Fun-loving Martin Perez setting tone for White Sox' rotation

Veteran left-hander Martin Perez’s belief that big things are possible for the 2025 White Sox likely puts him in the minority.

‘‘Something can happen,’’ he reiterated Saturday.

But there’s no doubting the impact Perez is having on the pitching staff.

Perez has a sub-2.00 ERA, even after giving up a couple of runs Saturday against the Red Sox, but his main contribution has been as a guiding force and tone-setter for an otherwise-youthful rotation.

‘‘He’s constantly talking to the pitchers,’’ pitching coach Ethan Katz said. ‘‘The way he goes about his business, it’s great. He likes to have a lot of fun while taking his craft very seriously.’’

Indeed, ‘‘fun’’ seems to be a primary descriptor for Perez, 34. Not that this group didn’t already have a light tone, thanks in part to departed left-hander Garrett Crochet’s leadership last season. But Perez’s fun-loving nature has stood out, even with the Sox off to a poor start.

‘‘The tone gets set with Martin because he has a good time,’’ right-hander Davis Martin told the Sun-Times on Saturday. ‘‘There’s a time to be serious, a time to do your job. At the same time, there’s also a time to really relish the fact that you’re up here and you get to have fun with some of your best friends.

‘‘One of his first or second [spring-training] outings, he gave up a couple of runs. He came in and said, ‘Ah, my neck! I need to ice my neck tomorrow!’ We all start laughing. And that shows his veteran leadership. He knows there’s a long course to this season and there’s plenty of time to get better. There’s a time to laugh, there’s a time to be serious.’’

Three spins through the rotation, Perez also has some of the best numbers on the staff. He has a 1.59 ERA with a team-high 18 strikeouts. If he keeps it up, general manager Chris Getz could use him to bolster the farm system at the trade deadline.

While he’s here, however, he’s having an effect on guys who might be part of the Sox’ future.

‘‘He loves playing baseball, and the guys feed off that,’’ Katz said. ‘‘It lightens the pressure. There’s a lot of pressure on these guys. They’re trying to establish themselves in the big leagues.

‘‘When you have somebody that goes about it [like Perez does], it really opens up their spirit, their mind, and [allows them to] not have to [feel] like everything’s falling down on them when things start getting tough. And you use those moments and see how veterans go about it, it helps.’

Back behind the plate

Matt Thaiss caught Sunday after sitting out the first two games of the series against the Red Sox. He was hit with a pair of backswings while catching Thursday in Cleveland.

‘‘Certainly the couple of knocks contributed to it — he’s fine, he doesn’t have anything going on because of that — but, just in general, that last start was a lot,’’ manager Will Venable said Saturday. ‘‘It just gives us an opportunity to give him a couple of days [off].’’

Thaiss entered Sunday with the second-highest OPS on the Sox’ active roster at .738.

Trade talks tabled

According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Sox and Dodgers have ‘‘tabled’’ talks of a trade that would send center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to Los Angeles for outfielder James Outman and a ‘‘front-line prospect.’’

Robert figures to be the subject of rumors leading up to the trade deadline, but he needs to turn in better offensive numbers if he’s going to provide Getz with an opportunity to boost the farm system in a trade. Otherwise, the return might not be as much as the Sox hope as they continue their long-term rebuild.

Robert hit a game-tying home run Saturday against the Red Sox, snapping a 46-game homerless streak. After the Sox’ loss Sunday, in which he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, he’s hitting .163/.250/.245 with 16 strikeouts in 49 at-bats.

Top prospects on the mound

The Sox’ top two prospects each started in a doubleheader Saturday at Double-A Birmingham and had vastly different results.

Left-hander Noah Schultz struck out six in five scoreless innings and is up to 11 strikeouts in nine innings this season.

Left-hander Hagen Smith got only two outs, throwing 33 pitches while allowing two runs, two hits and two walks against six hitters. Smith has walked six in 4 2/3 innings this season.