A rough debut and injury led to a disappointing first season in the organization
2024 overview
- Rating: 3.67
- Stats: 1 G, 3.0 IP, 12.00 ERA, 13.50 FIP, 2.333 WHIP, -0.2 bWAR
- Date of birth: December 21, 2002 (21 years old season)
- Earnings: Pre-arbitration
- 2025 status: On the 40-man roster, two options remaining
Early in February of this year, Mike Hazen sent fringe OF prospect Dominic Fletcher to the Chicago White Sox for their 10th ranked prospect, starting pitching prospect Christian Mena. Considering the fact that Fletcher would put up below average numbers and negative value for the White Sox at both the MLB and AAA level, and that the alternative was trading away Jake McCarthy instead, I think it’s fair to say that this was a solid move by Hazen.
As far as Mena’s actual MLB season goes, there isn’t much to say considering he only pitched three innings in his one start, giving up four runs on four hits (two HRs) and three walks, resulting in a 12.00 ERA. For a detailed look at Mena’s MLB debut, I’m going to point you in the direction of Makakilo’s excellent article earlier this year. I agree with his assessment that Mena wasn’t quite ready for the big leagues.
Mena made 19 starts in Reno, pitching 95 2⁄3 IP with a 4.61 ERA with 102 strikeouts and 46 walks. He was excellent in his first 11 starts, putting up a 3.70 ERA in the very hitter friendly PCL, but that was followed by a very rough month of June with a 7.43 ERA. After being called up for that emergency start on July 3rd, he’d put up a respectable 4.50 ERA in July, before being shut down for the rest of the year on July 30th with a forearm strain.
I don’t think that his 2024 season necessarily hurt his prospect status, but I do think that he showed a lot of promise with how he pitched in those first 11 starts. I’d be shocked if he isn’t in the rotation by the end of the next season, assuming his player development goes as expected.