Chicago White Sox: One reliever’s success has him in high-leverage situations

The Chicago White Sox got a nice Easter gift, as the Easter Bunny was kind enough to allow the White Sox to get a win against the third place in the American League East the Boston Red Sox. The White Sox’s 8-4 victory over the Red Sox helped snapped their six-game losing streak, which was the second-longest losing streak of the season, the highest being eight games. 

Sadly, the series came with a cost: White Sox left-hander Martín Pérez was placed on the injured list with forearm tightness, which hopefully, won’t be a serious injury. Pérez was one of the only successful starters the White Sox had before he went on the injured list, and the White Sox will need others to step up to account for his lost innings. 

Thankfully, some of their players have had success on an individual level, but they haven’t been able to put it together as a team to formulate that into wins. One of those players having success is one of the White Sox bullpen arms and is emerging as one of their high-leverage relievers after being an under-the-radar acquisition this offseason. 

One Chicago White Sox offseason acquisition successful start to the year 

The White Sox have a few players who are finding success in a season mired by failure and loss. Injuries haven’t helped the White Sox, as they’ve lost pitcher-after-pitcher to Tommy John surgery, and a few of the positional players they signed during the offseason have seen time on the injured list. 

One player who has had a successful season for the White Sox amid their struggles is left-handed reliever Cam Booser, who was acquired in another trade with the Red Sox for minor-league reliever Yhoiker Fajardo. Booser is a great story, as he is in his second season in the major leagues at 32 years old after struggling to achieve his dreams after injuries derailed his career. 

Now, Booser is achieving his dream with the White Sox and is having a ton of success, as he’s pitching to a 2.00 ERA in his nine (9.0 innings) relief outings. Booser’s successful start could bode well for him and the White Sox, as this success could help facilitate a trade at the trade deadline. 

Booser is emerging as a high-leverage reliever for the White Sox 

Booser’s success is enabling manager Will Venable to feel comfortable placing him into high-leverage situations, which benefits the White Sox as they don’t have many options to turn to. Venable has primarily used Booser in the seventh inning, as he’s appeared in four games and has a 0.00 ERA in 3.1 innings, and batters have no hits against him. 

Booser, a native of Seattle, Washington, has also shown capable of pitching to both lefties and righties, naturally having more success against left-handed hitters. In four innings against lefties, he’s allowed one hit and is limiting them to a .083 batting average and striking out six, while right-handers are hitting .176 and have struck out five times against him. 

Booser’s success has come from filling up the zone with strikes, as his first-pitch strike rate is up 4.1%, going from 57.7% last season to 61.8% this season. Booser successfully getting ahead of hitters, is why he is ranked in the 94th percentile for whiff percentage (36.8%) and the 87th percentile for K percentage (32.4%). 

This also allows Booser to set up his three pitches, which complement each other well. In his arsenal, he has a four-seam fastball that averages 96.6 mph, a sweeper, and a cutter. Booser relies on his four-seam fastball the most, using it 46.5% of the time, while his sweeper (28.2%) and cutter (25.4%) get equal distribution.

Continued success for Booser could benefit him and the White Sox 

If Booser can continue dominating and finding success on the mound, he could find himself on a winning ballclub at the July trade deadline, and the White Sox could get a decent prospect back in return. Booser is still on the rookie side of his service time and is making the league minimum, which won’t hurt any team’s wallet in a trade. 

Since he’s on a league-minimum deal and has four to five years of team control left, teams will be lining up to acquire his services. Hopefully, this success will continue for Booser, as the White Sox need every decent prospect in return to help their rebuild.