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Jonathan Stiever

White Sox Select Keynan Middleton, Place Joe Kelly On IL, Outright Jonathan Stiever

By Steve Adams | April 10, 2023 at 12:48pm CDT

The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve placed right-hander Joe Kelly on the 15-day injured list due to a groin strain and selected the contract of right-handed reliever Keynan Middleton. Right-hander Jonathan Stiever was outrighted in order to open a 40-man spot for Middleton. Stiever hasn’t been previously outrighted and doesn’t have three years of MLB service time, so he can’t reject the assignment. He’ll remain with the organization now that he’s cleared waivers.

Middleton, 29, signed a minor league deal over the winter and didn’t initially win a spot in Chicago’s bullpen, pitching to a 6.00 ERA in nine spring innings. He’s opened the year in Charlotte with a trio of scoreless frames, punching out three of the 11 batters he’s faced and also walking a pair.

The White Sox will be Middleton’s fourth big league club. He spent the first four seasons of his career with the Angels, looking at one point like a potential building block in the relief corps in Anaheim. Middleton debuted with 58 1/3 solid innings back in 2017 (3.86 ERA, 25.6% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate) and showed a high-octane fastball that averaged 97 mph.

Middleton started the 2018 season with an even stronger 2.04 ERA in 17 2/3 frames but saw diminished velocity while his strikeout and walk rates trended in the wrong direction. He was placed on the injured list in May with what the team discovered some damage in his ulnar collateral ligament. He underwent Tommy John surgery just a few days later. That wiped out the remainder of his 2018 season, and while Middleton returned with a clean 1.17 ERA in 7 2/3 innings the following year, he walked more hitters (seven) than he struck out (six) and was working with a fastball sitting at 94.2 mph.

In the three seasons since, Middleton’s velocity has fluctuated greatly, but his results with the Halos, Mariners and D-backs have been similarly below par. Overall, since returning from Tommy John surgery, the right-hander carries a 4.66 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate and 11.9% walk rate that are both worse than the league average. In the aggregate, his post-TJS fastball has sat at 95.6 mph, but that includes year-to-year averages that are all over the map: 94.2 mph in 2019, 97.2 mph in 2020, 95.6 mph in 2021 and 94.8 mph in 2022. Along the way, he’s encountered biceps, elbow and ankle injuries.

As for the 34-year-old Kelly, he’s gotten out to a rough start, yielding three runs on four hits and a walk through his first 2 2/3 innings of the 2023 campaign. He’s playing out the second season of a two-year, $17MM contract that hasn’t panned out as either he or the White Sox hoped. Biceps and hamstring injuries limited the former Red Sox and Dodgers hurler to 37 innings last year, during which he posted an unsightly 6.08 ERA with a career-worst 13.5% walk rate. He’ll now head to the injured list for the third time in just over one calendar year with the South Siders.

Kelly, of course, has a much better track record prior to his time with the ChiSox. From 2017-21, he tossed 229 innings of 3.62 ERA ball, and he was a postseason hero for the 2018 Red Sox, tossing 11 1/3 innings of one-run ball with a 13-to-0 K/BB ratio in the postseason during their march to an eventual World Series title.

Stiever, 26 next month, is a 2018 fifth-rounder who ranked among the White Sox’ best prospects from 2020-21 but has seen his stock tumble in recent seasons, in part due to health troubles. Stiever underwent lat surgery late in the 2021 season and spent nearly the entire 2022 campaign on the 60-day injured list as a result. He’s appeared in just 6 1/3 MLB innings, allowing 10 runs on 11 hits (four homers) and four walks in that time.

Because of those injuries and the lost 2020 minor league season, Stiever still has just 252 minor league innings under his belt. Seventy-nine of those have come at the Triple-A level, but he’s been tagged for a 5.47 ERA in that time. All but five of those 79 frames came during an ugly 2021 season, and Stiever has tossed a pair of scoreless innings so far to begin his ’23 season. He’ll remain in Triple-A and hope that better health brings about better results. If so, he could conceivably work his way back into the 40-man roster conversation at some point.

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Joe Kelly Jonathan Stiever Keynan Middleton

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White Sox Place Jonathan Stiever On 60-Day IL, Claim Yoan Aybar

By Mark Polishuk | March 24, 2022 at 2:26pm CDT

The White Sox have placed right-hander Jonathan Stiever on the 60-day injured list, the team announced.  Chicago also claimed southpaw Yoan Aybar off waivers from the Yankees, just days after the Yankees themselves claimed Aybar off waivers from the Rockies.

Aybar’s velocity and strikeout potential got him as high as the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate last season, though he is still very much a work in progress as a pitcher, after converting to the mound from the outfield prior to the 2018 season.  As a hurler, Aybar has a 5.06 ERA and a 14.62% walk rate over 131 2/3 minor league innings, with a 24.9% strikeout rate.

The White Sox don’t have much left-handed depth in their bullpen beyond Aaron Bummer and Garrett Crochet, and the team has made a point of adding several southpaws to their Spring Training camp as non-roster invitees.  Aybar probably isn’t likely to be on the radar for a big league promotion, but he’ll add more depth in the minors and perhaps serve as a project.

Stiever underwent lat surgery back in August and was initially expected to be ready for Spring Training, though the 60-day IL placement gives him more time to get fully healthy.  Stiever was a fifth-round pick for the White Sox in the 2018 draft, and he has already gotten a brief taste of the majors, albeit in the form of three games and 6 1/3 innings over the last two seasons.  Over 247 IP in Chicago’s farm system, Stiever has a 4.26 ERA and 26.86% strikeout rate, starting all 56 of his games.  Once fully recovered, Stiever projects as a depth starter or potential bullpen long man for the Sox later in the season.

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Chicago White Sox New York Yankees Transactions Jonathan Stiever Yoan Aybar

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Injury Notes: Biggio, Brentz, Hoerner, Stiever

By Mark Polishuk | August 23, 2021 at 6:17pm CDT

Cavan Biggio suffered an injury to his left elbow while diving for a ball in a Triple-A game on Friday, the Blue Jays told TSN’s Scott Mitchell and other reporters.  The extent of the injury isn’t yet known.  Biggio was already seven games deep into a minor league rehab assignment, after being placed on the 10-day injured list on August 3 due to back tightness.

Between that injury and an earlier IL stint due to a cervical spine ligament sprain, it perhaps isn’t surprising that Biggio has struggled to a .215/.316/.350 slash line over 290 plate appearances this season.  It’s been a tough setback for a player who had seemingly emerged as part of the Jays’ young core, as Biggio produced a 118 wRC+ over 695 PA in 2019-20.  This elbow injury could hamper Biggio’s chances of returning to the big league roster and salvaging something from this season, and it remains to be seen how he’ll fit into Toronto’s plans for 2022.

More on other injury situations from around baseball…

  • The Royals placed left-hander Jake Brentz on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to August 21) due to left shoulder impingement syndrome.  Righty Kyle Zimmer was reinstated from the 10-day IL to take Brentz’s spot on the active roster.  Brentz’s first MLB season has been a successful one, as the southpaw has posted a 3.15 ERA and an above-average 27.4% strikeout rate over his first 54 1/3 innings in the big leagues.  The hard-throwing Brentz has drawn some buzz as a potential closer of the future for Kansas City, though he has yet to solve his career-long control issues, as Brentz has a 14.5% walk rate this season.
  • Nico Hoerner left his first rehab game yesterday, though the Cubs told The Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro and other reporters that Hoerner didn’t suffer a setback to his injured oblique.  While it isn’t known when Hoerner will officially get back to rehab games, he is expected to resume baseball activities this week.  2021 has been an injury-plagued season for Hoerner, who has played in only 39 games due to forearm and hamstring strains, plus this oblique strain that has kept him out of action since July 29.
  • White Sox right-hander Jonathan Stiever underwent season-ending surgery to correct a lat injury, assistant GM Chris Getz told reporters (including The Athletic’s James Fegan).  Stiever is expected to be ready in time for the start of Spring Training.  Stiever has tossed 6 1/3 innings over three big league games in the last two seasons, with an ugly 14.21 ERA to show for his brief tenure in the majors.  Due to the cancelled 2020 minor league season, Stiever made the jump to the Show from high-A ball, and he has struggled to a 5.84 ERA over 74 innings for Triple-A Charlotte this season.
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Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox Kansas City Royals Notes Toronto Blue Jays Cavan Biggio Jake Brentz Jonathan Stiever Kyle Zimmer Nico Hoerner

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White Sox Activate Dallas Keuchel From 10-Day IL

By Mark Polishuk | September 19, 2020 at 1:43pm CDT

The White Sox announced that southpaw Dallas Keuchel has been activated off the 10-day injured list in advance of his scheduled start tonight against the Reds.  Right-hander Jonathan Stiever was optioned to the club’s alternate training site to create roster space.

Keuchel was placed on the IL due to back spasms, and since his placement was retroactive to September 7, he will return having missed only a couple of days past the 10-day minimum.  The injury wasn’t thought to be overly serious in the first place, and Keuchel will now get to make at least one tune-up start before the White Sox begin their postseason run.

Signed to a three-year, $55.5MM free agent deal last winter, Keuchel has thus far been a big plus for the White Sox, posting a 2.19 ERA over his first 53 1/3 innings on the South Side.  ERA predictors (3.19 FIP, 3.84 xFIP, 4.42 SIERA) are naturally less impressed with Keuchel due to his lack of strikeouts, as he has only a 5.4 K/9.  As always, however, Keuchel is generating a ton of grounders (56% grounder rate), and this season has done a better job than ever of keeping the ball in the park.  The left-hander has a league-best 0.3 HR/9 this year, a massive improvement over the 1.3 HR/9 he posted over 112 2/3 innings with the Braves in 2019.

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Dallas Keuchel Jonathan Stiever

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White Sox Select Jonathan Stiever

By Anthony Franco | September 13, 2020 at 9:42am CDT

The White Sox are selecting the contract of right-hander Jonathan Stiever, per various reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin). Right-hander Alex McRae was optioned to the club’s alternate training site, while southpaw Carlos Rodón is being transferred to the 45-day injured list to open space on the 40-man roster.

Steiver will make his MLB debut this afternoon, getting the start against the Tigers. Chicago’s 2018 fifth-round pick, he’ll make quite a leap to the highest level after topping out in the High-A Carolina League last season. That’s not been uncommon in this year without minor-league play. The former Indiana University ace has been quite good in the low minors, putting up a 3.59 ERA with 193 strikeouts (10.0 K/9) against just 36 walks (1.9 BB/9) in 173 professional innings.

Along the way, he’s caught the attention of prospect followers. Keith Law of the Athletic placed Stiever fourth among Sox farmhands preseason, lauding his plus control and well-rounded repertoire. MLB Pipeline (6th), Baseball America (8th) and Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen (8th) all agree that Stiever is among Chicago’s top ten prospects.

Rodón’s IL transfer likely isn’t as ominous as it may initially sound. He was originally placed on the 10-day injured list back on August 4 with soreness in his throwing shoulder. He’d thus be eligible to return from this latest stint on September 18. Rodón is reportedly gearing up for a mound session tomorrow and hopes to return to the active roster this season.

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Alex McRae Carlos Rodon Jonathan Stiever

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