The White Sox have a minor league agreement with right-hander Austin Voth, reports James Fegan of Sox Machine. The Wasserman client will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.
Voth is back in affiliated ball after one season with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. The 33-year-old tossed 125 innings of 3.96 ERA ball with a modest 17.4% strikeout rate. He attacked the strike zone but didn’t miss many bats or get a lot of ground-balls. That was Voth’s first season in Asia after a decade in the affiliated ranks. He has pitched parts of seven seasons in the big leagues, spending the majority of his career in the DMV area between the Nationals and Orioles.
A former fifth-round pick by Washington, Voth worked out of the rotation for his first couple seasons. He moved to the bullpen in 2021 but made a return to the rotation in Baltimore the following season. Voth was a full-time reliever between 2023-24. He spent the first of those seasons in Baltimore and the latter with his hometown Mariners. Voth managed 61 innings of 3.69 ERA ball for the M’s but had a rough September and was non-tendered at year’s end.
The White Sox have taken a handful of fliers on former big leaguers coming back from Asia under general manager Chris Getz. They hit on the Erick Fedde signing a couple years ago and added former Mets first-rounder Anthony Kay for two years and $12MM this winter. Unlike those pitchers, Voth isn’t guaranteed a major league roster spot. He’ll presumably battle for a long relief role but has the ability to build up as a starter if necessary.
Good luck Austin!
ERA close to 4 in Japan is a little concerning. Sox defense will likely be mediocre and he could give up alot of hits if he cracks the roster
You’re right, but on a minor league deal, it’s a low-risk move. If he makes it to the majors, it shows his stuff is at least good enough to beat out a few of the competitors for a spot.
Probably best they keep him as a reliever considering the starting experiment didn’t go too well in Japan. Wouldn’t be shocked to see him get a decent amount of innings this year considering his last full season as a reliever he posted a mid 3’s ERA and a low 4’s FIP.
Maybe as failed starter he can up the velocity for short stints and reinvent himself in spring tryout as a passable relief pitcher. Similar to what “might” help with Hicks, Newcomb….or countless others around mlb like Keller last season.
I’d be disappointed if Newcomb was a starter. Getz has already said he envisions Hicks as a reliever, so at least the Sox don’t seem keen on repeating that experiment.
They just signed Fedde a couple of the days ago
He told Getz that he learned how to switch hit in Japan
Getz also said he expects big things from the guy, taking over RF from Jon Garland
Negative 0.6 WAR since 2022. Sounds like a White Sox to me.
Can’t hate on the Sox GM Chris Getz until we see what we get from players like Murakami, Kay and Voth. It appears as they might just be stop gaps for the prospects they will soon give a shot. My guestion is what will they do with the 3 SS that will soon be ready to contribute in Bonemer, Carlson and soon to be 1st pick in the draft Kochlowski. With Colson Montgomery having a decent season in 2025 at SS, they will have to start training some of the younger SS’s to move to either 2nd or 3rd base.
Colson is 3B long term. They could also test Billy Carlson at CF, Bonemer is likely to grow out as a SS and they could move Roch into 2B.
Another ‘low rung’ transaction. If the guy pans out, he is trade fodder, if not he just becomes a long reliever in what may be a well used bullpen, or goes to the minors and plays the transactional ‘hokey pokey’ in the org..