Steven Wilson Is Throwing His Way Into the White Sox’s Trust

When Chris Getz traded for Steven Wilson in a four-player swap for Dylan Cease, he thought he was getting a reliable arm for the back end of the bullpen. 

Wilson was entering his third MLB season with a career 3.41 ERA across 52 appearances. He was fresh off a productive 2023 campaign that saw him post a 3.91 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate in 53 innings for the Padres. 

However, after a disastrous 2024 campaign in which his walk rate jumped from 12% to 16%, his strikeout rate dropped to 20%, and his ERA ballooned to 5.71, he was designated for assignment by the team in February.

The move showed that Getz was not shy about cutting ties with players he acquired. But after clearing waivers, Wilson found himself back in the White Sox organization in a Charlotte Knights uniform to start the season. 

A Rocky Start and a Second Chance

The White Sox don’t have many big-name relievers on paper. However, their pen has been effective this season with a 4.28 team bullpen ERA that ranks 12th in the MLB. However, deploying relievers in the right spots has been a challenge. 

White Sox manager Will Venable has spent the first month of the season testing different arms in high-leverage roles, as he tries to figure out what he has in a bullpen filled with question marks. 

Keeping Wilson in the fold appeared to be a smart move. The 30-year-old worked his way back to the majors after allowing just one run in 5.1 frames in Triple-A Charlotte to start the season. During that stretch, he racked up 10 punchouts and only allowed one free pass. 

His early success was enough to catch the attention of the White Sox front office who selected his contract on April 16th. Wilson was immediately thrown into the fire the next day, replacing Davis Martin in the sixth ining with the White Sox trailing the Athletics 4-0. 

Wilson struck out the first batter he faced, Max Muncy, on three consecutive sweepers, then won an eight-pitch battle by getting Max Schuemann to pop out to first base.

Three days later, Venable called on Wilson in a high-leverage situation at Fenway Park, with the White Sox clinging to a 5-4 lead against the Red Sox. Wilson was handed the ball with two outs in the seventh inning and the tying run on first base. He quickly got ahead 0-2 in the count to Wiyler Abreu with a pair of sliders. Wilson went right back to the slider and got Abreu to ground out to second base to escape the jam. 

He returned to the mound in the eighth inning and fired another scoreless inning, punctuated by getting Blake Sabol to fan on a 93 mph fastball. In three innings this season, he has a spotless 0.00 ERA with three strikeouts, two walks, and just one hit allowed. 

Why Wilson Might Stick

While the sample size is very small, there is reason to believe that Wilson can be a high-leverage reliever for the White Sox. 

He has already proven he can be a reliable reliever over the course of a full season in San Diego. Last year’s numbers also suggest Wilson ran into some bad luck behind a poor defense. While he wasn’t particularly effective overall, opponents had a hard time squaring him up—posting an average exit velocity of just 86.6 mph, which would have ranked among the best marks in baseball for qualified relievers.

This season, he has increased the usage of his changeup, which he only used eight percent of the time last season. Not only is he using his changeup more, he is also throwing it harder than last season, increasing its velocity from 81 mph to 85 mph. 

He is also getting opponents to whiff at a near 35 percent clip, which is a promising sign this early in the season.  As the year progresses, don’t be surprised to see Wilson entrench himself as one of the White Sox high high-leverage arms.