Even though the Chicago White Sox are in the midst of their fourth consecutive losing season, there is one bright spot for the team and a country this year. 2016 has been special for left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana. The number two pitcher in the White Sox starting rotation has reached a few milestones this year. The Arjona, Colombia native has a career best for regular season earned run average (2.84), a career-low in total earned runs for the season (52), and made his first-career All-Star appearance.
However those aren’t the biggest achievements for the 27-year-old. When he was named an American League All-Star earlier this season he became only the third Colombian to take part in the mid-summer classic (Atlanta Braves pitcher Julio Teheran and retired shortstop Edgar Renteria are the other two). The biggest accomplishment of all however came back on Sunday August, 21st. On that day against the Oakland Athletics, Quintana reached 10 regular season wins for the first time in his major league career.
Quintana has been pitching in Major League Baseball since 2012, all of them with the Sox. Throwing a hard fastball combined with a slick curveball and deceptive changeup, opposing teams have had a very difficult time scoring runs against him over the years. Unfortunately 10 victories have always eluded him in previous seasons due to the lack of run support from the White Sox offense. But this year the Sox have done just enough to finally help Quintana reach double-digit wins.
“It feels good,” said Quintana about finally cracking the 10-win mark. “Now the focus is to help the team and try to get more wins,” he added.