The White Sox have reportedly agreed to terms with right-hander Bryse Wilson. Wilson inked a one-year deal worth $1.05 million with an additional $250,000 in potential performance bonuses, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Atheltic.
The former Brewer will have an opportunity to compete for a spot in the White Sox rotation. The White Sox have a handful of young starters vying for a place in the rotation. Because of this, the roster needed an arm to help eat innings and take the stress off of a bullpen that was heavily taxed last season. Chris Flexen played the role of innings eater last season. Wilson is arguably an upgrade over Flexen.
The 26-year-old owns a career 4.61 ERA in 413.2 innings, spread across seven MLB seasons. Last season he tossed 104.2 innings for the Brewers and posted a 4.04 earned run average. However, only nine of his 34 appearances were as a starter.
Wilson doesn’t draw many swings and misses, with just a 17.1 percent career strikeout rate. However, he makes up for it with his command of the strike zone. His career 7.4 percent walk rate is below the major league average. In 2023 he managed to limit opponents to a .211 batting average en route to a career-best 2.58 ERA. This past season Wilson did have a bit of luck on his side. His expected ERA was 5.35 due to a hard-hit percentage of 44.3 which was amongst the worst in baseball.
The right-hander was selected by the Altanta Braves in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. He spent three-plus seasons with the Braves before getting traded to the Pirates in 2021 after posting a 5.90 earned run average during his time in Atlanta. He never got a fair shake in Atlanta after only utilized him in a depth role. From 2018 to 2023 he never threw more than 34 innings.
His struggles continued in Pittsburgh to the tune of a 5.37 mark during his two seasons wearing the black and gold before finally finding his footing with the Brewers. In Pittsburgh, he started eight games to close out the 2021 season. He then made 20 starts in 2022. However, the Brewers appeared to like what they saw in his five appearances out of the Pirates bullpen. All 76.2 of his innings came out of the Brewers bullpen in 2023 with Wilson logged three saves during that stretch.
Wilkson’s has a five-pitch mix that includes a cutter, sinker, four-seam fastball, curveball, and changeup. His fastball run value was amongst the best in baseball last year, despite topping out at 94 mph. If Wilson doesn’t crack the rotation he can still be an impactful piece out of the White Sox bullpen in a role similar to Michael Soroka’s late last season.
The singing allows Wilson to reunite with his former Run Prevention Coordinator, Walker McKiven, who was hired to be the White Sox bench coach this offseason. McKiven worked closely with the organization’s catchers and had a significant role in game planning.
