How the Chicago White Sox Can Finish Strong in 2025

Iriarte hasn’t had the best season if you just look at the statline, allowing 12 ER in 24.1 IP (4.44 ERA) since being moved to the bullpen on June 4th. If you take out two outings where Iriarte allowed 7 ER in 1.1 IP combined, it paints a much brighter picture: a 1.96 ERA across 23.0 IP. He got a taste of the big leagues last year, and threw to a 1.50 ERA across 6 innings out of the bullpen.

Pallette is the only non-debuted name, but he might be the best of the group. After being shifted to a relief role last year, Pallette has rolled over the success he had out of the bullpen into this year. The ERA is an unspectacular 4.21 across 51.1 IP, but if we once again take out two blowup outings (9 ER in 0.2 IP), Pallette would hold a 2.68 ERA. Striking out over 30% of hitters, Pallette could carve out a spot in high leverage for the White Sox if given the chance.

The bread and butter pitch with Pallette is a low-80’s, downer of a curveball. It’s the standard fastball, curveball, slider, changeup mix in total, with the changeup being using solely against LHH. Ditto for the slider to RHH. Both slider and changeup have ran whiff rates north of 40% in Triple-A. It’s a big league caliber arm, and one that should be in the White Sox bullpen in the coming weeks.

A sneaky name to keep an eye on for a potential debut after rosters expand in September is flame-throwing righty Tanner McDougal. The 22-year-old has thrown to a 2.90 ERA across 102.1 IP for High-A Winston Salem and Double-A Birmingham this year, and has raised his prospect stock perhaps the most of any White Sox farmhand.

McDougal had Tommy John in 2021 and struggled with command after returning to the mound in 2023, posting walk rates of 14.3% and 13.6% in 2023 and 2024, respectively. But this year, the strikes have ticked up, and McDougal is going deeper into games than he ever has. The strikeout numbers are still very good, with the K% sitting at 29.0% on the year, and the BB% has lowered to a more than manageable 10.9%. That number gets even smaller if you only look at his 44.2 Double-A innings, a 6.8% clip.

McDougal has been pitching on an innings limit since mid-July, only going three innings per start. One would think that could lead to a big league call if he has a limited number of innings left, and the White Sox not wanting to waste bullets from a premium arm in short Double-A stints (see: Grant Taylor).

McDougal is Rule 5 eligible this winter, so if he would need to be added to the 40 man roster in November anyways, why not give him a handful of innings down the stretch? Skipping Triple-A has been a common theme for White Sox pitchers: Drew Thorpe, Taylor, and Jake Palisch are a few names who have jumped the level in recent memory.

The pitching side is all about jumbling of arms and seeing who sticks, but the hitting side is the exact opposite.

Consistency at the Plate

The White Sox lineup looks much different than it did on Opening Day. By my count, four players who took the field for the White Sox on March 27 have been replaced: Korey Lee was sent down to Triple-A, Andrew Vaughn was traded to Milwaukee, Jacob Amaya got DFA’d, and Austin Slater was shipped to the Bronx.

Since then, four White Sox rookies have debuted: Meidroth, Quero, Teel, and Montgomery.

With all this change, some consistency in lineups and positions would help the rookies get into a groove and feel more comfortable at the level. Meidroth and Montgomery should be your left side of the infield. I’d prefer to see them up the middle, but with the way Sosa has been swinging the bat recently, you can’t take him out of the lineup.

Quero and Teel should be rotating between catcher and DH every day. Both of them need to be in the lineup at least six days a week. I understand both are young catchers that need a rest day now and again, but the way Teel and Quero have been hitting, they should be in the lineup together more times than not.

The White Sox have four hitters with a wRC+ over 105 (min. 100 PA), and both rookie catchers make up half of that list. Teel is at a sparkling 118, Quero sneaks in at 106. They’ve both gone through their share of ebbs and flows on both sides of the ball, as expected for rookie catchers. But they both have taken it in stride and looked like real pieces for a contending White Sox team down the road.

I’d also like to see less lineup variability, which may be a bit of a hot take. I know this season is likely going to be the third straight 100-loss campaign for the White Sox, but a corner is upcoming. If that corner is turned, you shouldn’t be shuffling Montgomery from the third spot in the lineup all the way down to eighth. Find a lineup that works, and stick with it. Consistency is the name of the game, and having the cleanup spot be whoever the hottest hitter at the time is isn’t my favorite.

But that’s super nitpicky, and I understand why first-year manager Will Venable is trying to get guys different looks in different situations.

Lean Into The Power

Staying on that track of consistency, let’s keep the home runs coming, yeah? The White Sox have been one of the best teams in the league in the power department since the All-Star break, and it’s no coincidence that the team has been playing better than they have all year.

Ball go far, team go far. Simple.

Now, I’m not saying every player should be swinging with intent to hit a baseball into the next county, but elevating the ball to the pull side is something we’ve seen almost every White Sox hitter improve at this year. Ryan Fuller, White Sox Director of Hitting, was brought in over the winter to do exactly that. He’s had a more than productive first season on the job, I’d say.

Whether it be Montgomery hitting ten homers in his first 28 games, or Luis Robert Jr. seemingly tapping into his old self again, the White Sox offense has been a breath of fresh air recently.

Hitting well-timed singles the other way is important, yes. But it’s tough to string three or four of those singles together to score a run. Having multiple bats in the lineup who can leave the yard at any time is how you stack those singles and turn them into three run shots.

Lastly, I’ll spare you a full section of me essentially writing “please, please, please stay healthy…”, so here it is. Just stay healthy and if there is an injury, cross every body part you have that it isn’t a serious one. After the losses of (deep breath) Thorpe, Mason Adams, Ky Bush, Prelander Berroa, Juan Carela, and Blake Larson (exhale) to Tommy John all in the span of about 6 weeks in spring training, I’m not sure how many more injuries I can take.

Final Thoughts

I’ll wrap by saying this: the end of the 2025 season for the White Sox is going to close the book on a very painful chapter of baseball. It has been a half-decade since Robert went 483 feet in an empty Oakland Coliseum in the playoffs of 2020. How fickle and naive we all were back then, no clue of what would happen in just a few short years.

But no matter how you spin it, 2026 and beyond will be better times for baseball on the south side of Chicago. There will be a day when the White Sox are competing again, and hopefully it comes soon.

If you’ve stuck with the Sox for this long, just wait a little longer. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that the White Sox will surprise some fans in 2026, but that’s a story for another day…

Sit back, relax, and strap it down. Enjoy the final month of the 2025 White Sox baseball, it’s only up from here.