Cole Sulser
The Chicago White Sox could look towards the Baltimore Orioles for bullpen help.
Outside Trey Mancini’s return to baseball, there were very few bright spots from the Baltimore Orioles’ 2021 season. One of them happened to be a 31-year old right-handed reliever named Cole Sulser.
Sulser was the Orioles’ best reliever last season and it wasn’t particularly close. His numbers were very similar to Crochet’s last year.
He posted an excellent 2.70 ERA and averaged 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings in 60 appearances. He won five games and had 73 strikeouts. Sulser’s specialty is left-handed hitters. Lefties hit just .143 with a .464 OPS against him.
He also showed a knack for high leverage situations. He locked down eight saves to go along with six holds. Sulser gets a lot of outs via the ground ball, which would play well in a hitter-friendly park like Guaranteed Rate Field. His 1.12 WHIP doesn’t hurt either.
Sulser came out of nowhere for Baltimore. In 2020, he owned a 5.56 ERA. During his rookie year in 2019, he only pitched 7.1 innings.
Sulser is inexpensive with three more years of team control. The Orioles are still in a rebuild and have no need for a middle-age reliever who doesn’t figure to be a part of their future so Sulser should be one of the first names on their trading block.