White Sox’s 29-Year-Old Rookie Jesse Scholtens Puts Any Backup Plan On Hold

The average fan sees the glitz and glamour of Major League Baseball.

Superstar players make big money – New York Mets pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander will be paid over $43 million this season — while even the lower-rung players have a minimum salary of $720,000. Teams travel by charter flights, surpassing the hassles of airports, and stay in five-star hotels during road trips.

Then there are guys like Chicago White Sox pitcher Jesse Scholtens who don’t live the charmed lives of some professional ballplayers.

That is why Scholtens could not stop smiling after he was called up to the major leagues from Triple-A Charlotte on Friday, one day after his 29^th birthday, an age when many players in his situation have moved on to “the real world.”

The San Diego Padres selected Scholtens in the ninth round of the 2016 amateur draft from Wright State University after he began his collegiate career at the University of Arizona.

Scholtens spent seven years in the Padres’ farm system before becoming eligible for free agency at the end of last season. He signed with the White Sox, though he was at an age where he was no longer considered a prospect while facing the prospect that time was running out on his dream of making it to the big leagues.

“Playing through the first full minor-league contract then having to deal with COVID and I spent that whole year at home,” Scholtens said, referring to the 2020 minor-league season being canceled because of the pandemic. “I wasn’t sure what baseball was going to have in store for me at that point. All those years, a lot of ups and downs. Is it going to happen? Is it not going to happen? What’s my backup plan? What am I going to do?”

Yet Scholtens stuck with it and his reward finally came Friday when he pitched the final three innings of the White Sox’s 13-9 loss to the Pirates in Pittsburgh. He allowed only one run but, more importantly, helped save an overtaxed bullpen that had been stretched thin when the White Sox lost to the San Francisco Giants 16-6 a day earlier and even more so when starter Lucas Giolito lasted just
just
four innings Friday.

Scholtens actually got the news of his promotion late Thursday night after Charlotte had played the Cleveland Guardians’ Columbus farm club in an International League road game. Scholtens was summoned to the manager’s office by Justin Jirschele.

“I had a little feeling this might be it and he kept talking about my pitching schedule and all I could keep thinking was c’mon Jirsch say those magic
magic
words for me,” Scholtens said with a grin. “And he did and now we’re here and it’s exciting.”

First-year White Sox manager Pedro Grifol seemed just as excited as Scholtens about the promotion.

“There’s a lot of news we have to deliver in baseball that’s not good,” Grifol said. “When you get an opportunity to deliver news like that, it’s great to see the reactions. It’s a really hard game to play. It’s hard to get to the big leagues. It’s hard to stay in the big leagues.

“When guys get here they become one of how many guys played in the big leagues. And the percentage of guys who get there is really small. There are a lot of Little Leaguers playing with this dream, right? Today he was able to realize his dreams.”