White Sox DFA Their Worst Pitcher

It is great to see the Chicago White Sox dumping their worst pitcher after just one week of the regular season, but even after pitching a total of 3.2 innings, it was painfully clear that right-handed reliever José Ruiz had no place in the bullpen.

On Friday morning, the White Sox announced that they designated Ruiz for assignment, getting him off the team’s active roster. The 28-year-old pitcher is being replaced by Jesse Scholtens.

Ruiz began the 2023 season with a scoreless inning of relief against the Houston Astros in the team’s second game. However, the righty proceeded to give up nine earned runs in 2.2 innings in the next three appearances. That included giving up three home runs and seven earned runs against the San Francisco Giants this week.

Ruiz has a career 4.53 ERA in 178 appearances, 177 of which have come with the White Sox since 2018.

This past offseason, the White Sox decided to bring back Ruiz, tendering him a contract and agreed to pay him $925K for the 2023 season. It was somewhat of a surprise because Ruiz hasn’t necessarily been a solid reliever, doing his best work in low leverage situations. But maybe the White Sox sticking with him shows the lack of options or maybe it is the lack of confidence in the options they have in the minor leagues.

Last year, Ruiz had a 4.60 ERA and 1.42 WHIP in 63 relief outings. There is always going to be one pitcher in the bullpen who is tasked to eat innings in blowouts and that was basically Ruiz’s role for a few years now. There were times Ruiz was trusted in high leverage spots and as White Sox fans, that did not work out most of the time. His best season with the White Sox came in 2021, when Ruiz had a 3.05 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in 59 games, striking out 63 batters in 65 innings.