Martín Pérez’s belief that big things are possible for the 2025 White Sox might put him in the minority.
“Something can happen,” he reiterated Saturday.
But there’s no doubting the impact the veteran is having on the pitching staff.
Pérez has a sub-2.00 ERA, even after giving up a couple runs Saturday against the Red Sox. But his main contribution has been as a guiding force and tone-setter for an otherwise youthful rotation.
“He’s constantly talking to the pitchers,” pitching coach Ethan Katz said Sunday. “The way he goes about his business, it’s great. He likes to have a lot of fun while taking his craft very seriously.”
Indeed, “fun” seems to be the primary descriptor for the 34-year-old. Not that this group didn’t already have a light tone, thanks in part to Garrett Crochet’s leadership last season. But Pérez’s fun-loving nature has stood out, even with the White Sox off to a poor start.
“The tone gets set with Martín, because he has a good time,” fellow starter Davis Martin told the Sun-Times on Saturday. “There’s a time to be serious, a time to do your job. But at the same time, there’s also a time to really relish the fact that you’re up here and you get to have fun with some of your best friends.
“One of his first or second [spring training] outings, he gave up a couple runs. He came in and said, ‘Ah, my neck! I need to ice my neck tomorrow!’ We all start laughing. And that shows his veteran leadership. He knows there’s a long course to this season and there’s plenty of time to get better. There’s a time to laugh, there’s a time to be serious.”
Three spins through the rotation, Pérez also has some of the best numbers on the staff. He boasts a 1.59 ERA with a team-high 18 strikeouts. If he keeps it up, Chris Getz’s front office could use him to bolster the farm system at the trade deadline.
While he’s here, he’s impacting guys who could be part of the future.
“He loves playing baseball, and the guys feed off that,” Katz said. “It lightens the pressure. There’s a lot of pressure on these guys. They’re trying to establish themselves in the big leagues.
“When you have somebody that goes about it [like Pérez does], it really opens up their spirit, their mind, and [allows them to] not have to [feel] like everything’s falling down on them when things start getting tough. And you use those moments and see how veterans go about it, it helps.”
Back behind the plate
Matt Thaiss caught Sunday after sitting out the first two games of the series with the Red Sox. He was hit with a pair of backswings while catching Thursday’s game in Cleveland.
“Certainly the couple knocks contributed to it – he’s fine, he doesn’t have anything going on because of that – but just in general, that last start was a lot,” manager Will Venable said Saturday. “It just gives us an opportunity to give him a couple days.”
Thaiss entered Sunday with the second-highest OPS on the White Sox’ active roster, at .738.
Trade talks tabled?
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the White Sox and Dodgers have “tabled” talks of a trade that would send center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to Los Angeles in exchange for outfielder James Outman and a “front-line prospect.”
Robert figures to be the subject of rumors leading up to the trade deadline, but the immensely talented 27-year-old needs to turn in better offensive numbers if he’s going to provide Chris Getz with an opportunity to greatly boost the farm system in a trade. Otherwise, the return might not be as much as the White Sox hope as they continue their long-term rebuilding project.
Robert hit a game-tying home run Saturday against the Red Sox, snapping a 46-game homerless streak. After Sunday’s loss, in which he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, he’s hitting .163/.250/.245 with 16 strikeouts in 49 at-bats.
Top prospects on the mound
The White Sox’ top two prospects each started in a Saturday doubleheader at Double-A Birmingham with vastly different results.
Noah Schultz struck out six in five scoreless innings, up to 11 strikeouts across nine innings this season.
Hagen Smith only recorded two outs, throwing 33 pitches while allowing two hits, two walks and two runs against six hitters. Smith has walked six in 4.2 innings of work this year.