South Side Sox Top Prospect No. 89: Tristan Stivors

If he gets healthy and stays mean, this big arm will find himself in Chicago

Tristan Stivors

Right-Handed Relief Pitcher
6´4´´
220 pounds
Age: 26
2023 South Side Sox Top Prospect Rank 35
2024 South Side Sox Top Prospect Rank 52
2023 High Level Birmingham (AA)
Age relative to high level +0.5 years
SSS rank among all right-handed relief pitchers in the system 15
Overall 2024 stats 2-0 ⚾️ 24 games (4 finishes) ⚾️ 31 IP ⚾️ 3.77 ERA ⚾️ 1.452 WHIP ⚾️ 38 K ⚾️ 21 BB

After being taken with pick No. 491 in the 2022 MLB draft, Tristan Stivors saw little time after signing his $75,000 bonus, facing just 18 batters in the ACL and at Kannapolis. That was due less to org confidence in him than a heavy workload as a Texas State University senior, as Stivors crushed the Sun Belt Conference with 18 saves in 32 games and a 2.21 ERA/1.082 WHIP, with 86 Ks in 61 innings. Those 18 saves led the nation in 2022.

Given age and experience, Stivors jumped another two levels, up to Double-A Birmingham, in 2023. His results were a bit more mixed, however. While the ERA remained on the sunny side of 4.00, Stivors’ ability to simply show up on the mound and scare the sanitary socks off of batters has waned. Walks have bloomed, and what was a WHIP barely scraping past 1.000 in college has swelled to the 1.4 level in the pros — in 2023’s case, both at High-A and Double-A.

The 2024 season brought a further slow to Stivors’ rise, with injury delaying his season start to May and return to Double-A to June. While the big-armed reliever’s numbers improved in July once he settled back in with the Barons, he may have gotten reinjured, or at least ran out of gas, with a step back in August. Stivors in fact did not pitch in September and sat out Birmingham’s two-series run to the Southern League title.

Stivors’ raw tools are still there, as how he compares (almost entirely above average) to his peers at each level of his career:

Stivors’ Baseball Cube player ratings
Strikeouts 90 (-4 from last season)
K/BB 68 (-11)
Hittable 68 (+2)
vs. Power 68 (+2)
Durability 57 (+1)
Walks 47 (-9)
Average 66.33 (-6.17)

Given his injury woes, it would seem that Stivors dips his toe back to Birmingham to start 2025, with hopes of seeing Triple-A as the season wears on. At his age, any injury or performance setback could spell doom for his dream of the majors.

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2025 South Side Sox Top 100 White Sox Prospects

100. Cole McConnell, CF
99. Drake Logan, LF
98. Marcelo Alcala, RF
97. Lyle Miller-Green, 1B
96. Jared Kelley, RHRP
95. Adrian Gil, 1B
94. Adam Hackenberg, C
93. Loidel Chapelli, 2B
92. Eddie Park, CF
91. Chase Plymell, RHRP
90. Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa, RHRP
89. Tristan Stivors, RHRP