The White Sox announced that left-hander Ryan Borucki has been signed to a minor league deal that contains an invitation to Chicago’s big league Spring Training camp. It’s something of a homecoming for Borucki, who grew up just north of Chicago in Mundelein, Illinois.
With eight MLB seasons under his belt, Borucki brings a lot of veteran know-how to an overall inexperienced White Sox relief corps. Though Chicago’s priority during a rebuild is still giving innings to these younger pitchers, having a seasoned reliever like Borucki around might be helpful if Borucki pitches well enough in camp to earn a roster spot. Brandon Eisert and Tyler Gilbert (likely the two top left-handed options in the Sox pen) are coming off so-so performances in 2025, so Borucki also provides some added southpaw depth.
Borucki has plenty to prove himself, however, as his struggles against right-handed batters and his inability to keep the ball in the park have led to middling results. Over 256 1/3 career innings in the Show, Borucki has a 4.28 ERA, 19.7K%, and 8.9BB%. While Borucki has been prone to allowing home runs, he has done a good job of avoiding fly balls in general, with a 51.8% grounder rate over 135 1/3 innings from 2021-25.
In 2025, Borucki posted a 4.63 ERA, 22% strikeout rate, and 11% walk rate over 35 innings with the Pirates and Blue Jays, while missing about six weeks due to a back injury. He signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh last winter, and caught on with Toronto (his original team) on another minors contract after being released by the Bucs in August, but the Jays also designated Borucki for assignment and then outrighted him in September after four MLB outings.
Nice guy, and his father is a great coach. Best of luck Ryan!
I read that’s he’s a Wsox fan??
You must be that guy who sat next to us when the jays were here said I knew thjs guy he was great: congrats!
A 31 year old pitcher with a 2.4 career WAR over 8 seasons. What’s not to like?
Signing a dozen mediocre castaways every year with no upside is a pretty brilliant strategy. They’ve probably spent 30-50 million dollars the past 5 years doing so, without getting one actual major league caliber player. Shrewd.
It’s a minor league deal. Relax. Every minor league deal thread has the same idiotic posts every single time.
No team should be using war to evaluate players. Same goes for going back 8 years.
He was fantastic last year and a minor league deal is a absolute bargain.
I always say getting relievers is the easiest thing to get. Here’s another example.
The Sox are determined to be nothing as long as Jerry owns the team.
I was talking with Tom Dore today at my gym and he said Jerry just decided it’s too expensive to pay for talent and compete with the other teams. Great. But, now we have to wait how many more years before Ishbia takes over? 3? 4? Thanks, Jerry.
The Rockies, Pirates, and White Sox should seriously just not even bother to field teams. It is literally pointless. It is pitiful that fans of those teams pay money for tickets to see amateur level baseball while lining the pockets of owners that don’t have even the tiniest amount of respect for them.
Reinsdorf could have just parted ways with the team and sold to Ishbia. Instead, being the bitter and contemptible man that he is, he has to leave fans hanging and make the process as drawn out and painful as possible. My guess is nothing happens prior to 2030, b/c that’s Jerry for you. And he’s too evil to die before then.
Which begs the question: Why do people do it? Nothing, absolutely nothing, says you have to spend money to be a fan, especially when you know whose pockets the profits line.
Granted, broadcast subscription or other fees are a necessity but a couple of hundred $$ for that is not only affordable but also an appropriate minimum contribution in support of a team.
Spending thousands on tickets, food, drink, parking, collectibles, and team paraphernalia is a choice. Those who do and then think that somehow gives them a louder, or even any, voice in the enterprise bring to mind the definition of insanity.
Fans can NOT win when ownerships that don’t value World Series Championships as an organizational priority are allowed to (not) compete!
Pirates actually try. They just done some stupid things and had things not work out. Could be a winning team this year. Future looks bright.
People love to spend $ even if it seems wasteful to me. Going to a baseball game seems like one of the better bang for buck options to waste your $. Rather do that than spend 10k to take family to Disney world to stand in line for hours and hours. Or buy garbage fast food. Or actually pay $ for coffee. Or buy designer cloths or new cloths period. You see all these different brands of cars on the road when there are only a few brands that a intelligent $ person would ever buy. When KFC McDonald’s Burger King Starbucks are all out of business I will start to think about baseball. But really a lot of car companies need to go first. And NBA NHL. Over half the teams make the playoffs. Worthless regular season. At least baseball regular season still has some value for now. I wouldn’t spend $ to watch a 100 loss team but it’s still better deal than a $50 bucket of KFC pigeon.
So I moved away years ago. I occasionally go back to Chicago to visit family and friends. In the 70’s and early 80’s, I went to 40-50 games a years. When I go back again, I wouldn’t pay a plug nickel for a game.
Living in Arizona, for spring training games, they’re charging $50 to $60 for seating between home and just past 3B in the lower level to see a Sox game. More than that if they consider it a special game, vs Cubs, Dodgers or the Diamondbacks!
It’s a minor league deal
I think the author forgot the Newcomb signing.
Seems like the White Sox are going to try him as a SP, at least to open the year.
A+ bargain. Fantastic lefty specialist for complelty free.
I like it. Local kid (Mundelein)
Sox love their local dudes.
Good lefty specialist when he has enough command to throw strikes. Was hoping he’d come back to the Bucs.
Wonder if he still has his hairless cat – Pirates sideline reporter Hannah Mears made the cat (Dobby IIRC) into a minor celebrity in ’24, then Borucki got hurt and the cat was never mentioned again..
Looked this up after your comment: this is awesome he has a glove of his cat too
Try using a sling on the pitching arm. Really helps the shoulder and a little the elbow.