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Aaron Bummer Trade: Scouting Reports On Every Braves, White Sox Player
The Braves entered the offseason with pitching being a top priority for their 104-win team, while the 101-loss White Sox needed to add depth to a club that lacked it under new General Manager Chris Getz.
To that end, The Braves acquired lefthanded reliever Aaron Bummer from the White Sox in exchange for a five-player package that includes depth-type big leaguers in righthander Mike Soroka, infielder Nicky Lopez, lefthander Jared Shuster and minor leaguers Braden Shewmake and Riley Gowens.
The trade frees up three 40-man roster spots for the Braves, which will certainly be a factor as the team continues to pursue upgrades to the big league club this winter.
BRAVES RECEIVE Aaron Bummer, LHPAge: 30
Bummer’s 6.79 ERA in 2023 is unsightly upon first glance, but a look under the hood confirms the Braves acquired another high-powered arm to slot in near the back of their bullpen. Among pitchers with at least 50 innings in 2023, the gap between Bummer’s 6.79 ERA and 3.58 FIP was the largest in baseball (3.21), which indicates he had quite a bit of bad luck and could be a solid regression candidate.
Originally selected in the 19th round out of Nebraska in 2014, Bummer has been a steady bullpen presence since the 2018 season. For the last six seasons, Bummer has posted a FIP between 2.40 and 3.58 with solid strikeout and ground ball rates. He mostly pitches off of a 94-95 mph sinker and low-80s sweeper slider, and in 2023 finished in the 87th percentile for whiff and strikeout rate, the 97th percentile in ground ball rate and the 99th percentile in barrel percentage. The entirety of his big league track record and pure stuff should indicate a solid bet on him hitting the under on his 2023 ERA in 2024, when he will also be upgrading from one of the worst defenses in the league to a solid one.
WHITE SOX RECEIVE Mike Soroka, RHPAge: 26
Perhaps the biggest name in this deal, Soroka is one of three former first-round picks heading to Chicago. Like most of the names here, he’s a player the White Sox are buying low on and hoping to regain some form. After being selected with the 28th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Soroka blitzed to the major leagues as a 20-year-old in 2018 and then broke out in a tremendous 2019 season, where he was named an All-Star, finished second in Rookie of the Year voting and sixth in the Cy Young. His career has been derailed with injuries thanks to back-to-back right Achilles tendon tears and he also missed time down the stretch in 2023 with forearm inflammation.
Since his tremendous 2019 season, Soroka has missed two complete seasons and thrown just 46 big league innings—without the same dominance he showed before getting injured. Soroka did pitch well with Triple-A Gwinnett this season, where he posted a 3.41 ERA over 17 starts and 87 innings along with a 25.9% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate, and his big league peripherals were a bit better than his ERA suggests. The Braves were burned by pitcher health in the postseason in 2023 and Soroka will be a free agent after the 2024 season, but the White Sox could take a shot on the righthander finally getting back to full health where he might have mid or back-of-the-rotation upside still in the tank.
Nicky Lopez, INFAge: 29
Lopez is now on his third team in less than a calendar year. He spent the bulk of his big league career in Kansas City, including a two-year stretch as a full-time player in 2021 and 2022, but settled into a bench role after Atlanta acquired him at the deadline this July. Lopez has always been a sound, versatile infielder defender dating back to his time as a Royals prospect, where he topped out as the No. 5 player in their system in 2019.
Most of his value is tied to his glove work and running ability, although he did .300 with a 104 wRC+ in 151 games in an outlier 2021 campaign. Lopez has good contact ability but he’s rather BABIP dependent, as his exit velocities typically rank near the bottom of the big leagues. Lopez can be a dependable option at shortstop for the White Sox until they’re ready to hand the reins to top prospect Colson Montgomery, and he has the ability to play other positions if needed.
Jared Shuster, LHPAge: 25
Shuster could have the highest upside of any player going to Chicago in this package considering his age and big league experience. That upside is tempered to a back-of-the-rotation starter, however, and he’ll need to find a way to miss more bats and/or sharpen his command to get there. Shuster was a first-round pick in the shortened 2020 draft after showing an uptick in velocity in a brief spring season with Wake Forest, but since entering pro ball, velocity has been more of a dream than an actualization for the lefthander.
He pitches in the low 90s and has always had a reliable changeup, which grades as plus offering, but he has tried to add more velocity to improve his slider and add to the weapons at his disposal beyond that. It was a down year for Shuster on all fronts in 2023. He posted a 5.81 ERA in 11 starts and 52.1 big league innings and didn’t do much better with Triple-A Gwinnett, where he posted a 5.01 ERA over 16 starts and 79 innings.
Braden Shewmake, SSAge: 26
Shewmake is the top prospect heading to Chicago in this deal, though his prospect cache has faded since being selected No. 21 overall in the first round of the 2019 draft. Shewmake was in competition with Vaughn Grissom last spring to make the team’s opening day roster and assume the shortstop void left by Dansby Swanson. After Orlando Arcia took the job and ran away with it, Shewmake played in just two big league games in 2023 and had the worst offensive year of his minor league career in his second campaign with Triple-A Gwinnett.
Shewmake hit .234/.299/.407 with 16 home runs and 27 stolen bases while splitting time at shortstop and second base. He is a plus runner who can play both infield positions, though scouts thought his fielding took a step back this season and his offensive ceiling has always been a question mark. He’s blocked for playing time in Atlanta, but perhaps a change of scenery could give him more big league opportunities and a chance to rediscover his first round pedigree as he enters his age-26 season.
Riley Gowens, RHPAge: 24
Not a candidate to rank on the updated Braves top 30 list, Gowens was a ninth-round senior sign for the Braves in the 2023 draft who signed for $47,500 and ranked as the No. 336 player on the BA 500. He posted a 6.30 ERA with Illinois during the spring season, but his peripherals were better than his results, and analysts liked the riding traits on his low-90s fastball that gets into the mid 90s at peak velocity. Gowens had a strong pro debut between the complex league and Low-A Augusta, where he posted a 1.15 ERA over 15.2 innings with 22 strikeouts and six walks. He spent time as a starter and reliever, and was a starter in college, but projects best as a bullpen arm moving forward.
Braves Acquire Aaron Bummer in Five-for-One Trade With White Sox
Atlanta adds to its bullpen depth to begin the offseason.
The Braves announced they have acquired White Sox reliever Aaron Bummer late Thursday night, marking one of the first major trades since the MLB offseason began. Atlanta sent five players to Chicago as part of the deal: pitchers Mike Soroka, Jared Shuster and Riley Gowens and infielders Nicky Lopez and Braden Shewmake.
Bummer endured a disappointing 2023 season, recording a 6.79 ERA in 61 games, but had previously been a staple in the White Sox bullpen. Between 2019 and ’22, the 30-year-old totaled a 2.59 ERA in 161 games out of the bullpen in Chicago, and the lefty has one year and two club options left on his contract.
Lefty reliever Aaron Bummer is going to Atlanta as part of a six-player deal.
Rick Osentoski/USA Today network
Soroka is the biggest name the White Sox are receiving in the deal, as the former All-Star went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA for Atlanta in 2019. However, he has battled injuries since tearing his right Achilles tendon in ’20, missing each of the next two seasons before struggling in his return to the majors in ’23.
Besides Soroka, Shuster is a former top Braves prospect who also struggled this season, accumulating a 5.81 ERA in 11 games, while Gowens is a 24-year-old whom Atlanta selected in the ninth round of this year’s draft. Shewmake, a strong middle infielder who’s struggled at the plate, is the best prospect going to the White Sox in the deal. Lopez is a veteran who spent parts of four seasons with the Royals before going to Atlanta in July.
The trade allows Atlanta to acquire a bullpen piece and clear roster space early in the offseason.
2023 White Sox in Review: Aaron Bummer
Aaron Bummer is counted on as the anchor of left-handed relief pitching for the Chicago White Sox. Bummer pitched dependably in 2022 despite suffering an injury-shortened season. Given his history, he seemed likely to bounce back in 2023, but the lefty ended up having the worst year of his career. The southpaw’s performance can best be described as dismal.
The former 19th-round pick is a streaky arm who’s at his best when entering a game with a clean inning. Peripheral statics such as xERA, FIP, and xFIP think highly of Bummer, as he even put together a 0.8 fWAR in 2023. However, the eye test tells a much different story. Bummer pitched to the tune of a 6.79 ERA over 58.1 innings with a 1.53 WHIP, which considerably exceeds his expected ERA of 3.53.
While Bummer did achieve his best K/9 since the 2020 COVID-shortened season, his walk rate rose to nearly a career-high while he posted an almost career-low ground ball rate. Bummer’s ability to produce ground balls on weak contact and limit walks is the key to his effectiveness. As a result, only 55.4% of runners were left stranded.
The season went sour on Bummer quickly as he entered May with an ERA over nine. While he put together a nice stretch in June, pitching to a 3.68 ERA in 7.1 innings, he couldn’t produce an ERA below six in the final three months. Particularly, the 30-year-old allowed more than half of his 45 runs in high-leverage situations, where he’s needed most.
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