The White Sox announced a series of minor league signings Tuesday, including the yet-unreported additions of left-hander Adalberto Mejia, right-hander Drew Anderson, corner infielder Matt Skole and outfielder Jaycob Brugman. They’ll all be in Major League camp this spring.
Mejia, formerly of the Twins, Angels and Cardinals, was a top-100 prospect at his best but has yet to put things together at the game’s top level. Now 26 years old, Mejia was unscored upon in 9 1/3 minor league innings across multiple organizations this year but was hit hard in the Majors, logging a 6.61 ERA (4.97 FIP, 5.98 xFIP) with an ugly 30-to-21 K/BB ratio in 31 1/3 innings.
Mejia did make 21 respectable starts for the Twins in 2017 (4.50 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 4.0 BB/9) at just 24 years of age, creating some optimism that he could settle in as the fourth starter he’d been projected as in the upper minors. But blister issues and a left wrist injury shortened Mejia’s 2018 season, and he wasn’t able to regain his footing in 2019. The White Sox don’t look to have room for him in the rotation, but he could provide depth in Triple-A or look to carve out a bullpen spot.
Anderson, 25, enjoyed solid numbers in Double-A and Triple-A in 2017-18 but hasn’t found success in the big leagues yet. He’s thrown 21 innings for the Phillies but been hammered for 18 earned runs on 29 hits and nine walks with 19 strikeouts. He’s only yielded one home run in that time, but he’s been plagued by a sky-high .389 BABIP in the Majors. Anderson notched a combined 3.72 ERA in 111 1/3 innings in Triple-A from 2017-18 but slumped to a 5.77 mark in 48 1/3 frames there in 2019.
The 30-year-old Skole appeared in 27 games for the White Sox in 2019, hitting .208/.275/.236 in 80 plate appearances. He posted a .248/.384/.497 batting line with 21 long balls in Triple-A Charlotte this past season — his second in the White Sox organization. Skole has a generally productive track record throughout the minors thanks largely to his persistent knack for drawing walks.
Brugman, 28, hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since his 2017 debut with the A’s, when he batted .266/.346/.343 in 162 plate appearances. He’s been with the Orioles and Mariners since that time, including a terrific .283/.363/.601 slash in 331 plate appearances with Seattle’s Triple-A club in 2019. Brugman, though, has never shown that type of power in the past, so those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt considering the juiced ball in Triple-A this past season; the outfielder’s 24 homers in 2019 matched his combined total from 2016-18. Brugman has long had solid walk rates, though, and he’s a solid defender who can play all three outfield spots even though he’s consistently posted below-average power numbers excluding the 2019 surge.
solid depth pieces…and Matt Skole.
Hey, somebody has to…um…do that thing…I got nothing.
I was wanting to see where Mejia ended up, nice to see him getting a shot in Chi town.
Three days and Meijia will have been dropped and picked up by the Angels
@stan lee the manly
He signed a minor league contract with the Sox. Not sure how (or more importantly, why) he’s going to get dropped and get picked by the Angels in 3 days, but maybe you know something the rest of us don’t.
The joke went right over your head
@stan lee the manly
I think that “joke” went over everyone’s head. You’re probably the only one who got that “joke”.
Dumpster Diving Hahn
Dumpster diving Rick Hahn lol
You ruined your own joke, if that’s what you wanna call it…
Everyone is dumpster diving in late January.
Why keep Skole? .208/.275/.236 ……that’s abysmal at age 30. Rather fill with a younger guy.
AAA 1B.
880 ops at AAA last year with 70 walks. Who knows, might be a late bloomer.
Hopefully Mejia is our next Swarzack / Marshall / Cordero.
It’s always fun that we can turn around about one guy per year, albeit we have a lot less room to experiment in 2020.
There’s almost always room to experiment in a bullpen. Hardly any team has six really great BP guys, so there’s a spot to spend on a guy like Mejia. I hope he can turn it around; if he can’t, the Sox are risking next to nothing.
Brugman is the other guy I have some hope for, but the Sox have several OF prospects competing for that final spot.
Skole and Anderson, I’d have passed on.
Hopefully Mejia is our next Swarzack / Marshall / Cordero.
It’s always fun that we can turn around about one guy per year, albeit we have a lot less room to experiment in 2020.
Hopefully Mejia is our next Swarzack / Marshall / Cordero.
It’s always fun that we can turn around about one guy per year, albeit we have a lot less room to experiment in 2020.
You think Mejia could be something? A contender? Maybe a Swarzack? Or a Marshall Cordero? Why that would be fun!