Mena Traded to Arizona
On Saturday, February 3, the Chicago White Sox announced a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The White Sox dealt RHP Cristian Mena to Arizona for outfielder Dominic Fletcher.
Fletcher, 26, appeared in 28 games with Arizona in 2023 (over two stints), accumulating a .301 batting average with five doubles, one triple, two home runs, 14 RBI and 10 runs scored. He was originally drafted by the Diamondbacks in the 2nd round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, AR).
As for Mena, the right-hander had a solid 2023 season. The 21-year-old began the campaign ranked as the number six prospect in the Chicago White Sox system as rated by Baseball America.
OVERALL IN 2023
Mena went 8–7 with a 4.85 ERA (72 ER/133.2 IP) and 156 strikeouts in 27 starts last season between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte.
BARONS 2023
He played over two levels in 2023, starting with Double-A Birmingham. With the Barons, he posted a 7–6 record with a 4.66 ERA in 23 starts over 114.0 innings pitched.
PROMOTED
On August 29, 2023, he was promoted to the Charlotte Knights from the Barons. At the time of his promotion, he was ranked as the number 10 prospect in the Chicago White Sox system by MLB Pipeline. Additionally, his 136 strikeouts with the Barons ranked second in the Southern League at the time of the promotion. He was also among the Southern League leaders in wins (T-7th), ERA (8th), games started (T-2nd), innings pitched (2nd), average against (5th) and WHIP (7th).
IN THE QUEEN CITY
Mena made his Triple-A debut (on the same day he was promoted) and was sharp. The 20-year-old allowed just two runs over five strong innings against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. He gave up just four hits and fanned three batters. Mena was saddled with the loss despite the strong effort in his debut.
He struggled in his second start, allowing seven runs on 11 hits over 5.0 innings pitched in a no-decision against the Durham Bulls.
Mena improved over his final two starts of the season, earning his first career Triple-A win on September 19 at Memphis (W, 5.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 SO) in his final start of the year.
In all, he went 1–1 with a 5.95 ERA in four starts (19.2 IP/20 SO) with the Knights last season. For his efforts, he was added to Chicago’s 40-man roster in the offseason.
