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Nick Avila keeps on winning for Sacramento
Nick Avila
Nick Avila (43) throws a pitch during the game with Sacramento River Cats and Salt Lake Bees held at Smiths Field in Salt Lake, Utah (David Seelig/Cal Sport Media via AP Images).

While Turlock High alumnus Nick Avila was disappointed in not making the White Sox major league roster out of spring training this past March, his winning ways with the Sacramento RiverCats are giving himself another opportunity to break into the bigs in 2023.

Avila was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the Major League Baseball Rule 5 Draft in December, but wound up being returned to the San Francisco Giants organization after not earning a 26-man roster spot for the Southside club. Upon his return, Avila was assigned to Triple-A affiliate Sacramento, and with the RiverCats, has compiled 13 wins, the most in all of baseball, major or minor leagues.

The 13 victories are tied with Justin Steele of the Chicago Cubs, Taijuan Walker of the Philadelphia Phillies and Jonh Henriquez of Phillies Single-A affiliate Clearwater Threshers.

Winning in baseball is already hard enough, but Avila’s record of 13-0 thus far in 2023 is arguably even more impressive considering the fact that they all came in relief appearances.

The 26-year-old right-hander has appeared in 41 games, only starting twice. Over the 41 appearances, Avila – who features a fastball, changeup and curveball – has tossed 55 innings, punching out 48 and posting a 3.27 ERA in the process.

Avila’s record as a reliever this season may remind baseball aficionados of Elroy Face’s legendary 1959 season, in which the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer posted an 18-1 record in 57 relief appearances. It remains the record for most relief wins in a single season in Major League Baseball history.

While the former Bulldog has a shot at breaking the 18-win mark set by Face, it’s now becoming a question as to where he will have a chance to do it.

Will he stay in Sacramento and rack up all his wins in the minors, or will he be promoted to San Francisco and earn enough wins between the majors and minors to put himself in the record books? Though the latter would obviously not amount to the difficulty in which Face achieved the feat, playing the entire season at the major league level.

On Sept. 1, MLB rosters will expand from 26 to 28 players. While there is no guarantee that Avila will be called up to San Francisco at any time between now and the end of the season, even with the expanded rosters next month, Avila’s resume matches well with the big league club.

This year, the Giants lead the MLB in relief wins as a team with 40. Since the arrival of manager Gabe Kapler, they have thrown more bullpen innings than any other team in the league, mostly due to their consistent use of openers. Furthermore, the team has the sixth-most innings pitched in the entire 2023 season coming into Friday night’s slate of games with 1,022 2/3 innings. Of those innings, 516 1/3 have been thrown by relief pitchers, excluding traditional starters that appear later in games when openers are used.

Regardless if he keeps his RiverCats jersey on or exchanges it for a Giants jersey, Avila has a legitimate shot at  being the winningest pitcher in all of baseball by the time the 2023 season wraps up.