Chicago White Sox Pitcher Jesse Scholtens Tears UCL, Set to Undergo Tommy John Surgery

The Chicago White Sox have placed right-handed pitcher Jesse Scholtens on the 60-day injured list with a torn UCL in his right elbow, the team announced Tuesday.

The news came delivered alongside confirmation that the White Sox had traded right-handed pitcher Matthew Thompson to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for left-handed pitcher Bailey Horn. By placing Scholtens on the injured list, Chicago freed up enough room on its 40-man roster to acquire Horn.

According to Sox Machine's James Fegan, Scholtens will undergo Tommy John surgery on Friday, virtually knocking him out for the remainder of 2024.

Scholtens did not appear in any Cactus League games down at Spring Training prior to his injury.

The #WhiteSox have acquired LHP Bailey Horn from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for RHP Matthew Thompson. To make room for Horn on the 40-man roster, the White Sox placed RHP Jesse Scholtens on the 60-day injured list with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) February 27, 2024

Scholtens, 29, made his MLB debut last season. He tossed 85.0 innings across 26 games for the White Sox, drawing starts in 11 of those outings.

By the time his rookie season was done, Scholtens was 1-9 with a 5.29 ERA, 1.529 WHIP and 6.1 strikeouts per nine innings. His WAR remained positive, though, coming in at 0.3.

Scholtens took the long road to the big leagues, starting out at Arizona before transferring to Diablo Valley College and eventually Wright State. The righty tossed a perfect game at Wright State in 2016, and he got drafted by the San Diego Padres that summer.

Before he got called up to Triple-A in 2018, Scholtens was 14-14 with a 3.13 ERA in his professional career. From that point on, however, Scholtens' production has been a lot more spotty, as he now sits at 29-41 with a 4.27 ERA in his minor league career.

Scholtens won't be able to return to action until next year, meaning he will have to wait an extended period of time before he starts to string together a comeback campaign.

As for the White Sox, they will likely have to introduce another new face into an already significantly overturned pitching staff. Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka and Chris Flexen are new to the starting rotation, while John Brebbia, Tim Hill and Jesse Chavez are among the notable offseason additions to Chicago's bullpen.

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