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Rule 5 Draft Update: June Edition

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Last winter’s Rule 5 draft was relatively busy, as 15 players were selected across 14 teams. Just under half remain with their new organizations. Only three are currently healthy, but that trio has been productive to varying degrees. It has been a couple months since our last look at the class, so let’s check back in to see how the players who have stuck are handling their first taste of the big leagues.

A quick refresh for those unfamiliar with the process: the Rule 5 draft is a means of getting MLB opportunities to players who might be blocked with their current organization. Teams can draft certain players who are left off their original club’s 40-man roster. The drafting team needs to keep that player on the MLB roster or injured list for their entire first season. If they do so, they’d gain the player’s contractual rights permanently. A team can keep an injured Rule 5 pick on the major league IL, but they’d eventually need to carry him on the active roster for 90 days. If the player misses the entire season, the Rule 5 restriction carries over to the following year.

If the drafting team decides not to carry the player on the roster at any point during the year, they need to place him on waivers. If he goes unclaimed, the player is offered back to his original organization — which does not need to carry him on either the MLB or 40-man rosters to take him back.

On An Active Roster

Shane Smith, White Sox RHP (selected from Brewers)

Smith not only made Chicago’s roster, he cracked the Opening Day rotation for the rebuilding club. Most of the time, teams keep Rule 5 pitchers in low-leverage relief until they build enough of a regular season track record to be entrusted with more meaningful innings. The White Sox gave Smith a rare amount of responsibility right out of the gate.

The 6’3″ righty is running with the opportunity. Smith has turned in a 2.68 earned run average through his first 11 starts in the big leagues. He’s striking out a decent 22.3% of opponents behind a 12.2% swinging strike rate — nearly two points higher than the league mark for starters. He leads a five-pitch arsenal with a 95 MPH heater, while opponents are batting .098 in 51 at-bats that end with his changeup.

That changeup has seemingly taken a massive step forward. Baseball America’s offseason scouting report called it a below-average pitch that Smith almost never threw. In mid-April, Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs wrote that the White Sox had more or less added the pitch to his arsenal, and it’s already a plus offering. They ranked him the #7 prospect in the Chicago farm system at the time, placing him not far outside their overall Top 100. That’s essentially unheard of for a Rule 5 pick.

Smith is going to stick on the roster all season. He looks quite likely to be the Sox’s All-Star representative. They might scale back his workload in the second half, as he only started 16 of 32 appearances and logged 94 1/3 innings last season in the minors. He profiles as a long-term rotation piece, even if he might land in the middle or back end by the next time the White Sox are competitive. The developmental focus now is probably on honing his command. His 9.5% walk rate is a little higher than ideal, and only Nick Lodolo has hit more batters than Smith’s seven. Those are relatively small quibbles. He looks like one of the best Rule 5 finds in recent memory.

Liam Hicks, Marlins C (selected from Tigers)

Hicks, a lefty-swinging catcher, went from the Rangers to the Tigers in last summer’s Carson Kelly deal. While he reached base at a .414 clip in Double-A after the trade, Detroit opted not to add him to the 40-man roster. The rebuilding Marlins grabbed him to back up Nick Fortes, buying more time for highly-regarded prospect Agustín Ramírez to play at Triple-A.

Ramírez hit his way to the big leagues by the middle of April. He’s tied for the rookie lead with seven home runs through his first 34 games, so he’s unlikely to head back down anytime soon. Fortes returned from an oblique strain in early May. The Fish have operated with three catchers on the active roster for the past month, mixing in plenty of designated hitter work for Ramírez along the way.

The 26-year-old Hicks has played far less frequently, but he has been productive of late. At the time of our first Rule 5 update on April 14, he was batting .214 over 35 plate appearances. He’s batting .292 with eight extra-base hits and an equal number of walks and strikeouts (eight apiece) in 73 trips to the dish since then. The Marlins gave him his first major league start as a first baseman yesterday.

Carrying three catchers all season may not be ideal for roster flexibility, but the Fish have ample first base/DH at-bats to go around. Hicks is playing far too well right now to offer back to Detroit. Fortes, who has limited offensive upside and projects as a long-term backup, still has minor league options. The Marlins may not want to have a pair of rookies splitting time behind the plate, but sending Fortes to Triple-A could be an option if they feel they need more defensive flexibility off the bench.

Mike Vasil, White Sox RHP (selected from Mets via Rays and Phillies)

Vasil landed with the Rays via a Rule 5 draft day trade with Philadelphia. Tampa Bay waived the UVA product a couple weeks into Spring Training. The White Sox claimed him to prevent him from being returned to the Mets organization. He’s been pitching out of Will Venable’s bullpen for the season.

The 6’5″ righty has been a solid contributor to the Sox’s pitching staff in his own right. He owns a 2.10 ERA over 17 appearances, usually working 2-3 innings at a time. He’s walking nearly as many batters as he’s striking out, so it’s fair to question how long he’ll be able to keep this up. Vasil sits in the mid-90s over multi-inning stints and is getting ground-balls at a solid 52.5% clip, though. There’s no reason for the Sox to move on right now.

Currently On Major League Injured List

Garrett McDaniels, Angels LHP (selected from Dodgers)

Biceps tendinitis has shelved McDaniels since May 2. The Halos sent him to their Arizona complex on a rehab assignment last Tuesday. They’re allowed to keep him in the minors while he’s building up, but rehab assignments for pitchers can last a maximum of 30 days. Unless McDaniels suffers a setback, the Angels need to decide by June 26 whether to put him back in the MLB bullpen or move on from him.

The Angels bullpen has been an absolute disaster. They’re one of two teams (joining the A’s) whose relief group has an ERA beginning with a 6. There’s not a single Halos reliever who has worked at least six innings with an ERA better than 4.76. The opportunity is wide open, but the 25-year-old McDaniels has been a part of that showing. He has allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 13 hits and eight walks over his first 10 2/3 MLB frames. He’s getting ground-balls at an incredible 74.3% rate, but he’s not missing bats and has allowed home runs on two of the five fly-balls he surrendered.

Angel Bastardo, Blue Jays RHP (selected from Red Sox)

Bastardo underwent Tommy John surgery last June while he was in the Boston system. The Jays selected him knowing they’d stash him on the 60-day injured list for most or all of this season. That delays the decision on whether to keep him in the MLB bullpen, but he’d need to stick on the 40-man roster throughout next offseason and log at least 90 days on the active roster between this season and next for the Jays to get his contractual rights.

Nate Lavender, Rays LHP (selected from Mets)

It’s basically an identical scenario with Lavender, who underwent Tommy John surgery last May when he was pitching for the Mets. He’s more likely than Bastardo to make his return in the second half of this season. In any case, the Rays won’t need to make the decision for at least another month.

Connor Thomas, Brewers LHP (selected from Cardinals)

Behind a 53.5% ground-ball rate, the soft-tossing Thomas managed a sub-3.00 ERA over 56 Triple-A appearances a year ago. He had a solid spring, throwing 11 1/3 innings of four-run ball with 11 strikeouts and five walks. Thomas broke camp in low-leverage relief. He was hit hard in his first two MLB appearances. The Yankees teed off for eight runs (including a trio of homers) over two innings in his debut. Thomas gave up four runs in 3 1/3 frames against the Reds a week later.

The Brewers placed him on the IL with elbow arthritis after the latter appearance. They moved him to the 60-day IL in the middle of May, ruling him out into the first week of June. He’s seemingly a few weeks from making his return, as Milwaukee assigned him to their Arizona complex last week. As was the case with McDaniels, the team will have a few more weeks before they need to make a decision.

Returned To Original Organization

Noah Murdock, RHP (returned to Royals from A’s)

Murdock broke camp with the A’s and made 14 MLB appearances. He was hit hard, though, giving up 25 runs across 17 innings. He was the first Rule 5 pick to be returned to his original club during the season. The Royals assigned him to Triple-A Omaha after he cleared waivers in mid-May. He has given up eight runs over his first 6 1/3 innings there. Murdock was effective in the minors a year ago, when he combined for a 3.16 ERA through 62 2/3 innings between the top two levels.

Evan Reifert, RHP (returned to Rays from Nationals)

Refiert is a slider specialist with well below-average command. He walked 12 batters in 6 1/3 innings during Spring Training, so the Nats returned him to the Rays a couple weeks before Opening Day. Tampa Bay assigned him to Triple-A Durham for his first stint at that level. He’s been fantastic, racking up 29 strikeouts against five walks across 14 1/3 frames. There’s a decent chance he’ll get a look from the Rays at some point this year.

Cooper Bowman, 2B (returned to A’s from Reds)

A righty-hitting second baseman, Bowman got a brief look in camp from the Reds. He had three hits, all singles, in 25 Spring Training at-bats before Cincinnati decided he wouldn’t make the team. The A’s assigned him to Triple-A Las Vegas, where he opened the season on the injured list. He was reinstated in mid-April and has gotten out to a poor start (.229/.343/.349 in 99 plate appearances). Bowman struggled in Triple-A last season but has hit well up through Double-A.

Eiberson Castellano, RHP (returned to Phillies by Twins)

Castellano was trying to make the jump directly from Double-A, where he’d turned in a sub-4.00 ERA with a 31.3% strikeout rate last season. He didn’t command the ball well enough in camp to crack the Twins’ pitching staff, however. Castellano walked 10 batters and surrendered 10 runs over 10 2/3 innings. Minnesota returned him to the Phillies, who assigned him back to Double-A Reading. He fired 10 innings of one-run ball over his first three outings but went on the injured list after his fourth appearance. He’s back from that IL stint but hasn’t been able to find the strike zone in his two post-injury appearances, walking five in a combined 2 1/3 innings.

Gage Workman, IF (returned to Tigers by Cubs and White Sox)

Workman had never played above Double-A, where he struck out at a lofty 27.5% rate. His combination of power, speed and defensive ability nevertheless led the Cubs to select him in the Rule 5 draft. Workman mashed his way onto the Opening Day roster with a .364/.420/.705 line and four homers over 20 games this spring.

The Cubs weren’t able to find much regular season playing time. They gave him all of four starts at third base before moving on. The White Sox gave him an even briefer look after grabbing him in a small trade. Workman suffered a right hip injury within days of landing with the ChiSox. They waived him rather than put him back on the MLB roster once he was healthy.

Workman has been back with the Tigers since May 14. They sent him to Triple-A for the first time. He’s hitting .244/.333/.511 with four homers and a 27.5% strikeout rate in 13 games.

Anderson Pilar, RHP (returned to Marlins by Braves)

Pilar is another Rule 5 pick whose command was an issue in camp. He walked six batters over 5 2/3 innings, giving up nine runs in the process. Atlanta returned him to the Marlins, who assigned him to Triple-A Jacksonville. He’s pitching well, turning in a 3.91 ERA with a near-27% strikeout rate against a manageable 8.2% walk percentage. He could get a look from the Fish, especially if they move players like Calvin Faucher and Anthony Bender by the deadline.

Juan Nuñez, RHP (returned to Orioles by Padres)

Nuñez, who had never pitched above High-A when he was selected, always had an uphill battle to cracking a win-now roster in San Diego. Six walks over five Spring Training innings ensured he’d be offered back to the Orioles. He has an ERA north of 7.00 over his first 14 Double-A innings. Nuñez has fanned nearly 40% of opponents but is walking more than 18%. He has been on the injured list for the past two weeks.

Christian Cairo, SS (returned to Guardians by Braves)

Atlanta was the only team to make two Rule 5 selections. They returned Cairo to Cleveland at the same time they offered Pilar back to the Marlins. Cairo is one of a number of contact-oriented middle infielders in the Guardians’ system. He hit .179 without a home run in 16 Spring Training games. Cleveland assigned him back to Triple-A Columbus, where he finished last season. He’s batting .226 with no homers.

White Sox Sign Dan Altavilla To Major League Deal

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Just two days after opting out of his minor league deal with the White Sox, righty Dan Altavilla is back with the club — this time on the big league roster. The Sox announced Friday that they’ve signed Altavilla to a major league contract that’ll pay the MAS+ client a prorated $1MM base salary. Fellow righty Miguel Castro has been placed on the 15-day injured list to open a spot on the active roster. Castro suffered a season-ending knee injury while covering first base on a grounder earlier this week, which the Sox have now confirmed as a torn patellar tendon. Chicago already had a 40-man roster vacancy, and Altavilla’s signing now brings them to capacity.

At the time Altavilla was granted his release, it seemed odd that the Sox had passed on giving him a look in the majors. He’s tallied 21 2/3 innings with a strong 2.49 ERA with Triple-A Charlotte this season and had just rattled off a run of 11 2/3 shutout frames. The righty’s 19.8% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate were both worse than average, but he’s averaged 96.1 mph on his heater and held opponents to an awful 24.6% hard-hit rate. Considering the general state of the rebuilding White Sox’ big league bullpen, he seemed like a natural candidate to get an opportunity.

Whether this was always the plan or was borne out of Castro’s unfortunate injury, Altavilla will now get that chance in the majors. This will be his eighth season logging time in the big leagues. He’s previously suited up for the Mariners, Padres and Royals, combining for 119 2/3 innings of 4.36 ERA ball.

Altavilla did his best work early in his career with the Mariners. From 2016-18, he pitched to a tidy 3.28 earned run average with a 25.3% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate over 79 2/3 frames. Persistent injuries have limited his time on the field, however. He’s managed only 40 total big league innings since that early run with Seattle.

Flexor strains in both 2018 and 2019 shortened two of Altavilla’s seasons with the Mariners. He struggled to a 5.52 ERA in the latter campaign and in 2020 was included alongside Austin Nola and Austin Adams in the lopsided trade that sent Andres Munoz, Ty France, Luis Torrens and Taylor Trammell from San Diego to Seattle. Altavilla then underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021, which wiped out nearly all of his 2021-22 seasons.

With the White Sox, there should be plenty of innings available over the final four months. The Sox would be thrilled if Altavilla could approach his minor league run-prevention levels in the majors, but even if he can simply replicate his career norms, it’d be a help for a bullpen that’s pitched to a 4.53 ERA on the season — ninth-highest in MLB. Even that pedestrian number is a bit misleading, however, as it includes two “relief” appearances from starter Jonathan Cannon, who followed an opener on those days. Cannon pitched 13 2/3 innings with a 1.98 ERA in those two outings. Subtracting that from the equation, White Sox relievers have a 4.70 ERA on the year.

Miguel Castro Suffers Season-Ending Knee Injury

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White Sox right-hander Miguel Castro is out for the season, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The righty suffered a knee injury yesterday when he slipped on the first base bag while covering on a ground-ball to the right side. It’s unclear if he’ll require surgery or if the injury will impact his availability for next year’s Spring Training.

Castro’s season comes to a close after six appearances. The Sox acquired the veteran reliever in a trade that sent international bonus pool space to the Astros two weeks ago. Chicago hoped that Castro would pitch well enough in middle relief to be flipped for a lottery ticket prospect at the deadline. The 30-year-old righty surrendered five runs on as many hits and walks with four strikeouts over six innings. He’d been much better for Houston’s Triple-A club to begin the season. He carried a 2.29 ERA with 20 strikeouts and five saves over 19 2/3 minor league innings.

Chicago will place Castro on the 60-day injured list when they need to open a spot on the 40-man roster. This will very likely end his brief stint in the organization. Castro has well over six years of MLB service and will hit free agency at the start of the offseason. He’ll almost certainly be limited to minor league offers.

White Sox Release Dan Altavilla

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The White Sox have released right-handed reliever Dan Altavilla, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’d been on a minor league deal and pitching with their Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte.

Altavilla, 32, boasts a sharp 2.49 ERA in 21 2/3 frames with the Knights this season, including a recent run of 11 2/3 shutout innings. He’s fanned only 19.8% of his opponents against a bloated 11% walk rate, but it’s been a nice run of run-prevention for the journeyman righty, who’s averaging a hearty 96.1 mph on his four-seamer in Charlotte while yielding a lowly 24.6% hard-hit rate.

A veteran of seven major league seasons, Altavilla did his best work early in his career with the Mariners. From 2016-18, he pitched to a tidy 3.28 earned run average with a 25.3% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate over 79 2/3 frames. Persistent injuries have limited Altavilla’s time on the field, however. He’s managed only 40 total big league innings since that early run with Seattle.

Flexor strains in both 2018 and 2019 shortened two of Altavilla’s seasons with the Mariners. He struggled to a 5.52 ERA in the latter campaign and in 2020 was included alongside Austin Nola and Austin Adams in the lopsided trade that sent Andres Munoz, Ty France, Luis Torrens and Taylor Trammell from San Diego to Seattle. Altavilla then underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021, which wiped out nearly all of his 2021-22 seasons.

Altavilla made a brief big league return with the 2024 Royals, tossing 3 2/3 innings for Kansas City. He was tagged for six runs in that short look and subsequently designated for assignment. The former fifth-round pick spent the rest of the 2024 season with the Royals’ top minor league affiliate in Omaha, where he logged 41 innings with a 3.51 ERA, a league-average 22.2% strikeout rate and a heavy 12.9% walk rate. The rate stats were shaky, but the combined 44 2/3 frames between Triple-A and the majors were the most Altavilla had pitched in a season since 2019.

There’s no indication that Altavilla is dealing with any kind of injury in 2025. He pitched for the Knights just a few days prior to his release and tossed a scoreless inning. As was the case in 2024, Altavilla’s rate stats are a bit wobbly, but he’s throwing hard, limiting hard contact and keeping runs off the board. That should earn him a new opportunity before long.

Rays Acquire Matt Thaiss

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The White Sox have traded catcher Matt Thaiss to the Rays for minor league outfielder Dru Baker, according to announcements from both clubs. Since Baker wasn’t on the 40-man, the Rays transferred outfielder Jonny DeLuca to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot for Thaiss. They will need to open an active roster spot once Thaiss reports to the club. Chicago’s 40-man count drops to 39. In terms of their active roster, catcher Korey Lee has been reinstated from the IL to take the vacated spot.

Thaiss, 30, was just acquired by the Sox in the offseason. They sent cash to the Cubs, bringing Thaiss to the South Side. He has appeared in 35 games and stepped to the plate 110 times, with some positive results. He has just one home run but has walked more than he has been struck out, drawing a free pass in 20.9% of his appearances compared to a 19.1% strikeout rate.

That’s better than his previous work on offense. With the Angels in 2023 and 2024, he made 493 trips to the plate. He had a strong 13% walk rate over those seasons but also struck out at a high clip of 28.6%. He was flipped to the Cubs and then the White Sox in offseason trades.

His work behind the plate has been more of a question mark, as he has never received excellent marks back there. Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have considered his blocking and throwing to be adequate but with subpar framing. FanGraphs agrees that Thaiss hasn’t been a great framer in his career but has him above average so far in 2025.

Though his work for the Sox has been adequate on the whole, he never seemed likely to spend a long time on the roster. Thaiss started the year sharing the catching time with Lee, but the Sox had two top prospects waiting in the wings: Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel.

Lee went to the IL fairly early in the season, landing there due to a left ankle sprain on April 10th. That got Omar Narváez to the big leagues briefly but Quero was up in the majors a week later. Now that Lee is healthy again, he and Quero will share the catching work. Teel is playing great in Triple-A and could be up in the majors soon as well. Those factors have all pushed the out-of-options Thaiss off the roster.

For the Rays, they’ve been deploying a tandem of Danny Jansen and Ben Rortvedt behind the plate this year. Jansen started slow but has been heating up lately, getting his line to .200/.333/.336 for the year, which leads to a 103 wRC+. Rortvedt, on the other hand, has a dreary .100/.194/.117 line. That’s only 67 plate appearances but he now has a .187/.277/.266 line and 61 wRC+ over 572 plate appearances in his big league career.

Rortvedt is out of options, so it’s possible he’ll be designated for assignment once Thaiss is able to join the team. If the switch works, the Rays could keep Thaiss beyond 2025. He came into this year with his service clock at three years and 38 days, meaning this is his first of three arbitration seasons. With Jansen on a one-year deal, Thaiss has a chance to stick with the Rays for 2026 if he holds his spot through the end of this season.

In order to make that potential upgrade behind the plate, they are parting with Baker. Now 25 years old, he was selected by the Rays in the fourth round of the 2021 draft. He is considered a capable outfielder but his bat has stalled out at the upper minor league levels. Since getting promoted to Double-A in August of 2023, he has a .280/.345/.338 batting line and 101 wRC+. That includes a .245/.344/.302 line at the Triple-A level.

Even if he doesn’t hit much, Baker at least has wheels. He stole 49 bags in 2023 and 42 last year. For the Sox, they were probably going to cut Thaiss soon anyway, so they have traded him in for a flier on Baker. Baker could perhaps serve as a speedy bench outfielder, with any offensive developments on top of that being a bonus.

As for DeLuca, he suffered a shoulder strain in early April. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so he will be eligible for reinstatement on June 6th. He just started a rehab assignment on the weekend, so he could perhaps be ready to return to the big leagues once that date rolls around.

Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images

Red Sox Weren't Interested In Dalbec Reunion

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  • Though the Red Sox have been in need of first base help since Triston Casas was lost for the season, the club wasn’t interested in a reunion with former prospect Bobby Dalbec, according to MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam.  When the White Sox designated Dalbec for assignment at the start of May, Chicago contacted the BoSox as part of their efforts to gauge any trade interest in the infielder, but Boston declined to make a move.  Dalbec instead elected free agency after clearing waivers and being outrighted off Chicago’s 40-man roster, and signed a minor league deal with the Brewers.  Formerly a top-100 prospect during his days in the Red Sox farm system, Dalbec showed some flashes of that potential at the MLB level with Boston in 2020-21, but his production tailed off afterwards.

White Sox Release Oscar Colas

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The White Sox have released outfielder Oscar Colas, according to an announcement from the club’s Triple-A affiliate Charlotte Knights. Colas was previously outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster back in March, so the move has no impact on Chicago’s major league roster.

It’s an unfortunate end to Colas’s time in the organization. The 26-year-old was a fairly high-profile player in Cuba and Japan before he came over to affiliated ball by signing with Chicago for a $2.7MM bonus in early 2022. He crushed minor league pitching that year and put himself on the map as a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport headed into the 2023 season. He broke camp with the team after a strong spring training, but ultimately struggled badly across 75 games with the White Sox that year. He hit just .216/.257/.314 in 263 trips to the plate, with an elevated 27.0% strikeout rate against a lackluster 4.6% walk rate.

Those numbers weren’t enough for the White Sox to continue riding with Colas even amid a disastrous 101-loss season, and he was shipped back to the minors. Once back in Triple-A, Colas regained his hitting prowess somewhat and slashed .272/.345/.465 with the Knights in 54 games down the stretch. As the White Sox dove headfirst into a rebuilding phase in 2024, many expected that Colas would receive another opportunity to come up and try to establish himself in the majors with the club. That never came to pass, however, as reps in right field were instead primarily split between Dominic Fletcher, Gavin Sheets, and Tommy Pham.

Relegated to Triple-A for almost the entirety of 2024, Colas hit .273/.368/.273 with a 26.3% strikeout rate and a 10.5% walk rate in the 13 games he did play in the majors last year but recorded no extra-base hits in the majors and saw his performance in the minors take a noticeable step back as he slashed just .246/.332/.400 across 400 trips to the plate. Colas did not factor into the club’s plans for the outfield this year either, as team brass added players like Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater to the mix rather than give Colas another opportunity. This year, he posted a brutal .163/.245/.255 slash line across the Double- and Triple-A levels in 29 games (110 plate appearances) before the White Sox decided it was time to pull the plug.

Now that the White Sox and Colas have parted ways, the outfielder is free to sign with any of the league’s 29 other teams. The outfielder won’t turn 27 until September and is not terribly far removed from sensational numbers in the upper minors, so it wouldn’t be a shock if an outfield needy club gave him a call to serve as a depth option or injury replacement. Another possible option would be to explore the possibility of playing overseas, building on his stint with NPB’s Fukuoka Softbank Hawks during the 2019 season. If Colas is unable to find an attractive stateside opportunity, he’s certainly young enough to find success overseas before attempting to make an MLB comeback as a handful of other players have done over the years.

White Sox Option Andrew Vaughn, Tim Elko

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The White Sox announced today that outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman have been reinstated from the injured list. In corresponding moves, first basemen Andrew Vaughn and Tim Elko have been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

Looking at recent developments, Vaughn being optioned to the minors isn’t a shock. His bat has hovered around league average for most of his career but he’s been far worse here in 2025. He’s currently sporting a .189/.218/.314 line on the year. He has five home runs but the batting average is obviously rough. A tiny 3.6% walk rate means his on-base percentage is also quite low. His 44 wRC+ indicates he’s been 56% below league average at the plate this year.

Zooming out for a wider view, it’s been a pretty surprising trajectory. Vaughn was a slugger in college, hitting 50 home runs in 160 games for California, leading to a .374/.495/.688 batting line. The Sox took Vaughn third overall in the 2019 draft and signed him with a $7.2212MM bonus. The hope was that he was a potential middle-of-the-order bat who could be a key staple of the lineup for years to come.

It hasn’t played out as hoped. Vaughn cracked the Opening Day roster in 2021 but, as mentioned, his results have been fairly middling so far. He has shown a bit of pop but nothing special, finishing each previous season of his career between 15 and 21 long balls. The batting averages haven’t been great and he hasn’t drawn many walks. From 2021 to 2024, he took 2,258 plate appearances for the Sox with 72 home runs. His 20.3% strikeout rate was good but his 6.5% walk rate was subpar. His combined .253/.310/.415 batting line led to a 102 wRC+, indicating he was 2% better than league average in that time.

That’s not disastrous production but the Sox were surely hoping for more, especially because he doesn’t provide value in any other way. He’s not a burner on the basepaths, with just three career stolen bases. His defense isn’t great anywhere on the field. Earlier in his career, the Sox got him some outfield time while they had José Abreu at first. The results were disastrous, with Vaughn getting terrible grades from advanced defensive metrics. He has since settled in as the regular at first but both Outs Above Average and Defensive Runs Saved consider him to be subpar there as well.

Coming into 2025, it wasn’t even a guarantee the Sox would tender him a contract. In the end, they did, and avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $5.85MM salary for this year. For a club that lost 121 games last year, the hope was presumably that Vaughn would finally have a big breakout at the plate and turn himself into a viable summer trade candidate, but that has not happened.

For now, Vaughn will head down to Charlotte to see if there’s some way to get himself back on track, but it seems his rope with the White Sox is running out. As mentioned, he was a non-tender candidate at the end of last year. He can be retained for next year via arbitration but it’s hard to see that happening with this year’s swoon. If he’s down in the minors for a few weeks, they would gain an extra year of club control, but that’s not likely to matter if he’s a non-tender candidate anyway. If he shows any promise at all in the coming months, the Sox will surely try to flip him prior to the July 31st deadline.

Elko getting optioned isn’t a shock in a vacuum. He was only promoted two weeks ago and has a .161/.188/.452 line in his first 32 big league plate appearances. But he had been taking some of the first base playing time recently and would have been a candidate to replace Vaughn there. With both Vaughn and Elko getting optioned, the Sox are subtracting their two primary first basemen.

General manager Chris Getz says that Miguel Vargas and Lenyn Sosa will be mixing in at that position, per James Fegan of Sox Machine. Sosa is a utility player with a subpar bat. Vargas is a former top prospect who may be having a breakout at the plate. He struggled in his initial big league call-ups with the Dodgers and this year’s batting line was .139/.236/.203 as of April 21st. Since then, however, he has a .315/.379/.565 line and 166 wRC+. That’s still a small sample of 103 plate appearances but his previous prospect status perhaps gives it some credibility.

He has been the club’s regular third baseman with passable defense there. DRS considers him to be a roughly league average defender at that spot, though OAA has him at -5 in his career and -3 this year. Perhaps the Sox feel it’s better if he moves to the less-demanding first base position. Josh Rojas is playing third base for now but he’s not hitting well this year and will likely be traded if he turns his season around. Perhaps Vargas will move back to third if Vaughn earns his way back to the majors.

Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images

White Sox Outright Yoendrys Gómez

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The White Sox announced to reporters, including Scott Merkin of MLB.com, that right-hander Yoendrys Gómez has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte. He had been designated for assignment earlier this week.

While no player wants to be booted out of the major leagues, it’s possible that this is the best result for Gómez in the short term. He came into 2025 out of options, which has led to him bouncing around the league in a long relief role. He started the year with the Yankees but was designated for assignment about three weeks into the season. He was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers but lasted a little over a week with that club. The Sox then claimed him on May 10th and he was DFA’d on the 20th.

Around those transactions, he logged 17 2/3 innings over 12 long relief outings, posting a 6.62 earned run average in the process. But now that he has cleared waivers, perhaps the Sox will let him get stretched back out as a starter in Charlotte.

That’s a role in which he has shown some promise in the past. Though he made his professional debut in 2017, the canceled 2020 season and a Tommy John surgery in 2021 kept him from climbing too high on the minor league ladder. He went into 2022 without having pitched any higher than Single-A.

Over the 2022 through 2024 seasons, he went through High-A, Double-A, Triple-A and the majors. He logged 195 2/3 innings on the farm over those three seasons with a 3.36 ERA. His 11.6% walk rate in that time was certainly high but he also punched out 27.2% of batters faced. Baseball America considered him one of the top 30 Yankee prospects in each season from 2019 to 2024.

But as mentioned, his out-of-options status has had him in a sort of holding pattern for this year. He hasn’t shown enough for a proper big league rotation job, with a 5.23 ERA in 31 big league innings over three seasons. He has been bouncing around to various clubs in a mop-up role.

While losing his roster spot probably isn’t fun, it might at least be a chance to get back into a groove as a starter. The White Sox have a fairly inexperienced rotation, so there could be opportunities available later in the year. Adrian Houser was just signed but he’s on a one-year deal and should be traded this summer if he’s throwing well. Davis Martin, Jonathan Cannon, Sean Burke and Shane Smith all came into this season with less than a year of service time. Injuries are also fairly inevitable, with the Sox having already lost Drew Thorpe and Ky Bush to Tommy John surgery this year.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hui, Imagn Images

Poll: Did The White Sox Find A Gem In The Rule 5?

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There’s not been much for fans on the South Side of Chicago to get excited about of late. The club’s lengthy rebuild in the 2010s assembled a core that included well-regarded pieces like Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Eloy Jimenez, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, and Luis Robert Jr. but did not translate to much success on the field; the group ultimately made it to the playoffs in 2020 and ’21 but lost in the first round both years before regressing to an 81-81 record in 2022 and kicking off the latest rebuild.

Since then, White Sox fans have watched that core get dismantled, whether via trades or declined club options, and breakout ace Garrett Crochet followed them out the door over the offseason. Crochet’s excellent pitching performances were the one highlight of the White Sox season this side of the Campfire Milkshake, so that left fans with little to look forward to in 2025… or so we thought. In reality, the White Sox seem to have replaced their dominant ace with another potential front-of-the-rotation arm who came from the most unlikely of places: the Rule 5 draft.

Righty Shane Smith was plucked from the Brewers’ organization and made Chicago’s Opening Day rotation out of Spring Training. It was difficult to know what to expect from Smith, given that an organization as well-regarded for its pitching development as Milwaukee was comfortable leaving the righty unprotected this past winter. That’s quickly proving to have been a mistake. Through his first ten starts of the season, Smith has posted a sterling 2.36 ERA that stands as the eleventh-best figure among qualified starters this year, just ahead of Paul Skenes.

ERA is an imperfect estimator of talent, of course, and Smith’s personal figure is deflated by the fact that a six-run, five-inning outing against the Cubs saw five of those runs scored as unearned. Even setting ERA aside, however, his season has been an impressive one so far: a 3.32 FIP (26th) and 3.57 xERA (t-29th) lend credence to the idea of Smith as a potential front-end arm, even if he isn’t quite in the Cy Young conversation based on those more advanced metrics. Have the White Sox truly found a diamond in the rough, or is Smith’s hot start to his career just a flash in the pan?

Overall, Smith’s profile is a solid one, but there are signs that it’s closer to that of a league average starter than anything else. His 22.0% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate are both middle of the pack, and a 45.3% ground ball rate is above-average but not exactly elite. His .259 BABIP and 5.9% home run to fly ball ratio are both top-of-the-scale, but neither of those figures are particularly skill-interactive or sustainable, particularly for a hurler who rarely generates soft contact. If anything, those figures are potential red flags that indicate risk of future regression. Smith’s 3.96 SIERA and 97 xFIP- paint him as a roughly average MLB starter as well, offering all the more reason to think he might regress.

There are reasons for optimism as well, however. Smith generates swinging strikes at a well above average clip, which could be a sign for strikeout potential beyond the average rates that he’s shown to this point. An uptick in strikeouts would raise the floor on his whole profile in a way that could allow him to keep producing at this level. Even without that, however, it’s fair to point out that there have certainly been pitchers who have found consistent MLB success over the years despite mediocre underlying data. Smith’s metrics are better than, as one example, those of Javier Assad on the other side of town. Assad has a career 3.40 ERA across nearly 300 innings in the majors despite lackluster metrics, and that’s a figure any team would happily take from a Rule 5 pick.

How do MLBTR readers think Smith will pan out going forward? Will he be able to find another gear and keep producing like a front-half of the rotation arm, will he settle in as more of a reliable back-end starter, or will this hot start prove to be a total mirage? Have your say in the poll below:

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