Jairo Iriarte
Right-Handed Starting Pitcher
Birmingham Barons

Jairo Iriarte came to the Chicago White Sox from the San Diego Padres, too late by a sliver to be counted among our 2024 Top 100 (however, we did pencil him in at the time, around No. 10 overall). The righty arrived on the South Side after Chris Getz pulled the trigger and traded Dylan Cease right as Spring Training began.

Iriarte’s 2023 season had been very solid at High-A and Double-A for the Padres, with a 3.49 ERA on the season. If there’s one thing you need to know about Jairo Iriarte, it’s that he strikes out a lot of guys. Iriarte had the second highest amount of strikeouts (by one) in his 61 innings with the High-A Fort Wayne Tin Caps, and his 77 strikeouts happened in 33 less innings than the season leader.

Needless to say, a lot of this success transitioned very nicely after joining the White Sox organization, and Iriarte was a huge part of this summer’s Double-A Birmingham Barons’ championship-winning run. His fastball tends to sit in the mid-90s, and his arsenal also includes a changeup, as well as a slider that can dive and completely fool a batter. Iriarte’s control could definitely use some work, however, as he tends to walk a lot of batters; he led the team in walks (57, averaging just more than four per game) and accumulated a 10.7% walk rate.

Now let’s get back to the good stuff. In his 126 innings, Iriarte also led the Barons in strikeouts (122) and put up a highly serviceable 3.79 ERA alongside an efficient 3.86 FIP. The good news is that because Iriarte strikes out a lot of batters, this helps keep his WHIP right around average in spite of his walks, ending the 2024 season with the Barons racking up a 1.28 WHIP. Iriarte also averaged 8.71 K/9 and left runners on base about 72% of the time, in one game he even recorded 13 Ks in just seven innings. Iriarte is basically a strikeout machine.

Jairo got called up to the White Sox as one of the team’s two roster-expansion players at the beginning of September, and he struggled through his six innings in the relief role. While he had a 1.50 ERA, he walked eight batters to his six strikeouts, reaching a 26.7 BB% in this very small sample size. Iriarte’s pitches still proved to be efficient in some manner, as batters hit just .136 against him (three hits in six innings).

Iriarte is still just 22 years old, so he has a lot of growth yet to do and will have to work on his control heading into the 2025 season. He is also a very exciting young player who can throw junk and miss a lot of bats, and will be one to watch next year.

2024 Sox Populi White Sox Minor League All-Star Team
Ronny Hernandez (C)
Edgar Quero (C) (Player of the Year)
Caden Connor (1B)
Tim Elko (1B)
Ryan Galanie (1B)
Shawn Goosenberg (1B)
Wilmer Difo (2B)
Rikuu Nishida (2B/LF)
Brooks Baldwin (SS)
Javier Mogollón (SS)
Zach DeLoach (LF)
Mark Payton (LF)
Abraham Núñez (CF)
Mason Adams (RHSP)
Aldrin Batista (RHSP)
Jairo Iriarte (RHSP)
Jake Peppers (RHSP)
Ky Bush (LHSP)
Lucas Gordon (LHSP)
Noah Schultz (LHSP) (Pitcher of the Year)
Tyler Schweitzer (LHSP)
Drew Thorpe (RHSP)
Eric Adler (RHRP)
Adisyn Coffey (RHRP)
Bryce Collins (RHRP)
Aaron McGarity (RHRP)

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