Chicago White Sox: Five rookies who made heads turn in 2020

Matt Foster was so steady for the Chicago White Sox in 2020.

Matt Foster was a straight-up beast in 2020. He sort of came out of nowhere to make his MLB debut this season and he did not disappoint. He was as good as any reliever on the roster which made him a pleasure to watch. Whenever Matt Foster came in during the regular season, we were confident that the White Sox were in good shape as long as he was on the mound. Hopefully, these things can continue during the 2021 season.

There is an elephant in the room with Foster and that is his 2020 postseason. He wasn’t put in a position to succeed at all in that game three against the Oakland Athletics and he didn’t do that well. He couldn’t get the ball over the plate and the White Sox didn’t do much about it. When people say that Rick Renteria didn’t manage the bullpen well, it was because of the way he handled Foster and the rest of the bullpen in that game three.

In the regular season, however, he had a season to be very proud of. He went 6-1 with a WAR of 0.7 despite only actually starting two games. In those starts, however, he was more of an opener than a starter which was also frustrating. He had a 2.20 ERA and a WHIP of 0.872 in 28.2 innings pitched.

These are great numbers and it would have been awesome to see him on a team that handled him better. The hope is that will be the case with Foster in 2021. It is awesome that he is on this team and people should be excited to see him next year.