There isn’t a whole lot that’s gone right for the South Siders this spring. After starting the season out with a 3-and-3 record, the Sox quickly stumbled and found themselves with a hugely disappointing 10-and-22 mark, trailing the barely-above-.500 Twins by eight games. Beyond the win-loss woes, the club’s been overwhelmingly disappointing, so much so, in fact, that the fans erupted into a “Sell the Team!” chorus at the end of April. Taking a more microcosmic approach, the broadcast team questioned whether “a couple more salads would help” struggling – albeit aging – ace Lance Lynn. Or, perhaps, the team’s disappointment can be summed up succinctly by Luis Robert’s clear lack of hustle and subsequent benching.
Whichever example you prefer, it’s clear – the White Sox have been a disaster.
One of the lone bright spots, though, is coming from a slight-framed 20-year-old right-hander who’s quietly dominating Double-A.
The club’s largest pitching investment from the 2019 international signing period, Cristian Mena turned in a rollercoaster debut season two years ago as he posted a rock solid 62-to-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 48.1 innings but somehow managed to tally an ERA hovering near 8.00. Mena moved through three separate levels during his sophomore season in 2022, going from Low-A to High-A and finishing with three starts at the minors’ toughest level – Double-A.
And, once again, he would finish the year with another impressive strikeout-to-walk rate (126-to-38 in 104.1 innings of work).
Heading into this season I noted that the 6-foot-2, 200-pound youngster was “one of the most unheralded pitching prospects in the game – at least temporarily.” I capped it off with: “Chicago hasn’t been overly successful in developing young arms, particularly starting pitchers so Mena – who has all the ingredients for a Top 100 pitching prospect – will be to be a solid litmus test.”
One month into the year and Mena’s passing all the tests – with flying colors.
The Dominican-born righty opened the 2023 season with a 4-inning outing against the Tennessee Smokies, fanning nine and walking a pair (though he did give up a season high three earned runs). His next outing, a three-inning affair against Rocket City, wasn’t long but he managed to whiff six (against a pair of free passes).
Mena’s third start, though, lasted six frames as he punched out half-of-a-dozen and only surrendered two earned runs. I scouted the entirety of his fourth game – a rematch against the Smokies – and it was a dandy.
Working mainly in the 92- to 93-mph range and occasionally touching a tick higher, Mena effectively changed speeds as he threw his solid-average fastball 30.2%, his plus (albeit inconsistent) slider 30.2%, his (inconsistent) above-average curveball 22.1%, and his sneaky firm changeup 17.4% of the time.
The heater’s still on the high-end of average and may eventual spill over into above-average territory (though I’m not overly optimistic at this point). His slider shows a lot of potential but it’s problematic when he’s not finishing it. He’ll also snap off a wickedly awesome curveball from time to time. Mena’s changeup is surprisingly decent because it lacks a whole lot of velocity separation (only about 5 mph) but it’s heavy with downward movement that generated more swings-and-misses than expected (5 whiffs on 10 swings).
Mena’s ceiling isn’t overly high, but he makes up for it with a fairly high floor.
Chicago has a history of aggressive promoting young players, so a late season call up to the big leagues isn’t out of the question.
