Huascar Brazoban could be the major prize of the White Sox' productive trade deadline

The White Sox gave up two prospects to get reliever Huascar Brazoban from the Mets this weekend. Brazoban is a 36-year-old relief pitcher, and he might sound like more like a throw-in than a particularly desirable player to add before the playoffs. But he's grown a lot as a pitcher, and since the Sox badly need pitching help, Brazoban could be a difference-maker.

What stands out about him the most is his age. Brazoban is 36, but he didn't make his major league debut until he was 32-years-old, back in 2022. He's still under team control until 2029, which is part of what gave him so much trade value. I think there's something special about a player who makes his debut late, probably after some ups-and-downs, and probably after an unconventional path, but who ends up being uncommonly good. It reminds you that baseball rewards talent, and an under-the-radar player still has a chance based on skill alone.

Brazoban, in his age-36 season, has a 2.52 ERA over 53.2 innings pitched. His WHIP is 1.01, and Fangraphs credits him with 0.9 WAR, with about a third of the season still to come. He wasn't quite as good in 2025, but a 3.57 ERA in 63.0 innings isn't half bad.

How has Brazoban has become a lockdown reliever at age 36?

It's hard to say what's made things click so much for Brazoban. Davy Andrews of Fangraphs suggested it has to do with Brazoban mostly sticking to his sinker and changeup in 2026. But it's worth noting that his changeup got banged around a lot last year, and he was still a strong pitcher. According to Baseball Savant, his sinker has +8 run value for 2026, with +3 on his change. Last year his sinker had +6, but his change had -4. His whole arsenal has been solid the past couple years and he's never truly pitched poorly anywhere. His worst major league season was 2023, and he still had a non-terrible 4.14 ERA across 58.2 innings with the Miami Marlins.

My guess is that his pitching really hasn't improved, but that it just took him awhile to get noticed. He's more of a soft contact pitcher than anything else. Baseball Savant has his Hard-Hit%, GB%, and Average Exit Velocity all in 80th-100th percentile range each year (his Average Exit Velocity is 83.9 mph this year, sitting in the 99th percentile, which is pretty typical for him), while his K% and Whiff% rates are more middle the road. Pitch-to-contact arms can fly under the radar compared to high strikeout arms.

And he's certainly had an unusual career path, which can also make it harder to advance. Brazoban spent 10 years in minor league baseball before his debut, originally signing a minor league deal with the Colorado Rockies in 2012. He was with their organization on-and-off until 2017, making it as far as Double-A, but then he elected free agency and played independent league ball until signing with the Miami Marlins in 2022.

He did pitch well all through the minors. He put up good numbers with the Rockies organization, although he didn't play many games; he played about 20 games a year with them until 2015, when he missed a year due to injury and than elected free agency. After resigning with the Rockies in 2017, he played 37 games to a 5.77 ERA in High-A and Double-A, per Fangraphs, making that the only minor league season where he genuinely did poorly.

The Marlins put him in Triple-A in 2022, which was the first time he played baseball at the highest minor league level, and from there he debuted in the majors. He was having a strong season in 2024 when the Mets got him before the trade deadline, and he got a chance to establish himself more the following two seasons.

Brazoban is a middle reliever, pitching in the 6th and 7th inning most often this year, and he's also been used by the Mets as an opener, which is another use the Sox could have for him given that their starters struggle to go deep.

His big league career started late, but he's become a formidable relief arm who can help the Sox advance to the playoffs.

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