No. 5 White Sox prospect checking off boxes in Fall League

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- At one point in 2021, Jake Eder looked like one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball. The Marlins' fourth-round selection in the shortened 2020 Draft after three years at Vanderbilt, the left-hander promptly took a huge step forward.

He went straight to Double-A for his pro debut and dominated, earning an invite to that summer's SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game in Colorado. With a minuscule ERA (1.77), WHIP (0.98) and average-against (.168), there was as large an up arrow next to his name as any southpaw in the Minors. But then he blew out his elbow that August and needed Tommy John surgery.

That knocked out the entire 2022 season for Eder, and then a fractured left foot delayed his return to the mound until this June. His performance, understandably, was uneven, but his three-pitch mix still gave him a pretty high ceiling, enough for the White Sox to get him in the Jake Burger trade at this year's Trade Deadline. His five starts post-trade with Double-A Birmingham were not anything worth remembering, so he was eager to get to the Arizona Fall League, make up for lost innings and head back in the right direction.

• Gameday | Complete AFL coverage

Monday night's 9-4 victory for Eder and his Glendale Desert Dogs against the Scottsdale Scorpions may not jump off the page as a dominant outing for the No. 5 White Sox prospect, but he checked off a lot of boxes in that process. Although Eder gave up three runs on four hits in the opening frame, he gave up just one more run on two additional hits after that. The 25-year-old retired the final eight batters he faced, including all four of his strikeouts, to finish with an overall positive feeling following his four-inning outing.

"Even in this situation, I'm still looking to compete," Eder said about pitching in the more low-key AFL setting. "At the same time, I'm working on a couple of things. You never want that to happen right off the bat, but I was excited about how I made an adjustment and had some things click and felt really good in those last two innings."

That adjustment was all about his lower-half mechanics, something he's been working through with Glendale pitching coach Dave Anderson (Dodgers). One of the benefits of coming to the Fall League is getting to work with instructors who haven't seen you before.

"I think a fresh set of eyes is always good," Eder said. "They can see things that someone who's been looking at you for a long time would maybe miss, or that even you yourself might miss. It's a fresh perspective, and he's been good about just keeping things really simple and working on one or two main things and building on that.

"It's been a process working on [the lower half]. For it to come together and click in a game scenario, that was cool. I was excited about that."

Eder, who was working his fastball mostly in the 93-94 mph range, said his ability to incorporate his lower half more consistently changes everything about his repertoire and how he uses it. His fastball spin efficiency was better, giving it more ride up in the zone. It helps him keep his slider and changeup on the same plane, leading to better command and more deception. Feel for pitching can often take a while for a pitcher to find following a long injury layoff, but for Eder, it's less about the ball coming out of his hand than it is the efficiency of the delivery.

"I think when my lower half and mechanical stuff click, then I have the feel," he said. "It's been focusing on consistency of that. As I get that back and can repeat those mechanics every time, which tonight I think was a big step towards that, then I have the feel for everything. That's the goal."

He also didn't offer a free pass in his four innings, which might not sound like a long outing, but keep in mind that he only went deeper than that in one of his five starts with his new organization following the trade. The zero in the walk column definitely felt good to the 25-year-old after walking eight guys over his first 8 1/3 innings in Arizona.

"No one wants to walk guys, that's just free bases and not competitive," Eder said. "That's a good result, but at the end of the day, that's not my focus. The focus is making the mechanics repeatable, making everything consistent, then the walks and all that stuff will take care of itself.

"It's a competitive league, but it's also a time to work on some other stuff and develop a little bit. For me, it's getting myself to a spot where I feel like everything is grooving and I'll be ready to go in Spring Training in 2024."

Glendale's offense provided more than enough to give Eder the win, the Desert Dogs' seventh straight. Fifth-ranked Mets prospect Kevin Parada's opposite field two-run homer in the fifth snapped a 4-4 tie and then Twins No. 19 prospect Kala'i Rosario hit a two-run moon shot and Red Sox shortstop Tyler McDonough followed with a solo homer to break the game open in the seventh.