White Sox GM Chris Getz spoke highly of the team’s newly acquired pitching prospect following Sunday’s trade.
“When it comes to David Sandlin, he’s a guy we believe has mid-rotation, if not better, type arsenal and stuff. Time will tell. He’s just worked his way up to the upper minors, and he’s going to come into spring training and compete for a spot. Most importantly, he’s got a chance to really impact our starting rotation this year.”
Sandlin was the headliner of the White Sox’s latest move, which was centered around right-handed reliever Jordan Hicks in a salary dump by the Red Sox. Leading up to the deal, Boston had been receiving calls about their pitching depth and decided to move on from Hicks while retaining only a portion of his salary. With the White Sox agreeing to take on $16 million of the $24 million Hicks is owed over the next two seasons, they were able to land Sandlin, two players to be named later, and cash considerations.
Getz says he considers the right-handed pitching prospect as part of the return for Luis Robert Jr., who the White Sox just offloaded to the Mets a few weeks ago. The team used what was freed up from the center fielder’s owed $20-million salary to make this acquisition and several others this past week, adding a potential piece to their rotation for the foreseeable future.
“We view that [with] Sandlin, we get an opportunity to get six years of a controllable starting pitcher, one of the Red Sox’s top prospects. [It] was an opportunity that we didn’t want to pass up.”
Sandlin, who will be 25 next season, is coming off a 106-inning season across the Red Sox’s Double-A and Triple-A levels. He was strong in 17 games (13 starts) in Double-A, posting a 3.61 ERA while striking out 25% of hitters. The righty was then moved to the Triple-A bullpen, where he struggled in 15 appearances and 23.2 innings, posting a 7.61 ERA. Whether his struggles stemmed from the bullpen transition, fatigue after well exceeding his previous career-high 66.2 innings in 2023, or some mix of the two, the White Sox seem intent on defining his role more clearly in 2026.
“It became more attractive knowing that with Boston, he had reached an innings limit, but he was rising quickly,” Getz said. “I mean, they were preparing him to help at the Major League level towards the end of the year. They capped his starting innings and put him in a reliever role. And it didn’t line up for a Major League opportunity.”
“We hope that he comes into Spring Training, feels good, and continues to build up. The goal here is to get him into the rotation when he’s ready.”
Sandlin possesses a starter-type frame, standing at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds. He’s posted velocities in the mid-90s late into games, and has been able to run it as high as 101 mph in a controlled, bullpen settings. This context helps explain how he’s managed to strike out more than 30% of hitters in both 2023 and 2024, though his ERA sat in the mid-5s then.
Ranking as high as 8th in the Red Sox’s system, MLB Pipeline now has Sandlin at 14th overall with the White Sox. He features above-average stuff across a wide pitch mix (four-seam, cutter, slider, sinker, sweeper, curveball, and changeup), so perhaps the first order of business for the White Sox is to refine the arsenal and help continue to rein Sandlin into the strike zone more consistently.
We will keep an eye on Sandlin’s progress throughout the spring as he attempts to break camp with the Major League squad.
Follow us @SoxOn35th for more throughout the offseason!
Featured Image: Woo Sox/Twitter