The Astros have traded outfielder Corey Julks to the White Sox, per bulletins from each golf equipment. The Astros, who designated Julks for task final week, will obtain minor league right-hander Luis Rodriguez in return. Julks has been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. To open a 40-man spot for Julks, the Sox designated outfielder Rafael Ortega for task and recalled outfielder Dominic Fletcher to take Ortega’s spot on the lively roster.
Julks, 28, was an eighth-round decide of the Astros again in 2017 and wasn’t actually thought-about a really noteworthy prospect within the years following that choice. He put himself on the radar with a powerful 2022 season, hitting 31 residence runs and stealing 22 bases in 130 Triple-A video games. Within the hitter-friendly atmosphere of the Pacific Coast League, his .270/.351/.503 batting line led to a 108 wRC+.
That acquired him to the large leagues in 2023 however he didn’t instantly hit the bottom working within the majors. He stepped to the plate 323 occasions for the Astros final 12 months and hit .245/.297/.352 for a wRC+ of 80, although he additionally stole 15 bases and acquired strong grades for his outfield protection.
He’s been again at Triple-A this 12 months and has one other 5 residence runs and 6 extra steals in 31 video games. His 12.8% stroll price is a couple of factors larger than the 9.5% price he had in 2022. His total manufacturing this 12 months is taken into account to be round league common for the PCL, however it’s an intriguing mixture of abilities.
Regardless of the attention-grabbing stats, Julks is 28 years outdated now and was blocked by a crowded outfield combine in Houston, so that they nudged him off their roster. The White Sox have much more of a necessity and extra of a capability to take an opportunity on a participant like Julks, given their standing as a rebuilding membership.
Giving enjoying time to a veteran can yield to a constructive outcome, because the Sox only in the near past traded Robbie Grossman to the Rangers for Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa. An identical path with a participant like Ortega would have been excellent however he hit .071/.176/.071 in his 17 plate appearances for the Sox in current weeks and wasn’t trending in direction of any sort of Grossman-like return. The Sox determined it was a greater use of a roster spot to seize Julks and see how issues go along with him, whereas giving Ortega’s spot on the lively roster to Fletcher.
Julks nonetheless has two choices, that means he might probably be despatched to Triple-A for the remainder of this 12 months and yet one more. He additionally has lower than a 12 months of service time, that means he will be cheaply retained for the foreseeable future.
For now, Fletcher will share the large league enjoying time with guys like Andrew Benintendi, Tommy Pham and Gavin Sheets. Pham is on a one-year deal and shall be a commerce candidate this summer time. Sheets might maybe be on the block as nicely since he’ll attain arbitration for the primary time this winter and has been in good kind this 12 months. That might maybe open some enjoying time for Julks later within the 12 months, although the eventual return of Luis Robert Jr. from the injured listing can even be an element. Oscar Colás and Zach DeLoach are additionally on the 40-man however neither is performing particularly nicely on optionally available task proper now.
For the Astros, they’ve Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez, Chas McCormick, Jake Meyers, Mauricio Dubon, Joey Loperfido and Trey Cabbage of their outfield combine, with prospect Pedro León banging on the door as nicely. Since pitching depth is a larger concern for them, they lately grabbed Alex Speas off waivers and let go of Julks.
By doing so, they have been a minimum of in a position so as to add a pitching prospect to their system. The 20-year-old Rodriguez tossed 33 innings over 15 appearances within the Dominican Summer season League final 12 months with a 3.55 earned run common, 32.6% strikeout price and 4.3% stroll price. In January, he acquired a quick point out on the FanGraphs listing of prime White Sox prospect from Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin. They famous that Rodriguez has a fastball within the 88-90 miles per hour vary and a powerful curveball.
The Sox will now have every week to commerce Ortega or go him by way of waivers. He was signed to a minor league deal this winter and added to the roster in late April. He has acquired sporadic enjoying time which hasn’t gone nicely for him, as talked about. He has sufficient service time that he can reject an outright task and elect free company. He had a powerful season with the Cubs in 2021, hitting .291/.360/.463 whereas stealing 12 bases and spending a whole lot of time in middle area. However he hit .241/.331/.358 the following 12 months and acquired non-tendered, with solely restricted huge league appears to be like since then.
