When the White Sox signed Dan Altavilla to a minor-league deal in December, it barely made a ripple. But six months later, the 32-year-old right-hander has quietly emerged as an effective reliever out of the White Sox bullpen.
Altavilla joined the White Sox in spring training as a non-roster invitee, bringing with him experience from 124 major league appearances over seven seasons. But his career has been riddled with injuries, including multiple UCL strains and a forearm issue that led to Tommy John surgery and sidelined him for the entire 2022 season. He also missed a significant portion of last year after landing on the 60-day injured list with an oblique strain.
Altavilla began the season with the Charlotte Knights but was released in May. Just six days later, on May 30, the White Sox re-signed him to a new deal. Since joining the big league club, the right-hander has appeared in 13 games out of the bullpen, posting a 1.84 ERA across 14.2 innings with 10 strikeouts and a 1.02 WHIP.
On Sunday, Altavilla entered in the sixth inning with the White Sox down by one and delivered 1.1 scoreless frames, highlighted by a strikeout of Rafael Devers on a 94 mph changeup.
Despite a dip in his strikeout rate and a somewhat elevated walk rate, Altavilla has consistently delivered scoreless outings.
Sunday marked the 11th scoreless outing of the season for Altavilla, thanks in large part to pounding the strike zone. On Sunday, he threw 14 of his 22 pitches for strikes, pushing his season strike rate to 64%.
Despite the high strike rate, Altavilla has walked 10.5% of the batters he's faced this season, but he's managed to limit the damage by inducing soft contact and keeping the ball on the ground. Opponents are averaging just 88 mph in exit velocity against him, with a 35.9% hard-hit rate and a 46.2% ground ball rate.
When healthy, Altvilla has shown that he has a lively arm. Last season, his fastball averaged nearly 97 mph with the Royals. That has carried over into this season, with his 95.6 mph fastball velocity ranking in the MLB’s 77th percentile.
It’s still a limited sample size, but the early returns have been positive. Once an overlooked minor-league signing, he’s now proving to be a reliable arm in the White Sox bullpen. If he can stay healthy and continue inducing weak contact with his high-velocity fastball and sharp secondary pitches, Altavilla could cement his role as a valuable middle-inning option—and perhaps one of the more underrated pickups for the White Sox season.
