The White Sox have claimed right-hander Owen White off waivers from the Yankees, according to announcements from both clubs. The latter club had designated him for assignment last week. The Sox moved left-hander Ky Bush to the 60-day injured list as the corresponding move. It was reported last week that Bush would require Tommy John surgery, so he’ll spend the entire 2025 season on the IL.
White, 25, is a logical pickup for the White Sox. He has had rough results for the past two years but was a top 100 prospect before that. The Sox aren’t expecting to be good anytime soon, with their 2024 season being historically bad. Of the 30 clubs in the league, they are the one best positioned to take a flier and hope for a bounceback. White also has one option year remaining, so he can be kept in Triple-A throughout 2025 as the club gets a close-up look at him.
Drafted by the Rangers with the 55th overall pick in 2018, White’s debut was delayed for a while. Tommy John surgery prevented him from pitching in 2019 and then the minor leagues were wiped out by the pandemic in 2020. But despite that lengthy layoff, he went on to put up some eye-popping numbers once on the hill. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he logged 115 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.42 earned run average. He had a strong 7.5% walk rate and a massive 34.1% strikeout rate.
Going into 2023, he was a consensus top 100 prospect, with Baseball America giving him the #59 spot. The Rangers added him to their 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. But as alluded to earlier, his results have tapered off significantly since then.
He has made his major league debut, which surely wasn’t what he dreamed of. In seven big league frames to this point, he has allowed 13 earned runs, giving him an ugly 16.71 ERA at the moment. His minor league numbers haven’t been great either. He threw 151 1/3 innings for Triple-A Round Rock over 2023 and 2024 with a 5.41 ERA. The Express play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but he also didn’t impress with his 17.4% strikeout rate nor his 11.7% walk rate.
The Rangers did get experimental with White midway through 2024, giving him a shot at a relief role. In his final 13 Triple-A appearances on the year, he logged 18 frames from the bullpen. His 5.50 ERA still wasn’t impressive but he did strike out 25.6% of batters faced in that time.
That wasn’t enough for him to hang onto his roster spot. He was designated for assignment in December and traded to the Reds for cash. He was designated for assignment again in late January and put on waivers, with the Sox passing at that time. Given their record last year, they have top waiver priority, but he was claimed by the Yankees. But since then, the 60-day IL has opened up, which gave Chicago a bit more flexibility to make an addition such as this.
The Sox can bring White into camp and see how things go. Perhaps he can get back on track as a starter or find new life with a move to a relief role. As mentioned, they don’t need to give him a spot on the active roster this year. He still has less than a year of service time, so they could cheaply control him for years to come if things click while he’s on the roster.
In tomorrow’s news… “White Sox release Owen White.”
tigers182: In further news, White will be replaced on the 40-man roster by another dfa who was good, isn’t anymore, and will require major surgery on some part of his body, rendering him even more useless than he already is.
White Sox add every prospect that has blown because they cost next to nothing.
They’re going for the lowest payroll in the game while being in the 3rd largest city.
roob: Sad to say, I can’t argue with that. Of the five major sports teams in Chicago, every one of them stinks.
One of the lowest attendance figures in the league. The last time they won the World Series they had a team of misfits and rejects. Sure they will be lucky to lose less than 100 games in 2025 but keep bringing the rejects and washouts. Their farm stinks and almost any player from 2024 that wasn’t a rookie should be cut or traded. Want to see actual competitive games rather than players going thru the motions. Send a package of Miguel Vargas, Oscar Colas, and Andrew Vaughn to any team offering a six pack of Falstaff and a bag of balls. Or better yet a gift card for 50.00 gift card to Harry Caray’s. I watched the games on WSNS 44. You might know Harry worked for the WS before the Cubs. This is absolutely the lowest of the low for WS baseball. It’s sad. Showered at the old ballpark and have visited the gallows of this one. Spent time with Minnie too. It’s unbelievable how bad things are. Bring on the washouts, misfits, and castoffs. It’s fun to watch. The last two years have been unwatchable.
Former Yankee great.
Owen White… Sox.
See what you did.. there
I agree that White’s been riding the dfa carousel for a while AND that he’s not had good #’s in his VERY BRIEF time in the majors. Even so, he’s still RELATIVELY young (25) & talented. I dove back to check his debut game he entered the game facing the top of the Angels lineup. He K’d Taylor Ward, then 2 GB singles by Ohtani & B.Drury. Here’s where it unraveled. Rendon hit A GB to 2nd. They got the force at 2nd but throwing error allowed Ohtani to score & Rendon on 1st. Renfroe followed that up w a 2 run homer. He got a GB to get out of the inning. He faced 3 batters in the next inning. He allowed a single, a walk & a sac bunt. He was replaced with no further damage.
Do a whole 9 inning recap
Rendon played a game?
Sure-build some confidence to sink or swim as a bullpen option in the minors. He’ll get called up at some point if even remotely decent.
Likey another Bannister-Ethan project. Poor man’s Gio?
I don’t think they will have him start games. I think they will have him work in relief and be a guy who can shuttle back-and-forth between Charlotte and Chicago as the need arises.
That works too. Innings are innings
We don’t necessarily need you to be GOOD; we just need you to be BETTER than Justin Anderson.
Surely he’s done now right?
Done switching teams? Probably, for awhile at least.
Done playing ball? Hardly!
Fans might not pay MLB price to attend home games. Ask the Southside. Probably more going on in parking lot pregame.
Coop can fix him. Oh how I miss being able to say that. Interesting project though.
Forget 2nd chances, now the White Sox are the team for offering 4th, 5th, even 6th chances chances. At least it’s not another sub-.200 hitter