#61 - Jesus Pena

This will be a fairly easy task. I can safely say that the best player to wear number 61 on the White Sox is Jesus Pena. He played in 46 games for the White Sox between 1999 and 2000. His ERA was over 5 for both years.

Jesus originally was signed by the Pirates in 1993. The White Sox drafted him from the Pirates in a minor league draft in 1996.

Jesus' strikeouts and walks were around the same amount each year. He was the extra bullpen guy. He had the stuff to get the job done, but you didn't call on him too much. The more exposure he had to lineups, the more he was going to get hit. Plus, he was a lefty. Southpaws almost always got to hang around longer on the Sox for the sole reason that they were left handed.

In the heat of a pennant race, the White Sox dealt Jesus to the Red Sox for a player to be named later, in late September 2000. The player to be named came in March of the next year. Jesus only played in 2 games for the Red Sox in 2000. Those were his last two games in the majors.

The White Sox got right handed pitcher Mike Rupp in return. He never made it past A+ ball and was out of baseball after 2002.