Prospect left-hander Christian Oppor has run an elevated walk rate since arriving at High-A Winston-Salem, even tilting over 10 percent while winning White Sox minor league pitcher of the month honors in August. A natural pronator, his search for a reliable breaking ball would be described as meandering by anyone with a decent view of it, and certainly Oppor himself.
Which is to say that the 21-year-old's combined 82⅔ innings with a 3.16 ERA and headlined by a jaw-dropping 112 strikeouts have not suddenly transformed him into a perfect pitching prospect, who will never run into the hiccups that have slowed the ascension of Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith.
But relative to his prior station as a fifth-round JUCO pick from 2023 who would be in his draft year now had he pitched three seasons of college ball, or just taken from this point last year when he was racking up a 5.21 ERA in 38 walk-addled innings at the sweltering Arizona Complex League, and it's impossible not see his 2025 as anything but a massive leap forward.
"It's one of the biggest steps I've taken," Oppor said. "Last year was a big work in progress, and this year was 'Let's see what we've been working on this whole time from last year,' and I think it's been paying off a lot more than what I thought was going to happen. It's working better than I thought."
As time has worn on and his mid-90s velocity has held, with some recent spikes of triple-digit heat this past month, Oppor has only become more laudatory of his offseason work to add strength. And the White Sox overriding attitude about his progress is that this sort of left-handed heat is bound to provide impact of some kind, even if his control and feel for his secondaries progress more gradually.
But Oppor is gaining a sense for how his lower arm slot lends a rise-and-run action to his fastball, and how it gives him different options for attacking each side of the plate. While his pronation has always given him some ability to kill velocity and generate arm side movement, Oppor said he used to toggle between two different versions of his changeup, and has now settled on one he feels he can locate, based on a cue to release the ball off his index finger.
The same cue has hopefully led to the end of his search for a primary breaking ball as well.
"Coming out of college, I didn't really have anything but a fastball to be honest, because everything I would say was pretty below average," Oppor said. "All of '24, we tried different types of sliders, trying to see what else would work. Eventually with my arm slot, they said let's try this sweeper. So we tried a different bunch of sweeper grips, finally found one that was comfortable and had the same movement that we like. I'm pretty much focused on trying to land it more and throw it harder."
Oppor's last time out was the first time he was allowed to pitch five innings in almost two months, and with the Sox monitoring his workload, it's unlikely he'll even crack 100 innings in 2025. But while his work progression leaves him another step or two away from handling the demands of a major league rotation, the advances in his stuff give Oppor cause to start looking forward.
"It's a great opportunity for me if I can capitalize on it," Oppor said of being part of the White Sox youth movement. "Hopefully I can move pretty quick, but that's always just a hope and a prayer. But if I can keep doing what I've been doing during this rebuilding phase, trying to get all the advantages that I can, I think it will help."
Jacksonville 2, Charlotte 0
- Ben Cowles is active with Charlotte, going 1-for-4 with a strikeout and getting caught stealing in his org debut.
- Jacob Gonzalez singled and struck out twice.
- Shane Murphy's first start at Charlotte this season: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 48 of 74 pitches for strikes.
- Jairo Iriarte: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 9 of 12 pitches for strikes.
Notes:
*Noah Schultz is back on the injured list with knee discomfort, supposedly for precautionary reasons.
Chattanooga 9, Birmingham 5
- Rikuu Nishida was 2-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base.
- William Bergolla's extra-base drought is over: 2-for-4 with a double, an HBP and a strikeout.
- Sam Antonacci was 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- DJ Gladney went 2-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Braden Montgomery struck out thrice during an 0-for-5 night.
- Ryan Galanie, 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Tanner McDougal: 3 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP, 30 of 51 pitches for strikes.
- Tyler Schweitzer's Birmingham ERA is no longer 0.00: 4 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP, 44 of 66 pitches for strikes.
Augusta 7, Kannapolis 0
- Ely Brown went 1-for-3 with a walk, strikeout and stolen base.
- Anthony DePino was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- George Wolkow, 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Kaleb Freeman singled, walked thrice and stole a base.
- Colby Shelton went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Luis Reyes: 3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 33 of 49 pitches for strikes.
- Pierce George: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 20 of 36 pitches for strikes.
- Blake Shepardson: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 16 of 30 pitches for strikes.
