White Sox Sign Dan Altavilla To Minor League Deal

The White Sox announced Thursday that they’ve signed right-handed reliever Dan Altavilla to a minor league contract. The MAS+ Agency client will be in spring training as a non-roster invitee.

Altavilla, 32, has pitched in parts of seven big league seasons but frequently dealt with injuries that have limited his amount of time on the mound. Since making his MLB debut with the 2016 Mariners, Altavilla’s laundry list of injuries includes shoulder inflammation, a pair of UCL sprains (the latter resulting in Tommy John surgery), a forearm strain and a notable oblique strain that sent him to the 60-day injured list just this past season.

In his first three seasons from 2016-18, all coming with Seattle, Altavilla pitched a combined 79 2/3 innings with a 3.28 ERA, 25.3% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate. He’s managed just 40 big league innings since, working to a combined 6.53 earned run average along the way. It’s not as though Altavilla has been consistently healthy in the minors during that stretch, either; he’s totaled 84 1/3 minor league frames in that time, bringing him to a total 120 1/3 frames in a span of six years.

There’s little doubt that Altavilla is talented when his arm is right. Even with his recent injury-plagued seasons weighing down his career numbers, he carries a 4.36 ERA and 26% strikeout rate in the big leagues. He pitched just 3 2/3 MLB innings with Kansas City this past season but averaged a sizzling 96.8 mph on his heater. In 41 Triple-A innings for K.C., he logged a 3.51 ERA, albeit with a 22.2% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate — both pedestrian marks.

The rebuilding White Sox will have plenty of room for non-roster players to compete for bullpen jobs this coming spring. Right now, the only relievers with even a year of experience in the Chicago bullpen are Justin Anderson, Jared Shuster, Steven Wilson and Ron Marinaccio. If Altavilla cracks the roster, he could log some meaningful innings and will be controllable through the 2026 campaign, as he currently has only 4.153 years of MLB service.