2 particular reasons the Chicago White Sox getting blown out by the Toronto Blue Jays is frustrating
The Sox were blown out 9-2 by the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Chicago White Sox on most nights this season have varied between frustrating and awful to watch. Last night it was both, but more toward the frustrating side.
Rookie pitcher Nick Nastrini returned to the big leagues and was roughed up in the second inning by the Toronto Blue Jays. He gave up seven runs that inning which came with two outs.
Even worse, he had a couple of chances to escape the inning with either no runs or at least less damage as he had the count in his favor, but just could not come up with that out pitch.
Four times that inning Nastrini either had a 1-2 or a 0-2 count. The Jays walked away with four hits and four runs in those instances.
Problems with his command not getting the third strike or a pitch that induces a ground out is what doomed Nastrini in the 9-2 defeat.
Pedro Grifol on Nastrini pic.twitter.com/cpdpisOAlm
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) May 23, 2024
Nastrini gave up nine runs, eight of them earned, along with seven hits and walked six is not the most frustrating part of the night. He is a rookie who made his third career start. He was dynamic in his debut and looked like a guy still developing in his second start.
Getting roughed up is part of the development process.
This was frustrating because Nastrini is just now running into adversity when he should have been addressing it back in April.
Instead, the White Sox demoted him back to Triple-A so they could give those precious development innings to the likes of Brad Keller. It was a foolhardy plan to think Keller could suddenly become a pitcher that a contender would desire.
It is even worse that they also took away Nastrini's spot so guys like Mike Clevinger and Michael Soroka could get big-league innings. Again, the hope was they would pitch well to build up their trade value—sound logic with a flawed plan.
Keller was designated for assignment and elected free agency. Soroka has been demoted to the bullpen. Clevinger continues to be a waste of time.
Pitchers only have so many figurative bullets in their arms and the Sox wasted three starts of Nastrini's overall career in the minors when those three should have been made in the big leagues. It is a lost season, and the focus should be assessing what young players already in the system can help the team going forward. It should not be about seeing if Clevinger has any trade value, especially after 29 other teams have passed on him twice on the open market,
Nothing was gained when Brad Keller was ineffective in two starts. Everything is gained by Nastrini having a rough outing because he can learn from it. He is not a known quantity yet. He can be molded into a good pitcher whereas Keller was a lost cause from the moment he was signed because he developed into a bad pitcher.
Experience is a great teacher and the Sox denied Nastrini needed schooling.
For example, maybe Nastrini was tipping his pitches. He can now go back and work on that. The problem could have arisen last month and possibly be fixed by now. It is not like he is not a self-aware guy.
Nick Nastrini pic.twitter.com/PFxQX5GMOd
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) May 23, 2024
The other particularly frustrating part is the White Sox proved yet again that they cannot do the little things correctly.
Technically sound as Pedro has it as part of the FAST acronym that his team is incapable of playing.
For example, Martin Maldonado called a terrible inning during that nightmare second inning. He had Nastrini throw two straight changeups in the same location during Kevin Kiermaier’s single that helped load the bases. Davis Schneider saw nothing but four-seam fastballs before he smacked a two-RBI single.
Poor pitch sequencing by the veteran catcher whose supposed value is calling a good game. To be fair, maybe Nastrini shook him off a few times, but Maldonado is the master of the mound visit, he should be out there saying never shake me off rookie.
Another example of not being technically sound came in the fourth inning as the Jays picked up two more runs, one of them came on Dominic Fletcher’s throwing error to third. Even more annoying, Nastrini isn’t backing up third so Bichette easily gets to second.
It would be nice to see this team at least do the little things right and they cannot do that. It was known the season was going to be bad. The ask was to play at least a brand of baseball where the team is competitive and does not look like a blooper reel on most nights. Instead, it is a comedy of horrors most nights.
feed