A Look At The White Sox Rotation In 2024
One of the biggest question marks on the 2024 White Sox team is the starting rotation. The biggest storyline is the status of Dylan Cease and whether he will still be on the roster in 2024. Signs are pointing to him not being on the team, but you never know. If he is on the roster, it makes the competition for the five spots even more competitive and less obvious.
Before free agency, the White Sox had a few options for the starting rotation. They had Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, Touki Toussaint, and Jesse Scholtens. Nick Nastrini was also an option, as he is knocking on the door of his major league debut. People knew that the White Sox would add some arms to the rotation, but the White Sox have added many more arms than people thought.
In the Aaron Bummer trade, the Sox acquired starter Mike Soroka and young starter Jared Shuster. These are two solid high-upside arms to add to the rotation, as Soroka was an all star, and Shuster is a former first round pick. The Sox could have been done then, but they continued to add arms.
They would then go on to sign Korean Baseball Organization MVP, Eric Fedde on a two year deal in hopes that he figured something out in his trip overseas. At that point, the White Sox had a good competition for the five rotation spots, but they wouldn’t be done.
The Sox would go on to add veteran starter Chris Flexen the other day to a cheap deal, but he was very bad last year, but had good couple of years before that. They also drafted starting pitcher Shane Drohan in the rule-5 draft, so he could be in line to get some starts.
At worst, the White Sox have added a good amount of depth, but these are mostly major league signings, meaning most of the players won’t be sent down, creating a jam in the rotation.
Not including Dylan Cease, the White Sox have a number of names that can fit in the rotation, notably all the names listed above. Kopech, Toussaint, Scholtens, Nastrini, Fedde, Soroka, Shuster, Flexen, and Drohan. These are nine players for just five spots.
I would love to see Nastrini get a good amount of starts if he is ready. He is one of our top prospects and he could be a top of the rotation guy if developed properly. The same can be said about Shuster, as he was a first round pick of the Braves and has the potential to be a good back of the rotation guy.
I’m not sure how the Sox feel about these players, so we will have to wait and see. We don’t know what they will do with Kopech, as he could easily be moved to the bullpen full time. It would be better for the Sox if he was able to stick in the rotation, but if he doesn’t pitch well, the ‘pen might be the spot. It seems that Fedde will be starting no matter what, as his contract indicates he will be starting.
This leaves Toussiant, Schotens, Flexen, and Drohan to fill a spot at the back end of the rotation or be the long reliever in the pen. I’m curious to see how that competition goes, as this will be a battle to watch in Spring Training.