Chicago White Sox: An ace for the future emerges

The Chicago White Sox have struggled through a rough season in 2018. However, the finish to the tough year has quite possibly revealed the team’s future ace.

When the Chicago White Sox took one of the game’s worst farm systems and made some big moves by trading Chris Sale and Adam Eaton after the 2016 season.

The White Sox had drafted left-hander Carlos Rodon 3rd overall in 2014, and he had already thrown 165 innings in 2016. However, he has now combined for just 31 major league starts in 2017 and 2018. At this time, he has a career ERA of 3.87 and a WHIP of 1.35 with a BB/K of 207/471 over 493 1/3 innings.

The next season, the White Sox again pursued a big arm early in the draft when they selected Carson Fulmer out of Vanderbilt with the 8th overall selection. He has struggled with health, and in the end he may end up moving to the bullpen full-time. His experience at the major league level has been 67 1/3 innings over 24 games, 13 starts, with a 6.68 ERA and 1.62 WHIP.

In the deal that sent away Chris Sale, the White Sox got back big-armed righty Michael Kopech. Kopech made the majors for the first time this season, making 4 starts, throwing 14 1/3 innings, with a 5.02 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, and 2/15 BB/K ratio. However, Kopech ended up going down with Tommy John Surgery, and he will miss all of 2019.

The big pitching acquisition deal came from the Adam Eaton deal. The deal brought righties Lucas Giolito, Dane Dunning, and Reynaldo Lopez back to the Pale Hose. Dunning is still working his way up the minor league system.

Giolito was the elite prospect, a former potential #1 overall pick in the 2012 draft who slipped to 16th when he had Tommy John Surgery. He has struggled to find consistency (and movement) in his pitches, leading to a 5.81 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, and a 86/123 BB/K in 31 starts and 172 innings. His 86 walks led the American League.

Lopez shining bright

That leaves Lopez, the guy who is basically the last guy someone would expect to turn into an ace. Lopez was originally signed out of the Dominican Republic when he was already 18, which gives an idea about how far off scouts’ radars he was in the Dominican, where most top arms have deals when they’re well younger than 16.

Lopez stands 6’1″ and comes from a high arm slot, which has always allowed his 4-seam fastball to work more in a sinking motion. He’s utilized multiple arm angles at times intentionally, which is typically a no-no in pitcher development.

While walks have been an issue for Lopez in the minor leagues and in his time in the majors before 2018, location was a huge driver of his 2018 season. He worked with long-time Chicago White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper on his pitching repertoire, eschewing his curve due to its tendency to blend with his slider.

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Lopez worked with a different slider grip, taking a couple ticks of velocity off, but getting sharper movement, added a cutter, and changed to more of a two-seam grip for his change.

He implemented these changes throughout the season, and many fans didn’t notice, in spite of Lopez carrying a sub-3 ERA to Memorial Day and a sub-4 ERA until mid-July. However, a rough run from mid-June to mid-August while he adjusted his pitches raised his ERA so many fans would likely not see some of the improvements he was making with his control and command.

Lopez’s final month-plus really showed everything coming together. Over his final seven starts, he tossed 45 2/3 innings, allowing a 1.38 ERA and 0.92 WHIP, posting a 14/48 BB/K ratio.

He may not be the ace the Chicago White Sox were expecting, but in the end, Reynaldo Lopez could be the ace that carries them into their next competitive team.