White Sox manager Will Venable informed the beat this afternoon that rookie righty Sean Burke will be in the season-opening rotation (relayed by Scott Merkin of MLB.com). The former third-round pick joins Martín Pérez, Davis Martin and Jonathan Cannon as locks for the Opening Day starting staff.
Chicago optioned lefty Jared Shuster, who had entered camp as a candidate for a rotation spot. The former first-round pick worked mostly in long relief last season but was building back up as a starter this spring. Venable suggested Shuster may move back to the bullpen in Triple-A (link via Daryl Van Schouwen of The Chicago Sun-Times). The Wake Forest product allowed nine runs in seven innings.
Pérez, who signed a $5MM free agent deal, has by far the most experience of anyone in Chicago’s rotation. Cannon, who worked to a 4.49 ERA over 124 1/3 frames, is the only returning pitcher who reached even 75 MLB innings last season. Martin returned from Tommy John surgery in the second half. He allowed 4.32 earned runs per nine over 50 innings down the stretch.
That trio entered camp with rotation spots solidified. It was more in question whether Burke would break camp. The Sox called him up midway through September. He impressed over four appearances, working to a 1.42 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 19 innings. The Maryland product has tossed five innings of three-run ball with three strikeouts and walks apiece this spring. Burke fanned 31% of batters faced over 16 Triple-A starts last season. He also walked 13% of opponents, raising questions about whether he’ll have the necessary command to stick as a starter, but the Sox will see how his stuff plays against MLB hitters.
Venable hasn’t committed to a fifth starter. With Shuster out of consideration, that job will probably fall to one of Bryse Wilson or Shane Smith. Wilson is out of options and has plenty of experience working in long relief. He turned in a 4.04 ERA over 103 2/3 frames for Milwaukee last season; Chicago signed him to a $1.05MM deal after the Brewers non-tendered him. Smith is a Rule 5 pick out of the Milwaukee system. The 6’4″ righty started 16 of 27 Double-A appearances. He allowed 3.08 earned runs per nine with a near-30% strikeout rate over 87 2/3 innings.
Smith has had a decent start to camp. He has fanned nine hitters over 6 2/3 frames, allowing four runs. Chicago shouldn’t have an issue keeping him on the MLB roster to gain his long-term contractual rights. Most Rule 5 pitchers work in low-leverage relief, at least to begin the season. An Opening Day rotation assignment would be rare, but that’s a reflection of the Sox’s lack of starting pitching depth. Non-roster invitee Justin Dunn could also be an option. He has managed eight innings of one-run ball this spring, but he only has two strikeouts against four walks.
Great goaltender
Yep, and must be like 50 now. Maybe he throws a knuckle ball.
Hey not bad, he was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak season last year. Let’s see how the hitting starts out the season, that’s what I’m curious about.
will a starter on WS win 10 games this year?!
Will Noah Schultz get 20 starts? If so, he may be the 10 game winner.
Between AA and AAA hopefully he gets 25 starts around 5 innings. Looks good….and Smith/Taylor can fine tune their command + secondary pitches. Bit prepared for latter to be a high leverage reliever, but at least his major arm surgery while at LSU is in rearview mirror.
Pirate ace Paul Skenes believes Grant Taylor has the stuff to be an MLB TOR. The two were pals and rotation mates at LSU: mlb.com/news/grant-taylor-will-venable-scott-bradl…
I bet the under based on team run support and they’ll likely ship out Martin Perez if he’s performing well. The others will be on innings watch.
Perez is going to get rocked this season. He cashed his big check.
I think that Cannon will, not sure about the rest.
Would like to see Dunn get a shot in rotation.
That rotation…yikes.
At this point, nothing surprises me with this club, other than if they come out and somehow are over .500 by the AS break.
Especially with the same dead ass Hitting and pitching coaches staying even though obviously failing at their jobs.
Shane Smith has looked dominant in camp. He is definitely making the team, and it would be best for everyone involved if he made the team as a starter. Meanwhile, Bryse Wilson’ Statcast page is bluer than the Miles Davis album. He can either work in long relief or go away entirely for all I care.
This isn’t a development year—it’s a valuation year. The White Sox aren’t just testing their pitchers; they’re setting up trade assets while running out a glorified innings-eating experiment.
They have a ton of SP knocking on the door, so I’m guessing they’ll trade Perez, both of the wilsons plus other BP guys for bats.
And if they get some mileage out of guys like Jonathan Cannon or Davis Martin like they did last year, an innings-eating 5th starter is always a nice throw-in if/when you eventually trade Robert.
Exactly, what ‘bats’ are you expecting the Sox get for a guy like Perez, or any of their other ‘trade outs’? LOL.
The only way the Sox get better (other than getting rid of the hitting coach who somehow kept his job, despite not doing it last season in Thames) with hitting is if they buy a LOT of FA bats, which will just not happen with ‘The Mummy’ ..oops, I mean ‘The Chairman’ mismanaging his club.
I mean, sure, they have guys like Quero who apparently can naturally hit, but expecting this crap org to be able to teach other guys to hit in the minors, well I think we have seen how well they have done with their other ‘top’ position player, Montgomery….
Bats meaning a lotto ticket.
justin!
Well, its not like the Sox have other options, lets see how these guys do. I’m hoping to see Cannon improve from last season, but expect him to lose a a lot of 1-0,2-0,3-0 type of games since this team will likely not hits its weight. Also curious to see if Martin can improve as he had moments where he looked good last season.
I feel bad for Venable, I mean one has to wonder why a guy would come to this roster with such few good players to work with right now (if they will even get out of this rebuild).
Time will tell if Venable is a fine manager