Once the calendar turns to September, Major League Baseball expands the rosters for all 30 teams, allowing two extra players to join the club.
Many speculated the moves that the White Sox would make, but Chris Getz made an interesting move that nobody really thought about. Instead of promoting one of the many bullpen arms from AAA, Getz went down to AA Birmingham to bring up a pitcher.
Chris Getz selected Jario Iriarte from AA Birmingham to be his one of the two players you can add to the roster in September. Iriarte will now make his MLB debut in the coming days, now being the second player from the Dylan Cease trade to make his way to Chicago.
In addition to bringing up Jairo Iriarte, the White Sox are recalling outfielder Zach DeLoach from AAA. DeLoach should a decent amount of at-bats, as he was playing very well in AAA. While bringing up DeLoach is a solid move, the real shocker here is Iriarte, as the White Sox had a plethora of arms they could have picked from.
Iriarte has been extremely impressive in AA this year, as he is 5-7 with a 3.71 ERA over 126 innings. In those innings, Iriarte has struck out 122 batters, which is just a notch below a 9 K/9.
Despite his solid numbers as a starting pitcher, it seems that Iriarte will be coming out of the bullpen in Chicago. According to Scott Merkin, Iriarte is likely going to work exclusively out of the bullpen, with multiple days of rest in between his appearances.
It seems they really want to ease Iriarte into the MLB, as having top pitching prospects work out of the bullpen to start their MLB career has worked in the past for the White Sox, as Chris Sale and Carlos Rodon both started their careers in the major league bullpen before transitioning back to a starter.
I like the aggressiveness by Chris Getz, as he clearly feels that Iriarte is major league ready. This is the perfect time for many prospects to get low leverage innings to get accustomed to the major leagues, as it is truly a different game in the MLB than in the minors.
Back in Spring Training, Chris Getz made a comment that both Thorpe and Iriarte could see time in the majors this season.and he meant it, as now both top pitching prospects in the Dylan Cease trade have made it to the major leagues in the same season of the trade.
While getting Iriarte innings will be important, the White Sox need to follow this blueprint and get some other top arms in the system some major league innings as the season winds down.
