Before Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Giants, manager Will Venable talked about how some of the young guys on his team have injected a bit of energy into the squad this year and the positive effect that has had on the veterans. Together, that’s helped lead to a White Sox team that is “fun bad” and on a slightly better winning pace than last season.
The second game of this weekend’s series showcased some of both. Veteran Andrew Benintendi provided the lone run on a solo homer in the sixth inning that slipped past Mike Yastrzemski’s outstretched glove and into the visitors’ bullpen in right field, but it was a pair of Sox pitchers — one veteran and one rookie — who carried the team to its 27th win of the season.
Adrian Houser, a 32-year-old ten-year veteran picked up on waivers from the Rangers in May, threw seven scoreless innings that lowered his season ERA to 1.90, and 23-year-old Grant Taylor struck out two and didn’t allow a baserunner while notching a two-out save in just his eighth major league appearance since being called up from Double-A Birmingham on June 10.
“Those guys made my job easy,” Venable said.
Houser, whose career looked to be on a steady downturn since he posted a 3.22 ERA for the Brewers in 2021, has attracted attention this season not just for the numbers he’s putting up, but also because his velocity is ticking upward. Just compared to last season, every pitch in Houser’s arsenal is up anywhere between 1.5 to two miles per hour while also generating higher spin rates across the board.
It’s been years since Houser has pitched like this, and in seven starts with the Sox, Houser has gone from looking like a stopgap pickup to eat some innings to a bonafide trade piece at the deadline who could fetch the Sox a decent return prospect-wise.
“As far as mechanically and everything that I’ve put into the work I did in the offseason, I’d say I’m definitely in a better spot, feeling a lot better,” Houser said. “I put a pretty good run in there in ’21. So it’s up there. I’m just trying to work on the stuff I’m trying to do, make sure my mechanics are in the right spot, where I need them to be to be able to execute pitches.”
Edgar Quero, still somewhat fresh to the major leagues himself, has caught in all but one of Houser’s starts this year. He said the key to Houser’s success against the Giants on Saturday was the way he used his sinker and curveball, especially in keeping some tough San Francisco lefties, like Rafael Devers, off balance.
“Every time I’m behind the plate with him is special,” Quero said.
And then there’s the fireballing Taylor. It’s not yet been three weeks since Taylor got his call to the show, and he has already handled multiple pitching roles. His future might be as a starter, but for Saturday afternoon at least, his job was the shut down the Giants for six outs while protecting a one-run lead.
“He’s got a great feel,” Venable said. “He’s got multiple pitches he can throw for strikes. He’s got all good stuff. He’s one of those guys, everything is plus but if he doesn’t have a feel for something he’s going to be able to use different pitches to navigate tough hitters.”
Handling two innings is less daunting for Taylor because of his experience as a starter, but it also helps to have triple-digit heat. He threw 31 pitches against the Giants, and seven of those were over 100 miles per hour and 17 were at least 99.
But Taylor is more than just a thrower; he drew praise from Venable and Quero for his skills as a pitcher in Saturday’s game. His success was more than just about throwing heat.
“I mean that’s the goal, trying to execute pitches,” Taylor said. “I throw hard, got good stuff. But again, still gotta execute. So you know, I like being called a pitcher.”
There’s a little extra juice when throwing high leverage innings like the eighth and ninth, especially with a one-run lead, but Taylor fed off of that energy on Saturday.
“It just adds a little bit more adrenaline for sure,” Taylor said. “You’re a little bit more amped up because one swing could blow the save for you, blow the save for your team. So I think it’s a lot of fun being out there.”
Both pitchers have had impressive stretches since joining the Sox this season, but Houser and Taylor are at different stages of their careers. Houser is a ten-year veteran who will probably provide the Sox the most value via trade in about a month, a testament to the professional rebound he’s enjoying thanks to the hard work he put in this offseason. But Taylor is easy to project as an important part of the Sox pitching plans for years to come. For the next few weeks, however, Sox fans can probably enjoy seeing them work in tandem at least a few more times like they did on Saturday.
