In Bummer Move, Braves Land Lefty Reliever for Pile of Ex-Prospects

Late Thursday night time, after the ultimate horn had sounded on the final West Coast NHL recreation, new White Sox normal supervisor Chris Getz consummated his first commerce in his new function, sending sinker-balling lefty reliever Aaron Bummer to Atlanta for a five-player selection pack of “second division” gamers and reclamation tasks. The brand new White Sox are headlined by 26-year-old 2019 All-Star righty Michael Soroka, 28-year-old infielder Nicky Lopez, and 25-year-old lefty starter Jared Shuster, all of whom might be fairly anticipated to impression the 2024 squad. Chicago additionally acquired 25-year-old infielder Braden Shewmake, who can be on the 40-man roster, and 2023 undrafted free agent starter Riley Gowens, who’s extra of a developmental challenge from the College of Illinois.

Let’s discuss concerning the Braves’ finish of this commerce first. Most people studying this are most likely aware of Bummer, a well-established lefty reliever who has been a middle-inning stalwart for the Pale Hose for the final half-decade. His velocity took a leap in 2019, and his re-worked breaking ball helped him elevate his recreation once more in ’21. He’s coming off a season during which he posted a 6.79 ERA and career-worst 13.5% stroll charge, however from a stuff standpoint, he kind of regarded like himself, and Chicago’s poor infield protection did him no favors. His fielding-independent statistics hovered round a way more respectable 3.50, constant together with his profession norms.

We will have a look at this commerce from a sure viewpoint and marvel why the Braves traded 5 gamers for a center reliever, not to mention one with an ERA close to seven and who has posted two consecutive seasons with fastball velocities under his 2019–21 peak. However while you’re the Braves and have few holes to fill, you’ll be able to pay a premium for a singular weapon, even when that weapon is more likely to be deployed in medium-leverage center innings.

And Bummer is certainly particular in just a few regards. Since he debuted in 2017, his 66% floor ball charge is second amongst all MLB pitchers who’ve labored at the very least 250 innings throughout that span. He and Clay Holmes (66.7% GB%) are in a tier of their very own on the prime of that record, with lefty reliever T.J. McFarland (63%) a comparatively distant third. Bummer’s profession floor ball charge is phenomenal although it was “solely” 58% in 2023, which is one way or the other low for him regardless of being 16 factors greater than the MLB common. The sink and tail on the low-slot lefty’s fastball makes it extremely troublesome for hitters to raise; he has allowed a barrel charge under 3% in two of the final three seasons. That’s regardless of him permitting a reasonably excessive hard-hit charge (44% in 2023, in MLB’s eleventh percentile), which helps illustrate simply how troublesome it’s for hitters to get beneath his sinker. And whereas Bummer does get hit onerous, it’s barely ever in a means that truly leads to harm.

With A.J. Minter already in place and Tyler Matzek scheduled to return from Tommy John, the left-handed contingent of Atlanta’s bullpen appears to be fairly nasty. Bummer will make $5.5 million in 2024, after which Atlanta holds two membership choices, one for $7.25 million in ’25 and one for $7.5 million in ’26. If he continues to pitch as he has for the final a number of seasons, Atlanta will train these choices. It’s believable that he would possibly but have one other gear, and that the Braves would possibly have already got a tweak or two in thoughts that may assist intensify his abilities. They’ve demonstrated a extra constant skill to max out their gamers than the White Sox have, and much like the way in which it took tweaks by the Yankees to unlock Holmes’ skill, it’s honest to marvel if there’s developmental meat on the bone right here that Atlanta can see from afar. He suits as a premium middle-inning “inheritor,” the reliever who usually inherits runners as a result of he’s the most definitely to get the bottom ball that produces a rally-killing double play.

Pretty much as good as Bummer is, it isn’t as if any particular person reliever might considerably alter the near-term fortunes of the White Sox, nor the long-term trajectory of the franchise. They want a big reshuffling and a number of assist, and so it’s a process-oriented win for them to flip a middle-inning man for a bunch of gamers who would possibly contribute to a longer-term trigger. Did they decide the best assortment of gamers? It’s inconceivable to know what their options had been or who might need been on the desk in different affords, however this return is certainly extra about role-playing depth than upside.

Probably the most-known participant coming to the South Aspect is Soroka. The Canadian righty was a giant time prospect who, at his age-21, 4-WAR peak, regarded like he could be the second coming of Brandon Webb. Since then, the now–26-year-old has handled a myriad of extreme accidents, together with two Achilles ruptures that price him two whole seasons and shoulder irritation that ended his 2023 comeback marketing campaign. He has all the time been extra of a command-oriented innings-eater with good secondary stuff reasonably than a world-beating energy pitcher, and with the Braves in win-now mode, they’re probably not in place to let the option-less Soroka sink or swim on the large league stage as a part of their 2024 rotation, assuming he’s even wholesome. The White Sox, nevertheless, have a for much longer, lower-stakes runway to seek out out if he might be wholesome and efficient as soon as once more. Even when he can’t, his fame as a hyper-competitive badass (I assure Soroka is aware of Mike Nikorak’s profession stats) would possibly assist the brand new Sox regime construct a extra aggressive clubhouse tradition because the crew navigates just a few seasons of rebuild and transition.

If Soroka can keep wholesome, then he and all however one of many items coming again to Chicago are more likely to put on a giant league uniform all through 2024. Lopez was squeezed out of Kansas Metropolis’s gifted younger infield and traded to the Braves final season to shore up their skinny center infield contingent however was relegated to seldom-used bench responsibility throughout their playoff run. He’s simply the perfect defensive infielder on Chicago’s roster and at this second must be penciled in because the starter at shortstop. His big 6-WAR 2021 season was largely pushed by an unsustainably excessive BABIP, and he has since settled in as a high-contact, slick-fielding utility man with bottom-of-the-scale pop. On a contender, he can be relegated to a job much like the one he performed in Atlanta, the place he was the crew’s fifth infielder, able to filling in at any infield place, and used situationally on offense when the membership badly wanted a ball put in play. His versatility will enable the White Sox to maintain him within the lineup constantly and transfer him across the diamond so their younger group of Latin American infielders — Lenyn Sosa, Bryan Ramos and José Rodriguez chief amongst them — can get adequate large league reps and be well-evaluated forward of Colson Montgomery’s eventual arrival.

The White Sox additionally acquired two former Braves first spherical picks who made their large league debuts in 2023 in Shuster and Shewmake. There was a quick interval just a few years in the past when Shuster was throwing considerably more durable than he has of late, seemingly attributable to additional relaxation and lighter workload created by the pandemic shutdown in his draft yr. For the final a number of seasons, he has been a changeup- and command-oriented lefty with well-below-average fastball velocity. Maybe as a result of he’s needed to nibble extra together with his weak fastball as he’s climbed to Triple-A and MLB, his stroll charge rose to a regarding 12% in 2023, a lot greater than his profession norm; his strikeout charge additionally dropped to a profession low. His slider utilization has surpassed his changeup utilization not as a result of it’s grow to be his finest pitch, however since you want a non-fastball option to get forward of hitters while you’re sitting 91 mph. Lefties with changeups nearly as good as Shuster’s screwball-style cambio and command on the extent that he has traditionally proven are likely to have lengthy, productive MLB careers, and I feel it’s honest to hope for a bounceback.

The opposite fascinating component Shuster would possibly convey is a type of institutional information that the White Sox could but lack. Wake Forest, his alma mater, is among the many most superior collegiate applications in relation to utilizing knowledge and know-how to assist develop pitchers; the Braves additionally seem competent on this regard. Maybe he’ll convey a few of that with him in a means that has a long-term impression on Chicago’s implementation of those ideas, which can be held up attributable to an absence of willingness to put money into them on the possession stage reasonably than a lack of information within the entrance workplace.

This was an fascinating buy-low alternative for the White Sox who, if Shuster can grow to be the no. 4/5 starter I projected him to be as a prospect, will on his personal be a extra useful piece to the following good Sox crew than even a particular center reliever like Bummer would have been. I feel the three gamers I’ve mentioned in depth up to now — Soroka, Lopez and Shuster — are the first return on this deal, a bit for every year of crew management Bummer has remaining.

I’ve by no means been particularly excessive on Shewmake, who was drafted with the hopes that he’d add significant energy and weight to his lanky body and stay at shortstop whereas maturing into significant energy. He’s essentially sound at quick, however I wouldn’t name him an impression defender there, and he’s remained skinny and hasn’t put collectively a powerful offensive season above Low-A. If something, I feel he clogs and clouds Chicago’s infield combine in an pointless means. He’d have been a good upper-level depth choice for Atlanta, which is as soon as once more very skinny on viable center infield defenders, however maybe the Braves worth the freed-up 40-man spot extra at this level.

Lastly, the White Sox acquired Gowens. The College of Illinois product missed his 2019 freshman yr and the little little bit of pre-shutdown 2020 due to an early-2019 Tommy John, which meant he was a draft-eligible redshirt freshman in 2021. Unselected in ’21 and ’22, he had a bit velo spike in ’23 and was sitting extra 92–94 and touching 96 than the pedestrian 90–92 he had proven in earlier seasons. His fastball additionally has uphill angle and bat-missing carry. The White Sox shall be tasked with teasing a greater slider out of him, as his present 82–85-mph model is brief and lacks depth.

This transfer fills Chicago’s 40-man roster for the second and cleared a ton of house on Atlanta’s; the Braves now have three open spots. Sooner or later this offseason, they’ll want to deal with the relative lack of viable center infielders within the org, however including Bummer helps fortify their already wonderful bullpen.