We must really be in the dog days of the offseason now, because here I am putting pen to paper about White Sox pitchers not named Shane Smith, Noah Schultz, or Hagen Smith.
That’s right, the spring training winds are gathering in the distance, bringing roster predictions with them. In the case of the South Siders, the lineup is quite fun to project! The rotation, well, not so much. As it stands, we’re likely looking at:
- Shane Smith
- Davis Martin
- Sean Burke
- Anthony Kay
- Sean Newcomb
Newcomb is a question mark, as he’s pitched exclusively as a reliever the last few seasons. Regardless, he deserves a shot. That actually brings me to my central point—multiple other guys do too.
My main fear for the upcoming season is essentially that Davis Martin and Sean Burke are penciled in for good. Both pitchers last year put up low-4 ERAs (4.10 and 4.22, respectively) but were fairly lucky even to post those marks. Martin induced many ground balls but allowed tons of hard contact and barely struck any batters out, resulting in a 5.13 expected ERA. Burke could generate some punchouts but earned a 5.03 xERA himself, walking over 10% of batters and getting barreled frequently.
These two lack any fierce spring training competition, which is why I believe Chris Getz should sign any near-average starting pitcher still available on the market. But I digress. The key point is that Burke and Martin should feel the pressure starting as early as late April when other arms become rotation-ready. Who is that, you may ask?
In case you forgot, a trio of notable young Sox arms underwent Tommy John surgery last spring. Ky Bush went under on February 11, Drew Thorpe on March 22, and Mason Adams on April 2. All three generated buzz as prospects and were expected to compete for starting spots on the 2025 White Sox. Fast forward to today, and they’re all eyeing early-season returns to action after ramping up.
None of these three have proven anything at the major league level, sure. But neither have Martin nor Burke, if we’re being honest. Martin had a respectable 10 starts in 2024, but that’s about it. Burke, by the way, was never even good in the minor leagues!
Time will tell when exactly each recovering young arm is ready to start ballgames, but Will Venable and Co. should be itching to give them a look in the bigs if Martin and Burke continue to perform below-average. Unless the team is consistently winning games, 2026 is another year to embrace a “let’s see what they got” mentality.
In addition to this trio, there’s also the matter of Grant Taylor. In August, Scott Merkin of MLB.com reported that stretching Taylor out back to a starter’s role is very much on the table for the South Siders. “Those conversations don’t need to happen right now. We’ve got some time until we get to Spring Training next year,” Getz said.
Nary a peep has been heard on Taylor’s outlook this winter, but if Sox trainers feel his arm can take it, then I would advocate for it. Again, you have to see what you’ve got. Getting 80 innings out of Grant Taylor is sweet, but 150 frames as a starter is even sweeter.
How about Tanner McDougal and Shane Murphy? Similar to Adams and Bush, they lack major league experience, but they aren’t far off. McDougal shot up rankings in 2025 with 113.1 innings of 3.26 ERA/3.15 FIP/28.3 K% ball, while Murphy excelled with a different approach, notching a sterling 1.66 ERA and 3.45 FIP despite striking out only 20.5% of hitters. If either can record two solid months of Triple-A outings, they should absolutely don a Chicago uniform come June.
Lastly, of course, there’s Schultz and Hagen Smith. Neither lived up to expectations in 2025 after entering the season as MLB’s top two left-handed pitching prospects. Yet Smith finished with an adequate 3.57 ERA in Double-A, and Schultz has the talent to turn things around at any moment, so they can’t be counted out for the 2026 White Sox. I probably don’t need to convince many of this, but any and all accommodations should be made to get them major league starts if Getz and his evaluators deem them ready.
Will Venable has options, and the Sox front office should make them available—that’s the moral of the story. It remains to be seen which arms will impress enough to have a case come May or June. However, the South Siders will be doing a disservice to themselves if Martin and Burke remain entrenched in the rotation amidst continuously subpar pitching. Let the chaos ensue.
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Featured Photo: © Denny Medley-Imagn Images
