Surprising cuts hit the White Sox. Lamonte Wade Jr., Lucas Sims, and Ryan Borucki are gone despite strong spring performances.
The Chicago White Sox cut down their roster even more on Friday afternoon.
The White Sox released four players as part of their roster cuts. They released right-handed pitchers Lucas Sims and Austin Voth, left-hander Ryan Borucki, and infielder Lamonte Wade Jr.
It is a bit surprising to see Wade, Sims, and Borucki all part of the latest roster cuts. All three players have performed well this spring, and all three were on the roster bubble ahead of Opening Day.
Wade’s release comes on the heels of his best offensive game of the spring. The 32-year-old went 2-for-2 with two home runs, three RBI, and three walks in the White Sox’s 13-6 loss on Thursday evening. Both of his homers in that game came off Padres starter Michael King.
The seven-year veteran was putting together a nice overall spring. He batted .289 with three home runs, three doubles, nine RBI, and two stolen bases across 15 games. Wade also had an impressive 13.8% barrel rate, an 18.4% walk rate, and a 51.7% hard-hit rate in 50 plate appearances.
Two other players having impressive springs were Sims and Borucki. Both were released on Friday after signing Minor League deals with the team in the offseason, and both were signed on as non-roster invitees.
There was a chance that one of those two pitchers was going to make the White Sox’s Opening Day roster. We recently predicted that Sims was going to earn a roster spot here at White Sox Roundtable.
However, the South Siders decided to let him go despite a solid spring showing. Sims didn’t allow a run across five strong innings. He gave up just three hits, issued three walks, and struck out seven batters in his five appearances.
While the three walks led to a 15% walk rate, Sims had a 0% barrel rate, an 84.1 mph average exit velocity, a 20% hard-hit rate, and a 31% whiff rate in his limited innings. Those metrics are why it comes as a surprise that Sims has been released.
Then, there’s Borucki, who was pitching his way into a roster spot. He threw six scoreless innings with three hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts across six spring appearances. The southpaw had a 38.2% whiff rate and a 30% chase rate in those games.
The problem for Borucki, though, was that the White Sox already had three lefties out of the bullpen. It was announced earlier this week that Chris Murphy made the team, and both Tyler Gilbert and Sean Newcomb were locks to make the roster.
These four moves leave the White Sox with 36 players remaining in camp as the regular season nears.