CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox have selected the contracts of two minor league pitchers to add toward the 40-man roster Tuesday.
The contract selection of left-hander Jake Eder from the Class AA Birminham Barons, and right-hander Cristian Mena from the Class AAA Charlotte Knights, brought the White Sox 40-man roster to 37 in total.
Aside from preparing to chase after big name free agents, the reason why Major League Baseball teams are also adding minor leaguers to their 40-man roster at this time of year is to protect their most coveted prospects from the Rule 5 Draft that happens next month.
Eder, 24, combined to go 2-6 with a 6.35 ERA and 70 strikeouts over 14 starts, good for 11.1 K's per nine innings pitched, between Class A Jupiter and Class AA Pensacola in the Miami Marlins organization, and with Birmingham in Chicago's minor league system last season. He was acquired by Chicago from Miami in exchange for third baseman Jake Burger on Aug. 1. Eder also made six appearances (five starts) with the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League in 2023, striking out 16 batters over 17.2 IP.
A native of Boynton Beach, Florida, Eder has a career minor league record of 5-11 with a 3.80 ERA and 169 K's over 128 IP. Originally selected in the fourth round out of Vanderbilt University in the 2020 MLB Amateur Draft, Eder is rated as the No. 5 prospect in the White Sox minor league system and No. 8 left-handed pitching prospect in baseball.
Mena, 20, went a combined 8-7 with a 4.85 ERA and 156 strikeouts over 27 starts and 133.2 IP between Birmingham and Charlotte last season. He finished 15th among all minor-league pitchers in strikeouts and ranked among the White Sox organizational leaders in strikeouts (1st), IP (1st), starts (T-1st) and wins (T-2nd).
The San Francisco de Macorís, Dominican Republic native has gone 11-17 with a 4.97 ERA (158 ER/286.1 IP) and 344 strikeouts (10.8 per 9.0 IP) in 64 career games (63 starts) over three minor-league seasons in the White Sox organization. Mena is ranked by MLB.com as the No. 10 prospect in the White Sox system. He originally was signed as an international free agent on July 2, 2019.