White Sox Minor Keys: May 25, 2021 - Sox Machine

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If Jason Bilous wasn’t interesting to you before, he should be interesting to you now.

From a household name, Bilous was worth mild intrigue when the White Sox drafted him in the 13th round of the 2018 draft, if only because he signed for well above the third day limit ($185,000; bonuses higher than $125,000 count against the team’s draft pool), and those who watched him at Coastal Carolina thought he had a future in relief. The question was whether he had enough control to start, because while he succeeded at preventing runs with the Intimidators in his first full pro season, his peripherals hinted at future struggles going five.

There are a lot of guys who get more than $125,000 on the third day, and there are a lot of 21-year-olds who could be a future relievers in Kannapolis, so neither of those were enough to make him compelling on their own.

But now he’s starting to distinguish his prospect profile, because two years and four starts with Winston-Salem later, Bilous has enjoyed an unprecedented intimacy with the strike zone.

Affiliate	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB%	K%
Kannapolis	104.2	85	47	43	12	13.2	24.5
Winston-Salem	14.2	11	6	4	0	3.6	46.4

And the White Sox are apparently buying it, because they promoted him to Birmingham, a team that isn’t exactly short on productive starting pitching at the moment. The Barons shifted Emilio Vargas to the team’s developmental list to make room, and Vargas has been serviceable himself thus far.

Bilous’ Double-A debut against the Rocket City Trash Pandas on Tuesday night fits right in with his Dash game log. He pitched five innings, allowing just one run on six hits and zero walks while striking out five. One of those hits was a solo shot, but three others were infield singles to the left side, and another was a weak flare down the right-field line. He needed only 70 pitches, 48 of which were strikes.

This was my first time watching Bilous, as Kannapolis didn’t broadcast games at the old park and Winston-Salem isn’t yet appointment viewing.

His fastball ranged from 91-95. He only touched 95 once, but he found 94 plenty, and his velocity seemed stable over the course of five innings. He largely worked down in the zone with it, which isn’t necessarily the modern idea, but it seemed help his breaking balls play up.

His slider had sharpness at 84-87, with a curveball with downward tilt from 81-85. He induced three consecutive swinging strikes at one point with them, including two ugly ones to the same hitter in the second inning.

The strange sun pattern on Toyota Field made me wonder if visibility worked in his favor, but here he is, getting three consecutive ugly swings on three consecutive breaking balls from cleanup hitter Ibandel Isabel in the fourth, when there’s more consistent shade.

Bilous also featured a changeup, although one on a 1-1 count went over the right-field wall for the one run. He got a swing and miss on it later, but he seemed content throwing sliders in to a lefty as a first idea. He also seemed comfortable letting Carlos Pérez handle baserunners. The Trash Pandas ran on him four times, and Pérez cut two of them down.

All-in-all, Bilous is up to 31 strikeouts against two walks this season, which is the kind of turnaround few envisioned. At 23 and the second-youngest player on Birmingham’s roster, he’s built himself a bit of a cushion in case an eight-team league figures him out, but if he wants to treat all future issues as simple to solve, that’s cool, too.

• Adam Engel DH’d and went 1-for-4 with a homer, walk and strikeout.
• Blake Rutherford was 1-for-5 with a double and a K.
• Jake Burger went 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
• Gavin Sheets, 1-for-4 with a K and an error in left field.
• Luis González went 0-for-4 with a K.
• Reynaldo López rebounded from a disaster his last time out: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 50 of 69 pitches for strikes.

Highlights:

• Ti’Quan Forbes went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Romy Gonzalez, 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• A fresh week wasn’t as kind to Micker Adolfo, who walked once and struck out thrice.
• Carlos Pérez singled twice and struck out twice.
• Jason Bilous had a successful Double-A debut: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR

• Yolbert Sanchez went 0-for-3.
• Lenyn Sosa, 1-for-3 with a double and a strikeout.
• Luis Curbelo hit his seventh homer and struck out twice.
• Luis Mieses was 0-for-3 with a K.
• Harvin Mendoza, 1-for-2.
• Isaiah Carranza: 2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 0 K, 29 of 60 pitches for strikes.

• Caberea Weaver went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
• Lency Delgado, 2-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• José Rodriguez went 2-for-5 with a homer and a double.
• Bryan Ramos doubled, singled twice, walked and struck out.
• DJ Gladney was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
• Benyamin Bailey went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• James Beard was 1-for-4 with a homer and a strikeout.
• Matthew Thompson: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 2 HBP, 24 of 48 pitches for strikes.

Highlights:

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