Before Christian Oppor made his fifth High-A start his best yet with five innings of one-run ball on Wednesday night, White Sox pitching coordinator Matt Zaleski talked about the 20-year-old as if he were already working ahead. Oppor struggled with efficiency in his first brush with older, better competition, racking up a 5.93 ERA in four outings that covered 13⅔ innings, but also demonstrated the ingredients that inspired larger confidence.
"Oh, that changeup is gross," Zaleski said. "It's similar to every pitcher where they have a honeyhole release point for every pitch, and his fastball-changeup profile when they're in the same release area, it's really, really good and they they play well off of each other."
Oppor's feel for executing his changeup comes from being a natural pronator. In turn, his breaking ball development has been more of a winding journey. He was drafted with a slurve and has been moving toward a slider, but Zaleski said the search for Oppor's long-term breaking ball is still being carried out in his bullpens. Thus some of the team's encouragement with Oppor is that he blew through Low-A hitters while operating without a typically viable breaking ball being in tow yet.
"What he's throwing, it's getting, negative -2, -3 depth and kicking almost a 20 [inch] horizontal break on it, and ihe's curling his hand and almost throwing it like a sideways curveball," Zaleski. "It gets tagged as a sweeper, but realistically, it's a sideways curveball from where his slot is, and it's just because he is a natural pronator, that has been a challenging pitch for him to land."
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To check in with the fourth piece of the Garrett Crochet trade, Wikelman González has maintained a 2.75 ERA with no home runs allowed in 19⅔ innings since being moved to the Triple-A Charlotte bullpen, which seems like a revelation of its own considering Truist Field's dimensions. But an 18-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio tempers notions of a fast-track to the majors that relief work was supposed to open.
Zaleski noted that moving González to relief was in part to put him in a role where his spurts of walks don't hijack his pitch count and drastically shorten his outings. But he also said González has responded well to the physical demands of relief work, recovering well and holding his stuff, which the Sox feel is ticking up due to a slight drop in arm angle.
"It's massive swing-and-miss qualities to the fastball, especially to left-handers, just because it's more of the upshoot kind now," Zaleski said. "His slot is a
tick lower. He's doing a very good job of riding his lead leg heel down the mound to help his rotation. So when he lands, everything just spirals out perfectly for him. So he's in a good spot, and he's still young and new to this role. It's still a work in progress, but very happy with what we've seen so far."
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The trade return for two months of Paul DeJong was never billed as a franchise-changing piece, and a "A-ball reliever" is an easy profile to overlook, so it's likely Jarold Rosado hasn't become a household name. Not even among households that regularly read the Minor Keys.
But Rosado quietly had excellent numbers in 2024, sat 94-97 mph and offered two swing-and-miss secondaries. When the Sox bumped him to High-A after the trade, he pitched even better, striking out 68 against 15 walks in 55 1/3 innings in all, with a 2.11 ERA.
The 2025 season has been a major speed bump so far, as Rosado walked 11 in 10 Double-A innings before getting put on the development list for a month. Zaleski said Rosado lost a lot of weight in the offseason, and rather than seeing better mobility, showed diminished strength in his delivery and velocity on his pitches. He's been on a program to eat, and add weight and strength.
Charlotte 9, Gwinnett 3
- Brooks Baldwin went 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout, and was caught stealing.
- Colson Montgomery, 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Tim Elko was 1-for-5 with a K.
- Bryan Ramos went 1-for-2 with two walks.
- Mike Clevinger: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 50 of 78 pitches for strikes.
- Jairo Iriarte: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 20 of 35 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 3, Columbus 2 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- William Bergolla was 0-for-1 with two walks.
- Ryan Galanie went 2-for-4 with a K.
- Jacob Gonzalez, 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- DJ Gladney went 1-for-2 with a sca fly.
- Tanner McDougal's Double-A debut: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 64 of 92 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 8, Columbus 7 (Game 2, 9 innings)
- Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-3 with two HBPs and two stolen bases.
- William Bergolla and Ryan Galanie both were 1-for-5.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with a double and two strikeouts.
- Wilfred Veras doubled, walked and struck out twice.
- DJ Gladney went 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
Winston-Salem 3, Rome 1
- Sam Antonacci singled, struck out twice and was hit by a pitch.
- Jeral Perez went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Braden Montgomery was 0-for-4.
- Samuel Zavala, 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Christian Oppor: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 2 HBP, 42 of 63 pitches for strikes.
Charleston 14, Kannapolis 5
- Caleb Bonemer went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Ronny Hernandez was 1-for-4 with a double and a walk.
- Lyle Miller-Green, 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Ryan Burrowes went 1-for-4 with a double, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
- Abraham Nuñez went 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
