Braves Trade Former Top Prospects For New Bullpen Piece

Tonight there was the biggest trade between the White Sox and the Braves. The Braves got left handed reliever Aaron Bummer while the White Sox got pitchers Michael Soroka, Jared Shuster and minor league Riley Gowen while also getting infielders Nicky Lopez and Braden Shewmake. At first it seems like this is a lot for a 30 year old reliever but let’s take another look.

Braves Return:

The Braves gave up five players for Aaron Bummer. Seems like a lot but Bummer is a very underrated lefty reliever mostly because he was stuck on the White Sox. Out of all left handed reliever Bummer ranked 12th in xFIP just above all star Josh Hader who’s set to make around $20 million a year when he signs with a new team this offseason while Bummer signed an extension in 2020 and is set to make $5.5 million next season with 2 club options for 2025 and 2026. Bummer gets a ton of ground balls and if he can lower his walk rate he could become an All Star. For a Braves team that lost lefty Tyler Matzek all of last season with Tommy John, AJ Minter their premiere lefty set to head into arb 4 and then to free agency after next season, and Dylan Lee struggling last year Bummer will really help Bummer with next season and likely until 2027.

White Sox Return:

The rebuilding White Sox got a lot of players in this deal. Firstly, the most notable Mike Soroka. The former young pitcher looked like he was set up for stardom finishing second behind Pete Alonso in Rookie of the Year voting until injuries killed his career. He first tore his achilles after running off the mound to field a routine grounder in August of 2020, in May 2021 he had surgery on the achilles after things weren’t healing right, after finally being ready to come back he re-tore it in June 2021 just walking to the stadium in Atlanta. After missing three seasons Soroka finally came back this season pitching in seven games until he was shut down again with forearm inflammation. Obviously tough injury luck for a pitcher with so much promise but when looking at the stats his seven games didn’t look very good. He got very little swings and misses and had one of the highest barrel rates in the league. His expected numbers weren’t great either with a high xBA, xERA, and xFIP. For a rebuilding team looking for innings he could try and bounce back next season or they could look to move him somewhere else this offseason.

The next pitcher the Sox got was Jared Shuster a former top 10 prospect in the Braves system according to MLB Pipeline he made his debut this season starting in 11 big league games. The lefty out of Wake Forest had a xFIP of 6.13 and didn’t show any plus pitches. Throughout the minors he was known for throwing strikes but with an 11.3% walk rate he didn’t do that a lot in the majors. He could be moved to the bullpen if he continues to struggle and doesn’t have a very high ceiling but could be a decent big leaguer for the Sox.

The last pitcher acquired was 9th round pick Riley Gowens. Gowens was drafted out of the University of Illinois this season. Gowens wasn’t great in college with a 6.30 ERA in his last season at Illinois but he climbed to low A in the Braves organization this season. At 24 he likely will have to continue climbing quickly to stay in the Sox organization

There were two infielders acquired in the trade, the first being five year veteran Nicky Lopez. Lopez was acquired at the deadline last season from the Royals for pitcher Taylor Hearn. Lopez is known for his elite defense at both short and second base as well as being a pesky hitter at the plate who doesn’t have a high exit velocity but doesn’t strike out and walks at an almost 10% rate. With the departure of longtime shortstop Tim Anderson and the White Sox constant second base problem Lopez could definitely take over as a starter until top prospect Colson Montgomery is ready some time next season.

The last player acquired in the deal was Braden Shewmake. A former top 5 prospect in the Braves system, Shewmake has looked worse and worse at the plate every season. He had a 72 wRC+ in AAA last season and got called up for two games last season. He has gotten better defensively as he’s climbed through the ranks but it’s not good enough to make up for his hitting. I don’t see anything pointing towards Shewmake becoming better in the future; he might be able to be a bench bat for the Sox next season.

All in all this looks like a win for both sides. The Braves were able to clear 4 spots on their 40 man roster of guys who were likely going to get DFA’d this offseason while also being able to be a great left handed reliever to solidify an already good bullpen. The White Sox got multiple guys they can either trade for younger minor leaguers or hope for a bounceback of their careers and move them at the deadline or maybe become a part of their future.