White Sox Demote Prized Offseason Trade Acquisition To Minors

In a surprising move, the White Sox have optioned outfielder Dominic Fletcher to AAA, per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. Veteran outfielder Rafael Ortega is coming up in Fletcher’s place. Veteran outfielder Tommy Pham is also coming up, while outfielder Kevin Pillar is departing through a DFA. Swapping out Fletcher for Ortega is the second substantial personnel shift in the White Sox outfield in less than 24 hours.

Fletcher's Disappointing Time in Chicago Thus Far

Acquired in a trade with the Diamondbacks this past February for pitcher Cristian Mena, the 26-year-old Fletcher had a nice run in a limited sample size with Arizona last season. Unfortunately, it has not carried over to Chicago thus far. He is slashing just .203/.277/.271 this season, which is just a 61 OPS+. Fletcher is roughly league average defensively per outs above average but did not show enough to stick in the majors for now.

Fletcher does have some things going for him. He is elite in sweet spot percentage and arm strength, per Baseball Savant. Despite some reasons for optimism, his strikeout rate this season is over 30%, and his hard contact percentage is below the major league average by a significant margin. These are just two aspects of his game that he must work on in AAA.

Ortega's Background

As for Ortega, the 32-year-old journeyman outfielder has played for six MLB teams. His most successful season was with the Cubs in 2021, when he hit .291 with 11 home runs in 103 games. Ortega entered the day with a .809 OPS in AAA this season.

Questionable Logic And Thought Process

While Ortega may represent an upgrade over Fletcher in the immediate short term, the logic behind this decision is questionable. Ortega is a 32-year journeyman, so it seems unlikely he will have a long-term future with the White Sox. Fletcher is only 26. The team also traded away a promising pitching prospect to acquire him not even three months ago. The fact that the White Sox traded for Fletcher indicates that the organization thinks highly of him, but they believe he still has things to work on in the minors.

The White Sox have not hesitated to send young players to AAA this season. Nick Nastrini, Oscar Colás, Jared Shuster, and Fletcher fit this category. Pedro Grifol has proved that he prefers playing veterans over young players. Prioritizing veterans over youth is likely not the correct route for a team that enters today with a 3-22 record. Now is the time to see what these young players can do at the MLB level. Instead, they rot in AAA while short-term bandaids get valuable playing time in the majors.

Final Word

It is too early to declare the Fletcher for Mena trade a loss for the White Sox. Hopefully, Fletcher will take this demotion in stride and come back to the majors better than ever soon. However, one cannot help but feel that moves like this one are out of short-term desperation and not for the long-term outlook of the young players on the team.