The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Chad Kuhl from Triple-A Charlotte. Chicago also reinstated outfielder Tommy Pham from the injured list and optioned righty Jordan Leasure and outfielder Zach DeLoach to Charlotte in a pair of corresponding moves.
Kuhl, 31, is a veteran of seven big league seasons who joined the South Siders on a minor league deal in the offseason. He’s made 13 appearances in Charlotte, 11 of them starts, and posted a 4.34 ERA in that time. Kuhl’s 17.3% strikeout rate is considerably below-average, while his 13.6% walk rate with the Knights is substantially higher than average. He’s turned in a strong 53.5% grounder rate and done a nice job keeping the ball in the yard, averaging 0.8 homers per nine frames.
Kuhl spent the 2023 season with the Nationals organization but struggled through 16 appearances before being cut loose. He announced shortly thereafter that while he’d received contract offers to sign elsewhere, he was taking a leave from the game to support his wife, Amanda, as she battled Stage 3 breast cancer. She announced via social media in November that she’d completed her cancer treatments. The Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt chronicled the couple’s journey through that harrowing ordeal this past April, revealing within that Amanda is thankfully in the “maintenance” phase of her treatment and no longer showing any sign of cancer.
Prior to Kuhl’s time with the Nats, he spent five seasons with the Pirates and a sixth with the Rockies. In all, he’s totaled 615 big league innings and pitched to a 4.98 ERA, though that number is skewed to an extent by last year’s grisly 8.45 mark while quietly dealing with that terrifying family issue away from the field. Kuhl’s best season came with the ’17 Pirates, when he started 31 games and logged a 4.35 ERA over the course of 157 1/3 innings.
The White Sox don’t have an immediate opening in the rotation, but Kuhl can provide a long relief option and perhaps step up next week if the Sox want to get their starters some extra rest. Top starter Garrett Crochet, notably, has already established a new career-high in innings pitched after shifting from a relief role to the rotation this season. For now, the Sox have Chris Flexen, Erick Fedde and top prospect Drew Thorpe lined up to make the next three starts in their road series with the Diamondbacks.
Finally. Took them long enough. Hope he does well, a great family story.
Kuhl news.
Those skis yours? Both of em? Kuhl
I’m happy for Chad and wish him the best
Why all these veterans? Meanwhile, a team that’s in rebuild mode won’t call up Colsten Montgomery. Flip DeJung & get that kid to Chicago!
He’s off to a slow start. Don’t rush him
The Sox should pick up De Jung’s option. Montgomery is not ready for the majors as Aiden Awe noted in his or her post . I won’t mind him rotting at Charlotte until he is batting above .300. Trust me, I can hold my breath until I turn blue, hopefully this time I don’t hit my head on the table’s edge when I pass out.
Dejong and his btw. Dejong will probably get dealt at the deadline. Nicky Lopez also plays SS.
Thanks for the clarification!
The big issue with him right now is he needs to shave some serious percentage points off that ugly 30% K% he has going. Unfortunately, he is just not making consistent enough contact to be promoted right now. Plus, his contact has not been especially loud this year, so it’s not like he’s making up for the low average by generating a whole lot of extra bases with each successful hit.
I had heard some grumblings from people who watch the Knights saying that Montgomery has run into some pretty brutal umpiring this season and has been called out quite a bit on pitches that were not strikes. I don’t know how many times this has been an issue for him, so I don’t know how much I should take it into consideration.
Yeah bring up a kid struggling in AAA Lolol.
Another reclamation project. He’ll pitch one game, then mercifully (for the fans) be dfa’d.
You guys are goofy. First off, his OBP is around .340. And he’s got 8 homers. Don’t look at BA, and OPS is a flawed stat too. He will hit – he’s always hit. A shortstop’s #1 objective is defense anyway. He is playing strong D up the middle. Plus, the Sox suck, so they can put up with a young guy learning at the major league level. At least you’d be watching the future instead of some guy who won’t be here when the Sox are ready to start winning in 3 years or more.
only 8 hr in a hr friendly ballpark?
The White Sox , all of a sudden, have an elite starting rotation.
Ignorant Son of a b: their SP has been ok-average all season. The only reason why the Sox are a dreadful 18-52 is bc of the bullpen.
Yeah I’m a Mariners fan and watched each game of that four game series very close. It was an intense series. I didn’t think the WS played like an 18-52 team at all. Impressed with Cannon and Crochet. Thorpe looked like a major leaguer. Position player who caught my eye was Korey Lee.
Ignorant Son of a b: On paper the Wsox shouldn’t be historically bad. They have never been this bad in their entire franchise history(founded in 1888) and will most likely be their first time losing 100+games in their history as well.
Those 3 have great potential in the starting t
Only reason? No, they have the worst offense in baseball, as well as the worst defense. The rotation is pretty much the only bright spot for this team.
Well the offense has been doing average this month. Some bright spots are Crochet, Sheets, Lee, Shuster.
Vaughn is starting to heat up. His power is real. Can’t dismiss Dejong’s power surge. This team is not unlikeable for such a bad record. I could easily root for these guys.
(Well except a lot of the fun guys to watch will be traded before too long. It will be rough going after the deadline.)
Kuhl? Kuhl
They’ve got to pull Flexen from the starting rotation. He sucks!!