Newcomers Nastrini, Eder eye future spots in White Sox's rotation
As things stand now, the White Sox have two starting pitchers for next season: Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech.
Lucas Giolito (Angels) and Lance Lynn (Dodgers) were traded and the Sox are likely to choose the $4 million buyout option instead of paying Mike Clevinger $12 million in 2024.
There are going to be holes to fill, and don't be surprised if the White Sox bring in multiple veteran starters on short, inexpensive free-agent contracts during the off-season.
In the Sox's perfect world, Nick Nastrini and Jake Eder are joining the rotation around this time next year.
Both were acquired in deals before the Aug. 1 deadline and both are highly-regarded pitching prospects.
Not only are Nastrini and Eder new teammates at Class AA Birmingham, they're roommates.
"You look at the Birmingham rotation right now, you've got about six guys who are fairly impressive," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "It will be interesting to see how they develop."
Along with Nastrini and Eder, Cristian Mena, Matthew Thompson, Jonathan Cannon and another trade acquisition, Ky Bush, are Birmingham starters the Sox are closely monitoring.
Nastrini and Eder look to be on the fastest tracks to Chicago.
The Sox got Nastrini from the Dodgers in a trade for Lynn and reliever Joe Kelly. Eder came over from the Marlins for Jake Burger.
Baseball America rates Nastrini as the White Sox's No. 7 prospect and Eder checks in at No 8.
Pitching in the Dodgers' deep minor-league system, Nastrini had a feeling he might be traded. His agent let him know there were some interested teams before the deadline, but the Sox were not on the list.
"I definitely view it as a positive," the 23-year-old Nastrini said. "The Dodgers are very good at development and when you're so good at development, you have an insane amount of players that are very, very good. There's a little bit of a roadblock in the system and here there's not as much of a visual roadblock as far as players go.
"So there's a lot more clear path to the big leagues and getting to Chicago as quickly as possible. That's kind of the way I've been viewing it."
In 19 combined starts with Birmingham and Class AA Tulsa this season, the right-handed Nastrini is 6-3 with a 4.39 ERA and 99 strikeouts over 84 innings.
"When I can throw my fastball, my changeup, and kind of put them wherever I want, that's when I know the day's going to be special," Nastrini said.
Eder is rounding back into form after fracturing his left foot in spring training and missing the first three months of the season.
The 24-year-old lefty was sidelined all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery.
"When you combine those two (injuries), I think it was like 22 months before I was back in a real game," Eder said. "It was long, but it was good. I learned a lot about myself, learned a lot about my routines. I just took it day by day and that kind of made it seem like it went by quick even though it wasn't, obviously. It was just day by day, getting better each day."
In 10 combined starts with Birmingham, AA Pensacola and high Class A Jupiter, Eder is 2-3 with a 4.35 ERA and 50 strikeouts over 41⅓ innings.
"I basically pitch off my fastball, so when I'm commanding that I can throw breaking balls and change-ups off of that and they'll tunnel as well," Eder said. "Hitters basically struggle with that because when they have to respect the fastball, the other stuff tunnels the same, looks the same, and it's not easy to hit."
Nastrini, Eder and Bush are all getting their White Sox starts at Birmingham, as is Edgar Quero. The prized 20-year-old catching prospect and Bush were acquired from the Angels for Giolito and reliever Reynaldo Lopez.
"It's definitely good to be around those guys," Nastrini said. "It's good to see how good they are because there's a little bit of a competition factor in there, too. You're like, 'All right, they did this, I've got to do this.' It's been good to be around those guys and it's definitely good to see that there's a core group of young players in the minor-league system that can kind of progress through together and get to the show together, help bring a World Series to the White Sox. That's what we all want to do."