Chicago White Sox Sign Former All-Star To Minor League Deal

CHICAGO –– White Sox general manager Chris Getz used the term "creative" three times on Monday when discussing managing the innings of the team's young pitchers.

There's been upwards of three examples of that less than halfway through the season, with the latest coming on Tuesday morning. The team announced it agreed to terms on minor league contract with pitcher Noah Syndergaard. He has reported to the complex in Glendale, Ariz.

Syndergaard, 32, has not pitched in the major leagues since 2023 with the Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Dodgers, but he was once an elite starting pitcher. The 6-foot-6 right-hander broke into the league in a big way in 2015, when he finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting and helped the Mets reach the World Series.

His best season came in 2016, when he recorded a 2.60 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP with 218 strikeouts and 43 walks across 183.2 innings. Nicknamed "Thor," Syndergaard finished second among all pitchers with 6.0 wins above replacement that season, behind Miami's Jose Fernandez.

Injuries limited Syndergaard to just 30.1 innings in 2017 and two innings in 2021, and he didn't pitch at all in 2020, signaling the end of his Mets tenure. Across six seasons in New York, he posted a 3.32 ERA across 718 innings. But his career would never quite be the same.

He pitched 134.2 innings in 2022 with the Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies and 88.2 innings with the Dodgers and Guardians in 2023, his last season in the big leagues. In 2023, he finished with career-worst numbers with a 6.50 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. Syndergaard's fastball averaged at least 97 mph from 2015-19, but it dipped to 94.4 in 2021 and 92.2 mph in 2023.

An article by Pat Ragazzo of New York Mets On SI from March of 2025 reports, "Syndergaard is ramping up in preparation of a potential MLB comeback in the future. Syndergaard has been throwing and working out at Kova Sports baseball training center in Alvarado, Texas." (For more details on Syndergaard's potential return, CLICK HERE.)

The White Sox signing Syndergaard can be compared to the midseason acquisitions of veteran pitchers Adrian Houser, 32, and Aaron Civale, 30. Houser was in Triple-A when the White Sox signed him to a one-year deal, but he's been a great addition with a 2.27 ERA in his first six starts.

The White Sox traded first baseman Andrew Vaughn to the Milwaukee Brewers for Civale, who requested a trade after being moved to the bullpen. Through two starts with the White Sox, he's given up seven earned runs in 12 innings.

The hope is that acquiring these veteran pitchers serves multiple purposes. The White Sox have a mostly young pitching staff, many of whom are already approaching their career-high inning totals. In a season in which the White Sox are out of the playoff picture, they want to protect these young arms so that they can produce in future seasons.

It's also an attempt to improve the team through the trade market. If pitchers like Syndergaard, Houser and Civale have some success, the White Sox could flip them at the trade deadline for younger prospects, for example.

Getz spoke to that dynamic on Tuesday.

"We're always monitoring what's going on at the minor league level, the major league level, if a player has an opt-out, he's on waivers or there's a trade opportunity that makes sense," Getz said. "Any move we made –– whether it be Houser or Civale, because those are obvious examples –– the biggest value is being able to protect some of our young arms, but also knowing there was some upside in acquiring those players, that perhaps they could help us at the deadline. But the priority is getting those guys out here and pitching well, and that happens in a lot of different ways."