The White Sox's first trade deadline domino has fallen, as they have traded Austin Slater to the Yankees for minor league righty Gage Ziehl.
Will Robertson, the freshly minted International League Player of the Week, has been called up to take Slater's place on the 26-man roster.
Ziehl is a 22-year-old, 6-foot righty the Yankees drafted out of Miami in the fourth round last year, signing for a little above slot. He has a 4.15 ERA over 82⅓ innings this season, most of which have come in Low-A, although he made his South Atlantic League debut last time out, so Winston-Salem was the intuitive landing spot in the White Sox system. The team has confirmed that Ziehl will join the Dash.
“We are very excited to add Gage to the system," Sox farm director Paul Janish said in a statement. "Our pitching group is excited about his arsenal and his potential to be a starter at the major-league level. Personally, I love his reputation as a fierce competitor.”
While his slider has been his best pitch when combing through his scouting reports, it doesn't show up his splits, as he's been tougher on lefties this year:
- vs. RHB: .281/.325/.419 over 228 PA
- vs. LHB: .254/.286/.325 over 119 PA
"Don't know a lot about Gage," said Will Venable. "Just looked at some video, looks like a cutter, sweeper profile, a right-handed pitcher out of Miami. So, excited about him."
Heading New York's way is Slater, who was twice traded last July, and found a taker at this year's deadline on the strength of his ability to hit left-handed pitching. He's a league-average bat on the whole (.236/.299/.423, 99 OPS+), but that's because injuries in the White Sox outfield pressed him into duties against right-handed pitching more often than advised. Slater is whomping on lefties, hitting .261/.338/.522 and accounting for all five of his homers.
"Hopefully the fans and you guys, the media, have seen improvements little by little every day," Slater said of the White Sox. "There’s some really exciting players in this clubhouse and some guys who can be building blocks for this organization moving forward. Hopefully, I was able to help a little bit."
When Slater signed his one-year, $1.75 million deal with the White Sox back in November, he elicited eye rolls from jaded fans when he said the front office "told me I was their top target." Left out of the pitch was "under extremely modest conditions," but he effectively fit the bill as the short side of a right field platoon that's both cheap and average-ish, and now he's been traded for an age-appropriate pitching prospect, so it's safe to say that he achieved what the White Sox had envisioned.
Venable said there will be more lineups with both Mike Tauchman and Andrew Benintendi playing against left-handing pitching going forward, but that Slater's departure could also open up playing time for Brooks Baldwin.
In other deadline news, the White Sox scratched Adrian Houser from his scheduled start this afternoon against the Phillies. Tyler Alexander will be taking his place.
"With Houser, we were transparent with him, just the market around him and the potential for a trade," Venable said. "Just thought it was in everyone's best interest to switch starters today."
