Black Sox Beat Writer
Chicago Sports Online
The Chicago Black Sox announced Monday that reliever Mitchell Purssell had won the team’s “Newcomer of the Year Award,” edging out rookie SP Romeu Tameiro for the honor.
Mitchell Purssell
Romeu Tameiro
Although the price was high, there’s no question that Purssell was a transformative figure for the Sox pitching staff. Pitching Coach David Brown announced the formation of the “Four Horsemen of the Calumet,” which involved naming Purssell, Gilberto Sosa, Francisco Salgado and Gilberto Cordero, as stoppers and high leverage specialists who would get the call when the game was on the line.
That move meant a dramatic increase in the number of innings pitched by the “Horsemen” and meant the team’s best pitchers were on the mound more often and especially when it counted most.
And the Horsemen all responded: Sosa threw 147.2 innings with a 2.62 ERA; Salgado threw 82.2 innings with a 2.83 ERA; and Cordero notched 72.1 IP with a 2.61 ERA.
And Purssell?
He threw 71.1 innings with a 1.77 ERA and 3.7 WAR in roughly two-thirds of a season.
“Mitchell turned the season around, plain and simple,” said Brown. “Bringing him aboard gave us the flexibility to put pitch counts on all of our starters and to bring some of the best relievers in the league into game after game.
“Without Mitchell, I have no doubt Chicago would have been a playoff also-ran.”
Even so, Manager Julian Negrete said the choice for best newcomer was not easy given the season turned in by rookie SP Romeu Tameiro, who went an eye-popping 15-1 with a 3.75 ERA.
“Believe me, in most years that kind of season would have made Romeu a shoo-in for this award,” Negrete said. “But there was just no getting around the difference Mitchell made for us after he arrived.”
Purssell said he was just gratified to land with a winning team that needed him.
“That playoff chase was fun – that’s why you play,” he said. “I’m looking forward to doing it again this season.”
The Horsemen, he said, are champing at the bit to ride again in ’45.