The White Sox turned a strong start from pitching prospect Jackson Nove into a toolsy outfielder with power, speed, and a clearer path to future opportunity in Chicago.
Swept under the rug by the weekend’s Crosstown Classic, the Chicago White Sox made a trade on Saturday afternoon that could impact the big league outfield mix in the near future.
Chicago traded right-handed pitching prospect Jackson Nove to the Athletics for outfielder Junior Perez.
Nove was an undrafted free agent signing by the White Sox back in 2025 and has seen his first professional action this season.
In 23 innings for Low-A Kannapolis, the 23-year-old has a 1.96 ERA and 41 strikeouts. He’s been lights out, and the White Sox jumped at the opportunity to repurpose that hot start to fill a different organizational need. They also took advantage of the logjam the Athletics currently have in the outfield.
Perez, 24, was the No. 20 ranked prospect in the A’s farm system prior to the deal.
Splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A in 2025, Perez hit 26 home runs and 29 doubles, drove in 87 runs, and stole 27 bases. His Triple-A OPS was 1.054 in 2025. But with Tyler Soderstrom, Denzel Clarke, Lawrence Butler, Carlos Cortes, Colby Thomas, and now Henry Bolte, the No. 5 prospect in the organization who had 12 home runs in 37 Triple-A games this season before being called up, all in the big league outfield mix, there isn’t room for Perez on the 40-man roster, let alone a clear path to playing time.
And to be fair, Perez has opened 2026 off to a slow start thus far. He’s batting .210 with five home runs, 19 RBIs, four stolen bases, and a .657 OPS.
There’s a lot of swing and miss in the offensive profile, and the walk rate isn’t good enough to justify it. But there’s also a ton of raw power and bat speed, which has been a theme of the players the White Sox have taken flyers on under this regime.
Perez also has a ton of speed and plays a tremendous center field from a defensive standpoint. That could be important moving forward, with many of Chicago’s standout outfielders being more natural fits in the corners.
The White Sox assigned Perez to Triple-A Charlotte. He'll likely make his organizational debut on Tuesday.
This is a pretty fun swing at upside by the White Sox. There’s so much talent in the organization when it comes to infielders. The White Sox may even have more than they can keep long term. But outside of Braden Montgomery, and maybe now Sam Antonacci now that he’s taking his MLB reps in left field, the future outlook for the White Sox outfield is pretty wide open.
This is a creative move by Chris Getz and the front office to repurpose assets and bring in a player with really loud tools who could contribute before too much longer.