draft.  He has this in common with Caleb Frare and Kodi Medeiros.

To replace Jose Abreu on the major league roster, the White Sox called up Jose Rondon.  For all that Rondon has whatever the opposite of Kopech’s hype is, he’s 24, can legitimately play shortstop, and has suddenly shown a good amount of power across Triple-A and the majors this year.  That’s certainly a player who could use another decent run of major league time before the offseason.

Last, to replace Avilan in the Chicago bullpen, they called up Ryan Burr.  Acquired for IFA money from Arizona, Burr has breezed through the minors without much difficulty.  Listed at 6-foot-4, 225 lbs., Burr is physically imposing, although his velocity is more good than great.  The right-handed reliever was only in Charlotte for a few weeks, but is certainly ready for a major league look — he’s also due to be added to the 40-man this winter.

Inevitably, for reasons both silly and legitimate, Burr getting called up ahead of Ian Hamilton (Burr. Hamilton. Everyone will point this out whenever they can) was a little surprising from a baseball perspective.  Hamilton scrapes triple digits and has been annihilating all comers with his heat and low-90s slider, and even made it to Charlotte before Burr did.  However, Hamilton doesn’t have to be on the 40-man yet, so perhaps that vaulted Burr ahead of him for logistical reasons.  Regardless, I stand by my position that Hamilton being in Triple-A made/makes even less sense than holding down Kopech and Eloy Jimenez did.

Still, Burr is a legitimate prospect as far as relievers go, and I am excited to see if he and Hamilton can form the nucleus of an elite bullpen despite minimal resources committed.

Lead Image Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports