South Side Hit Pen Top Prospect 51: Jason Bilous
Back-end bonus: Bilous appears to have a promising future as a short man out the bullpen. (Coastal Carolina University)
Jason Bilous
Right-Handed Starting Pitcher
6´2´´
185 pounds
Age: 22
SSHP rank among all right-handed starting pitchers in the system: 9
2019 SSS Top Prospect Rank: 79
Jason Bilous was ranked among the Top 200 draft prospects by MLB Pipeline prior to the 2018 draft, but slipped to the 13th round due to concerns about his control. His fastball was graded 65, slider 55, changeup 50 and control 40 by MLB Pipeline at the time.
Bilous, in his junior season with Coastal Carolina, fanned a whopping 103 hitters but walked an incredibly-high 66; Bilous' 7.13 BB/9 rate in 2018 for the Chanticleers was nearly identical to his overall college rate of 7.12. Upon being drafted, Bilous was immediately inserted into the Great Falls rotation, where he suffered through a 7.81 ERA and 1.95 WHIP, with 46 hits (.324 OBA) and 24 walks (13.9%) while striking out 31 (17.9%) in 39 innings.
The 2019 season in Kannapolis was kinder to Bilous, as his ERA and WHIP improved to 3.70 and 1.39 respectively in his 31 appearances (17 starts) spanning 104 ⅔ innings. Opponents hit just .220 against this year, while he improved his strikeout rate to 24.5%. Bilous' walk rate did improve a bit, but was still way too high at 13.2%.
Bilous is athletic but has a long arm action in the back of his delivery that hampers him from repeating his release point and keeping his mechanics in sync. It's that which hampers his control, which could ultimately force him into a bullpen role going forward. Bilous' ERA out of the bullpen this year was 2.86 compared to 4.01 as a starter. Thanks to his ever-improving changeup, lefties hit just .184 against him while righties fared better at .242.
If Bilous ever finds that release point, he could move up the system quickly. In the meantime, he may begin next season at hitting-friendly Winston-Salem.
I'm the writer formerly known as WSM20051917. Despite my entire family being Cub fans, I grew up listening to Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall on the radio as I listened to the entire season of the South Side Hit Men of '77. While it's true I have a myriad of other interests (American history, classic literature, classic rock, classic country, blues, jazz, gardening, family, etc.—not all in that order), few things aside from family surpass my interest in all things baseball — especially the White Sox.