White Sox fans will love top prospect Jake Eder's primary goal for 2024

Chicago White Sox No. 5 prospect, Jake Eder, recently spoke with SouthSide Showdown and answered some questions heading into the 2024 season.

Eder, who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB Draft, pitched at Vanderbilt. The left-hander won the 2019 College World Series.

Vanderbilt's development is up there with the best of them in college baseball. The Eder we see today certainly improved during his time in the SEC.

When asked about his time at Vanderbilt and how it got him ready to play at the next level, Eder had the following to say:

"Playing baseball at Vanderbilt was an incredible experience for me. Over the three years that I attended and played in Nashville, I learned so much about myself as a player, about strengths and weaknesses that I had to improve on. I got the opportunity to pitch in some big situations like the College World Series, and that definitely helped prepare me for adversity when I got into pro ball."

Eder was traded by the Miami Marlins on August 1, 2023, to the White Sox for Jake Burger. This trade has the look of a win-win deal for both sides. Burger swung the bat well for Miami and the White Sox have a left-handed prospect who has everything to be one of the top arms in the game. When asked about the trade, Eder talked about controlling what he can control.

"My transition from the Marlins to the White Sox was pretty seamless. Trades and moves are out of the players control but my routines are mobile so I brought them with me and moved on to my new team and the next part of my career."

Adversity is something that every professional baseball player faces from time to time. Unfortunately for Eder, he had to deal with injuries, adversity no one ever has to deal with. However, it was his commitment to get healthy that helped him get back up and keep going.

"Tommy John was another bout of adversity for me, something unexpected, but I made a commitment from day one that I was going to use the time to my advantage. During the time that I was rehabbing, I spent a lot of time working on the physical side of my game as well as the mental side to make sure I was as prepared as possible when it was time to return to competing."

Eder spent time in the Arizona Fall League due to his injuries in the past few seasons. He spoke about how the Fall League helped him, pointing to being prepared for Spring Training as the main takeaway.

"The Arizona Fall League gave me a chance to catch up on some missed innings and work on things so that I could put myself in a position to compete to the best of my ability come February 14th."

The White Sox could use pitching, especially if Dylan Cease is traded before the season starts. The pitching needs are only going to help Eder get up to the MLB and show the front office what he can do best. When asked about what he can bring to the White Sox moving forward, Jake wants to perform to his standard and help the team win games.

"My only goal in 2024 is to hit my standard of performance and bring wins to the White Sox every fifth day."

He enters the 2024 season with a career 3.8 ERA and 168 strikeouts in 128.0 innings. If he gets his chance, he's proven he'll take advantage of it.

Thank you to Jake for sitting down with SouthSide Showdown and giving White Sox fans what they want!