How Improvements To Pitching Infrastructure Could Aid White Sox Rebuild

CHICAGO –– When the White Sox hired Brian Bannister as senior advisor to pitching in September 2023, it represented one of several moves toward a greater focus on analytics.

Now approaching the two-year mark of his tenure, Bannister is excited about the direction of the pitching staff up and down the organization. He believes a more robust pitching infrastructure will help all levels, whether it be their ability to successfully draft, identify free agents, make trades or internally improve over the course of a season.

"As we start to layer in and bring in more veteran names, names with more experience, higher ceilings, etc., I think it's gonna be special," Bannister said Friday in Chicago. "But I think the backbone of it is us being creative, us being able to produce pitching internally, adding the Hagen Smith's and the Noah Schultz's and higher upside guys."

"But really just being able to find pitching, do with some names what other teams are not able to do, which is why they get rid of them, and come in and really figure out their arsenals and collaborate with those pitchers and turn them into quality Major League starters, I think is gonna be our foundation and then we'll keep layering on top of that."

A few examples of this approach have already translated to the Major League level. The White Sox selected Shane Smith No. 1 overall in December's Rule 5 Draft, and he became an All-Star in his rookie season. Bannister noted that Smith added a changeup and a two-seam fastball to his repertoire upon joining the White Sox, a sign of the organization's strides on the research and development side.

Fellow Rule 5 Draft pick Mike Vasil is another case, posting a 2.45 ERA in 95.2 innings as a starter, long reliever and closer in his rookie season. The team also identified Adrian Houser, who began the season in Triple-A but posted a 2.10 ERA across 11 starts before being flipped at the deadline for Curtis Mead, Duncan Davitt and Ben Peoples.

"I think certainly there's a lot of things behind the scenes that are happening and there's development going on to our infrastructure," White Sox manager Will Venable said. "And absolutely as we solve problems and feedback loops are improved and communication is improved, I think you see our development of our players improve as well. So certainly with the work Banny has done with the rest of the group, you can feel that more and more every day."

Yet another sign of the White Sox improved pitching infrastructure is seen through Yoendrys Gomez. He was designated for assignment by the Yankees and Dodgers early in the season, and again by the White Sox after allowing three earned runs in three relief appearances.

But he cleared waivers and went to Triple-A Charlotte, where he worked on expanding his arsenal and having better command. The result has been a far-improved pitcher, recording a 4.15 ERA across eight starts since rejoining the White Sox in mid-August.

"There's gonna be guys that are cast offs from other teams or not protected, and we're able to dig into the science and get a little more out of them and make them very useful for us and give them higher ceilings," Bannister said. "So it's really been a group effort. We continue to build systems behind the scenes. [Research and development] continues to make progress."

"We're making huge progress in Latin America with David Keller and what he's doing down there and systems we're putting in down there. Things that, I don't want to say long overdue, but it's infrastructure that's much needed for us to be where we want to be and be a playoff team and really compete at the highest level. Kudos to Chris and Jerry, putting a blessing on it all and allowing us to go in and build those systems and kind of start with a blank slate analytically and really collaborate behind the scenes interdepartmentally."