The White Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Davis Martin from Triple-A Charlotte and transferred lefty Garrett Crochet to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The move involving Crochet was a formality after the southpaw underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this year. Martin will start the second game of today’s doubleheader, per the Sox. Chicago also placed right-hander Michael Kopech on the paternity list and called up right-hander Kyle Crick as the 27th man for today’s twin bill.
It’ll be the Major League debut for Martin, 25, who was the ChiSox’ 14th-round pick back in 2018. He entered the season ranked 22nd among Chicago farmhands over at FanGraphs and can’t have hurt his stock with a strong performance so far. Maritn opened the season in Double-A Birmingham, where he notched a 3.38 ERA with a huge 32.4% strikeout rate against a tidy 6.9% walk rate. His strikeout rate has dipped to 18.6% in a smaller sample of two Triple-A starts, but Martin has also walked just 4.7% of his Triple-A opponents while pitching to a 1.50 ERA there. Overall, he’s sporting a combined 2.50 ERA and 41-to-9 K/BB ratio through 36 frames between the minor leagues’ top two levels.
After seeing the fruits of their last rebuild (e.g. Luis Robert, Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Eloy Jimenez) graduate to the Majors (to say nothing of names like Dane Dunning and Nick Madrigal, who were traded for veterans) the Sox have a notoriously thin farm system. That doesn’t, however, mean it’s totally devoid of depth, and Martin certainly has the makings of a potentially useful spot starter or back-of-the-rotation option. Given that the South Siders currently have Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito on the injured list, having some optionable rotation depth is of increased importance.
That said, Giolito is expected to return from the Covid-related injured list perhaps as soon as tomorrow. The Athletic’s James Fegan tweets that he’s expected to start Wednesday’s game, pushing the remainder of the rotation back a day. Lynn, meanwhile, is slated to throw to hitters Friday as he works back from knee surgery.
Even with Giolito and perhaps Lynn not too far off on the horizon, there should be ample opportunities for Martin if he impresses in today’s spot start and continues to impress down the line in the upper minors. The Sox are likely going to be judicious with Michael Kopech’s workload, and both Dallas Keuchel and Vince Velasquez have struggled mightily in the season’s first six weeks. Johnny Cueto was brilliant in yesterday’s White Sox debut, giving the team a much-needed boost after having his contract selected from Triple-A — he’d inked a minor league deal in early April — but other injuries and absences will surely open additional doors for Martin and others from the farm to make an impact.
Lucas Giolito is still not healthy enough after his recent illness, be it COVID-19 or some other bug.
I always wonder why they don’t just put people on the 60-day IL right away when they know that they will be out for more that 60 days. “The move involving Crochet was a formality” then why not just do the formality when he gets hurt in the first place? Do the White Sox gain anything from Crochet being on the 40 man roster and not on the 60 day IL?
I would guess a payroll thing. Davis Martin, called up today, gets the prorated share of the minimum salary. I’m sure that there has to be the potential for different contract clauses.
And now that Martin is the on the 40 man roster there is probably a procedural move if he needs to be taken off.
If he keeps on pitching as he did tonight… Davis Martin not going anywhere!
Excellent outing.
Unfortunately, Sox offense failed him!
Dumpster Diving Ricky!
It’s governed by the CBA. It can only be done at point of need, in this case, a 40-man roster spot needed to be opened.
Found this, which makes sense. Essentially if Davis Martin stays on the 40 man until Crochet returns, he will have to be dropped from the 40 man to make room for Crochet.
mlb.com/glossary/injuries/60-day-injured-list
If a club doesn’t need a 40-man roster spot to replace an injured player, the player may be kept on the 10-day injured list longer than 60 days rather than being transferred to the 60-day injured list. That way, the club won’t need to risk losing another player by going through the process to clear a spot on the 40-man roster when the injured player is ready to return.
Looks like the kid is off to his best start in the minors as an under-the-radar starter. Here is hoping he can give them 4 decent innings in his debut and maybe get called up again when warranted.
With a DH today, it wouldn’t surprise me if they pushed him for a 5th inning. But yeah, with any luck, 5 IP, 2-3 ER. It’d be a solid debut for him.
Honestly, I’d only like to see 5 if it’s the bottom of the lineup’s 2nd time through. I don’t want him seeing anyone a third time, and am happy to see him stop at 4 if that’s what it takes.
Seeing that Kopech is on the paternity is pretty cool news. On the surface, it does seems that he has gotten that portion of his life in nice shape.
If you recall, him sitting out the 2020 was reportedly partially related to his pending divorce. A quick search indicates he and his wife have reconciled and this will be their second child.
Got for him. Congrats and good luck, Michael.
Marriage reconciliation is awesome news. Unfortunately, too few & far between in this day.
Congratulations on another little Kopech, Michael. Just give me a good mailing address so I can send the little *Yankee onesie* for your new baby!
they did not reconcile, he has a new partner.
also a quick search of vanessa morgan’s instagram confirms she’s not pregnant.
I thought him and Vanessa Morgan were meant for each other. I’m disappointed to hear they’ve moved on from each other. Says a lot about Kopech to know they were’one’, at one time.
Confucius says never trust a man with two first, or last, names.
Kopech is not a common first name. Ha!
Enough already. Dump McGuire! He cant catch the ball and is hurting the pitching staff.
Is Dump McGuire related to AA Legend Deck McGuire?
Trade him for Contreras
Davis Martin looked good tonight.. Too bad McEwing screwed up sending Harrison home with Vaughn (or was Robert going to Pinch hit for Vaughn?) up next. Once again the Sox shoot themselves in the foot.
That was a very nice outing by Davis & hopefully he can be a positive contributor for the rest of the year.