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White Sox Option Colson Montgomery

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The White Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve optioned top shortstop prospect Colson Montgomery to Triple-A Charlotte. He’ll begin the season there. Chicago also optioned righties Nick Nastrini and Owen White to Charlotte. Non-roster first baseman Tim Elko was reassigned to minor league camp as well.

The Montgomery news doesn’t register as a huge surprise, given the way his spring has played out. The 23-year-old is widely ranked among MLB’s 100 best prospects, but he was slowed by back spasms in camp and has only taken nine plate appearances thus far. The former No. 22 overall pick is also coming off a rough 2024 season in Triple-A. Though he hit well for the final five weeks of the season, he finished out the year with an ugly .214/.329/.381 slash (88 wRC+) and a 28.6% strikeout rate. A big spring showing certainly could’ve thrust Montgomery into the mix for a roster spot, but he’ll head back to Charlotte and work toward a big league debut that will very likely happen at some point in 2025.

With Montgomery headed for the minors, the White Sox’ options at shortstop include Jacob Amaya, Lenyn Sosa and Brooks Baldwin. Prospect Chase Meidroth, acquired from the Red Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade, is also still in the mix but is not on the 40-man roster. The 23-year-old Meidroth had a nice year in Triple-A Worcester in 2024 but has struggled in his limited spring work thus far. Amaya has seen the most time at short this spring out of any option for the position.

The White Sox only selected Montgomery to the 40-man roster this past November, doing so in order to protect him in his first offseason of Rule 5 eligibility. As such, this will be just the first of his three option years being burned (assuming he stays in Triple-A for more than 20 days). The Sox could’ve considered bringing Montgomery north in hopes of securing future draft picks under MLB’s prospect promotion incentive (PPI) program, but between his back issue, last year’s rough numbers and a 1-for-9 performance with five strikeouts when he was in the spring lineup, they’ll go another direction.

Nastrini started eight big league games last year but was tagged for an ERA north of 7.00 and walked more batters than he punched out. He whiffed a quarter of his Triple-A opponents but was still hit hard there. He’ll likely stay stretched out as a starter in Charlotte and should get multiple opportunities to establish himself in the majors in 2025.

White is a former top prospect with the Rangers who bounced around the league via waivers this offseason. He split 2024 between the bullpen and rotation for Texas’ top affiliate. White only pitched one official inning in a Cactus League game this spring.

White Sox Designate Shane Drohan For Assignment

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The White Sox announced a series of roster moves this morning, including that they’ve activated left-hander Shane Drohan from the 60-day injured list and designated him for assignment. In a separate move, the club selected the contract of left-hander Sammy Peralta. The club optioned right-hander Nick Nastrini to make room on the active roster. Chicago’s 40-man roster stands at 39.

Drohan, 25, joined the White Sox organization over the offseason when he was selected from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft. Chicago will have one week to either trade or waive Drohan, and if he clears waivers they must offer him back to Boston for $50K. If he lands with a new organization by trade or on waivers, Drohan’s Rule 5 obligations will carry over to that new club. Drohan underwent shoulder surgery back in February but began a rehab assignment on May 10. The 30-day window for Drohan’s rehab assignment ended today, meaning that he had to be activated from the IL and either placed on Chicago’s active roster in compliance with Rule 5 restrictions or designated for assignment.

The White Sox evidently chose to part ways with Drohan, and given his struggles during his rehab assignment it’s not hard to see why. In 9 1/3 innings of work over ten appearances spread across three levels of the minors, Drohan struggled to an 8.68 ERA with a 17.4% walk rate despite an excellent 32.6% strikeout rate. Those results worsened when he departed complex ball, as he yielded a 9.53 ERA with identical 20.7% strikeout and walk rates in seven appearances split between High-A and Triple-A. Even for a 17-48 club like Chicago, it’s difficult to justify dedicating an active roster spot to a player facing struggles that deep against minor league hitters.

Prior to the aforementioned shoulder surgery, Drohan had the look of an interesting pitching prospect in the Red Sox organization. The lefty dominated Double-A pitching to the tune of a 1.32 ERA with a 28.1% strikeout rate across six starts last year before being promoted to the Triple-A level. Drohan hit a wall during his time at Triple-A, however, as he walked 14.9% of batters faced across his 21 appearances (19 starts) while yielding a 6.47 ERA in 89 innings of work.

Those struggles were seemingly enough to convince Boston to leave Drohan off their 40-man roster this winter, although Chicago evidently believed that a move to short relief could help with Drohan’s control problems enough to make him a viable big leaguer. Should he wind up returning to Boston, it’s possible the Red Sox will keep Drohan in his new short relief role or perhaps look to stretch him back out as a potential depth option for the big league club in the event he manages to sort out his control issues.

As for Peralta, the lefty’s contract was first selected to the club’s roster back in May of 2023. He performed decently in a middle relief role for the club last year, with a 4.05 ERA and 4.41 FIP in 20 innings of work. Peralta’s lackluster minor league numbers and worrisome big league peripherals were enough to make him expendable for the White Sox as they sorted through their Opening Day roster crunch, and he was designated for assignment to make room for right-hander Jordan Leasure on the 40-man roster. That led to him being claimed off waivers by the Mariners, who then designated Peralta themselves to make room for righty Eduardo Salazar.

The White Sox then claimed him off waivers from Seattle to return him to the organization, only to designate him for a third time in two months in order to make room for righty Jake Woodford on 40-man roster. Peralta then finally cleared waivers and was outrighted to the minors in late May, but he spent less than two weeks there before being selected back to the roster today. Peralta’s rollercoaster first two months of the season have led him to a familiar role: that of a fill-in relief option who can pitch from the left side. The lefty struggled badly during his time in the Mariners organization but has 3 2/3 scoreless innings of work at the Triple-A level for the White Sox this year. He’ll hope to take that success into the majors with him as he joins the club’s bullpen alongside fellow lefties Tanner Banks, Jared Shuster, and Tim Hill.

As for Nastrini, the right-hander was a key component of the return for right-handers Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly after Chicago traded them to the Dodgers last summer. Nastrini has made six starts at the big league level so far this season and has generally struggled badly, with a 8.39 ERA and 7.92 FIP in just 24 2/3 innings of work. While he held the Red Sox to just one run over 4 1/3 innings last night, he walked five of the 19 batters he faced. That performance at the big league level has clearly indicated to the Sox that the 24-year-old needs more time in the minors before he can contribute on the south side on a more permanent basis.

White Sox Recall Zach DeLoach For MLB Debut

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2:30pm: The White Sox have officially recalled DeLoach and right-hander Nick Nastrini, with the promotion of the latter reported on yesterday. In corresponding moves, Jimenez has been placed on the 10-day IL with a left hamstring strain and right-hander Steven Wilson lands on the 15-day IL due to a back strain, the latter retroactive to May 20.

9:10am: The White Sox are set to recall outfielder Zach DeLoach for his big league debut prior to today’s game against the Blue Jays, reports Francys Romero, who notes that DeLoach is coming up in light of Eloy Jimenez’s injury. The Sox DH suffered a strained left hamstring last night, and the promotion of DeLoach likely points to another IL stint for the frequently injured Jimenez. Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that while Jimenez is set to be further evaluated today, an IL stint is indeed seen as probable.

DeLoach, 25, was a second-round pick by the Mariners in 2020 who came to the Sox organization by way of the offseason Gregory Santos trade. He entered the season ranked 16th among Sox prospects at Baseball America and currently sits 29th on MLB.com’s White Sox top-30.

The left-handed-hitting DeLoach has opened the 2024 season with a .263/.358/.351 slash, two homers and eight steals in 159 plate appearances down in Charlotte. That’s a drop-off from the .286/.387/.481 slash he posted in 623 Triple-A plate appearances last year, though DeLoach has noticeably cut his strikeout rate from 27.8% to 22.6% and done so while maintaining an excellent 11.9% walk rate. Keen plate discipline is a hallmark of his game; DeLoach has never walked at anything lower than an 11.2% clip in his minor league career and carries an overall 13% walk rate since being drafted.

DeLoach has played all three outfield positions in his career, but he’s spent the bulk of his time in right field. MLB.com’s scouting report credits him with an average arm, while BA has him slightly below and feels he’s best-suited in left field. Despite last year’s 23 homers and the eight bags he’s already swiped this season, DeLoach doesn’t draw plus grades for either his power or speed. He’ll give the Sox an OBP-focused corner bat who’ll probably need to improve either his power, glovework or speed in order to profile as an everyday option — particularly since he’s been inconsistent when it comes to facing left-handed pitching.

DeLoach posted strong numbers against southpaws in 2023 and 2021 but struggled against them in 2022 and so far in 2024. On the whole, he’s handled lefties better than the average left-handed bat, but DeLoach hasn’t been nearly as steady against same-handed opponents as he has against right-handed pitchers, who he’s consistently knocked around throughout his pro career.

With Andrew Benintendi, Tommy Pham, Gavin Sheets, Dominic Fletcher and Corey Julks all already on the roster, DeLoach will give Chicago six outfield options. However, Benintendi has been one of the game’s least-productive hitters this season, while Sheets could see more time at DH with Jimenez hurt and/or at first base, where Andrew Vaughn has struggled nearly as much as Benintendi.

White Sox To Add Nick Nastrini To Rotation

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The White Sox will install Nick Nastrini back into their rotation, reports Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times (X link). Manager Pedro Grifol confirmed after tonight’s win over the Blue Jays that the rookie right-hander will take the ball tomorrow in Toronto, pushing Mike Clevinger back to Thursday’s series opener against the Orioles.

Chicago needed to settle on a new fifth starter after designating Brad Keller for assignment on Sunday. Nastrini and Jonathan Cannon, each of whom made his MLB debut in April, were the likeliest options. Nastrini took two starts for the Sox last month. He worked five innings of two-run ball against the Royals in his debut before surrendering six runs across three frames in a road matchup with the Phillies.

The Sox optioned Nastrini back to Triple-A Charlotte after his start in Philadelphia. Keller drew into the rotation for a couple turns, while Clevinger returned to the majors after his late free agent signing. The Sox quickly decided to move on from the veteran Keller in favor of a look at a younger pitcher.

Nastrini, 24, is a former fourth-round pick of the Dodgers. The Sox acquired him at last summer’s deadline in the Lance Lynn/Joe Kelly deal. Nastrini closed last season in Charlotte, where he has spent the majority of the 2024 campaign. His 5.83 ERA in 29 1/3 Triple-A frames isn’t particularly impressive, but the UCLA product has fanned nearly 27% of batters faced with a serviceable 8.2% walk rate. The longball has been his biggest issue, as Nastrini has allowed nine homers in six starts.

The Sox’s rotation has been one of the league’s worst overall, though it’s not without a few interesting performers. Garrett Crochet tossed six scoreless innings to earn the win tonight. He lowered his season ERA to 3.75 in the process. Crochet has punched out more than 32% of opponents in his first year as a starter.

Erick Fedde has allowed 3.10 earned runs per nine over 10 starts in his return to the majors. That mid-rotation production and his modest $7.5MM salaries through 2025 make him an intriguing trade candidate. Every other pitcher who has made multiple starts — Nastrini, Cannon, Keller, Clevinger, Chris Flexen and Michael Soroka — has an ERA above 5.00.

Chicago will officially recall Nastrini tomorrow. They’ll need to option or designate a pitcher for assignment to comply with the 13-pitcher maximum. It could be one of multiple moves, as the Sox will know in the coming days if Eloy Jiménez requires a stint on the injured list. The hulking DH left tonight’s game with a left hamstring strain.

White Sox Making Changes In Rotation

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The 6-25 White Sox are shuffling up their rotation mix a bit. Manager Pedro Grifol told the Sox beat yesterday that right-hander Brad Keller would likely move into the rotation in the near future (X link via Scott Merkin of MLB.com), and he’s now listed as the probable starter Friday. Meanwhile, right-hander Mike Clevinger has made a pair of starts in Triple-A Charlotte since returning on a one-year deal and is likely to join the rotation next week, tweets Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Right-hander Erick Fedde has been Chicago’s only above-average starter this season. Lefty Garrett Crochet started brilliantly but has been hit hard of late, ballooning his ERA to just under 6.00. Michael Soroka, Jonathan Cannon, Chris Flexen and Nick Nastrini have all made multiple starts but all came into today with an ERA north of 6.00. Flexen allowed just two earned runs over five innings today, lowering his ERA to 4.85. The Sox have combined for a 5.52 ERA out of the rotation, ranking 29th in the big leagues — ahead of only the Rockies. White Sox starters have averaged an MLB-worst 1.61 homers per nine frames.

Keller, 28, is a longtime division foe for the Sox, having spent his entire big league career prior to this season with the Royals. From 2018-20, Keller emerged as a steadying presence for Kansas City, going from a Rule 5 long reliever to a core member of the rotation. He pitched 360 1/3 frames of 3.50 ERA ball during that stretch, but his career went the opposite direction in three subsequent seasons.

From 2021-23, Keller was tagged for a 5.14 ERA as his command took a noticeable turn for the worse. He was limited to just 45 1/3 innings in 2023, logging a 4.57 ERA but issuing an alarming 45 walks along the way. Keller’s season ended early due to thoracic outlet symptoms. He inked a minor league deal with the ChiSox during the offseason and has made one scoreless relief appearance (1 2/3 innings) in addition to three starts at the Triple-A level, where he turned in a 4.50 ERA in 16 innings and piled up grounders at a huge 62.5% clip.

Clevinger will be entering his second season with the Sox. He started 24 games for the South Siders last year and notched a 3.77 ERA with a 20% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 30.9% ground-ball rate. Despite a solid season on the mound, Clevinger lingered in free agency and ultimately settled on a one-year, $3MM deal to return to the White Sox. He signed late enough that he required the current Triple-A tune-up before joining the big league rotation.

It’s not immediately clear who’ll lose their spot. Nastrini and Cannon have both already been optioned to Triple-A. Soroka and Flexen are veteran stopgaps who are only signed for the current season. Flexen has struggled mightily in the rotation and fared better in a pair of bullpen appearances, but as mentioned, he had a nice performance in today’s series finale against the Twins. Soroka has completed five innings in just three of his seven starts. Crochet’s workload figures to be monitored after he pitched just 24 1/3 frames last year in his return from 2022 Tommy John surgery. He’s never topped 54 1/3 innings in a professional season since being selected in the first round of the 2020 draft.

White Sox Designate Zach Remillard For Assignment

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3:35pm: The Sox have now made it official, selecting Mendick and designating Remillard for assignment. They also reinstated John Brebbia from the injured list and optioned right-hander Nick Nastrini and infielder Lenyn Sosa to Triple-A Charlotte. Nastrini’s option means they will need another starter later this week.

11:15am: The White Sox will designate infielder Zach Remillard for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for fellow utilityman Danny Mendick, reports Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. Van Schouwen first reported last night that Mendick’s contract would be selected prior to today’s game.

It’s the second DFA of the calendar year for Remillard, whom the White Sox designated back in January but selected back to the 40-man roster nine days ago. Now 30 years old, Remillard has spent his entire career in the White Sox organization after the team selected him in the tenth round of the 2016 draft.

Remillard has seen big league time in each of the past two seasons, albeit in fleeting fashion. He tallied 160 plate appearances last year and another five this season. Overall, he’s a .250/.292/.316 hitter in that limited sample. Remillard posted a nice .280/.373/.400 slash in 491 plate appearances during his 2022 run in Triple-A Charlotte, but those numbers dipped in 2023 and he’s out to a dismal .120/.224/.160 start through his first 58 Triple-A appearances so far in 2024.

While Remillard has primarily played third base in his professional career (2356 innings), he’s also logged time at shortstop (1646 innings), at second base (961 innings), at first base (696 innings), in left field (333 innings), in right field (133 innings) and in center field (76 innings).

The White Sox will have a week to trade Remillard, pass him through outright waivers or release him. Because he was outrighted after clearing waivers back in January, he’d have the right to reject a second outright assignment in favor of free agency if he goes unclaimed a second time.

White Sox Promote Nick Nastrini

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3:40pm: The Sox have now made Nastrini’s promotion official and also activated outfielder Eloy Jimenez from the injured list. To open active roster spots for those two, they optioned right-hander Justin Anderson and infielder/outfielder Zach Remillard. To open a 40-man spot for Nastrini, they transferred catcher Max Stassi to the 60-day injured list. The backstop opened the season on the 10-day IL due to hip inflammation but was hit on the hand by a backswing while rehabbing recently, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. His exact timeline isn’t clear but he’s now ineligible to be activated until late May.

9:27am: The White Sox will call up right-hander Nick Nastrini to start today’s game in what will be his MLB debut, manager Pedro Grifol announced (link via Kyle Williams of the Chicago Sun-Times). He’s not on the 40-man roster, so the Sox will need to open a spot for his contract to be formally selected.

Nastrini, 24, is widely regarded as one of the White Sox’ top pitching prospects. Acquired from the Dodgers in the trade sending Lance Lynn to Los Angeles last summer, the 2021 fourth-round pick has routinely posted massive strikeout numbers throughout his minor league tenure but has also battled sub-par command for much of his professional career.

Scouting reports at Baseball America, MLB.com, FanGraphs, The Athletic and ESPN all rank Nastrini eighth or better among ChiSox farmhands, with BA listing him third in the system. The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Nastrini 76th on his 2024 top 100 list, touting him as a possible No. 4 starter and with the ceiling to become quite a bit more than that, given the strength of his secondary pitches.

There’s little doubting the quality of Nastrini’s stuff; he runs his fastball up as high as 98 mph and complements it with a slider, curveball and changeup that all project as potentially average to plus offerings. Nastrini features high-end spin rates on his heater and breaking pitches, and his changeup helped him limit lefties to a .226 average with a 29.7% strikeout rate between Double-A and Triple-A last season. (Righties hit .216 and punched out at a 26.1% clip.) Law touts the changeup, in particular, as a potential plus-plus pitch (70-grade on the 20-80 scale).

If Nastrini had better control of his electric arsenal, he’d undoubtedly grade as one of the game’s elite prospects. At 6’3″, 215-pound righty has the size and deep repertoire to profile as a starter, but he’s walked 11.1% of his career opponents. His penchant for missing the zone leads to plenty of deep counts as well; in 2023 he averaged about 4 2/3 innings per start. There’s still some refinement to be made, though he’s improved his command since college ball at UCLA and has also seen further gains in that field since being traded from L.A. to Chicago (9.5% walk rate in the Sox’ system).

The state of the White Sox’ roster amid their current rebuild gives Nastrini ample opportunity to show he can stick. The Sox are out to their worst start in franchise history, sitting at 2-13 on the season. The woeful state of their rotation has played a significant role in those struggles. Even with Garrett Crochet pitching like a borderline No. 1 starter through his first four turns, White Sox starters rank 26th in the big leagues with 72 1/3 innings pitched, 28th with a 5.60 ERA and dead last with a 5.20 FIP. Despite totaling MLB’s fifth-fewest innings, the rotation is tied for the MLB lead with 14 home runs allowed.

Nastrini will join Crochet, Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka and Chris Flexen in the rotation for the time being. Recently re-signed Mike Clevinger will join that group in a few weeks as well, once he’s sufficiently built up, and other prospects like Jake Eder, Jairo Iriarte and Jared Shuster (currently working as a long reliever in the big league ’pen) could eventually garner looks over the course of the season.

Even if Nastrini is in the big leagues to stay, he won’t accrue enough service time to reach a full year in 2024. Were it not for an illness that rendered Nastrini unavailable the first time Chicago needed a fifth starter, that may not have been the case, but he wasn’t healthy enough in the season’s first week to step onto the staff at the time. He’s still made just two starts in the minors this season, in part due to that illness. Further optional assignments could always alter his timeline anyhow, but for now, Nastrini will be controllable all the way through 2030.

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