White Sox Designate José Ruiz, Select Jesse Scholtens

The White Sox announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Jesse Scholtens, while fellow righty José Ruiz has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Ruiz, 28, was claimed off waivers from Padres in December of 2017 and has been with the White Sox since that time. Over his first five years with the club, he posted generally solid numbers, including a 4.17 ERA over 174 appearances. His 11.1% walk rate was a bit high, but his 23% strikeout rate and 40.6% ground ball rate were both close to league average. Unfortunately, he’s been rocked in the early going here in 2023, allowing nine earned runs already through 3 2/3 innings.

The Sox will now have a week to trade Ruiz or pass him through waivers. He passed the three-year service time mark last year, meaning that he qualified for arbitration for the first time. He and the club agreed to a salary of $925K. Since he’s over that three-year mark, if he clears waivers and is outrighted, he will have the right to reject the assignment and elect free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service time, he would have to leave that money on the table in order to hit the open market.

Scholtens, 29, cracks a major league roster for the first time after many years in the minors. He was selected by the Padres in the ninth round of the 2016 draft. He moved his way up the minors with that organization, working primarily as a starter, but never got added to their roster. Last year, he made 17 starts and 22 relief appearances in Triple-A, posting a 4.10 ERA in 83 1/3 innings. He struck out 25.4% of batters faced while walking 8.6% and getting grounders on 37.9% of balls in play. He reached free agency at the end of the season and signed a minor league deal with the White Sox.

The White Sox were roughed up a bit this week, allowing 31 runs in a three-game series against the Giants. Scholtens will give them a fresh arm in the bullpen and could perhaps serve as a multi-inning option, as James Fegan of The Athletic points out that Scholtens was stretched out during Spring Training. The righty already made one Triple-A start, tossing 74 pitchers over four innings on Saturday.