Jordan Hicks did not arrive in Chicago with much fanfare. He came over in an offseason trade that looked, at least on the surface, like Boston clearing money off the books. The Red Sox sent $8 million to the White Sox, Chicago took on the remaining $16 million on Hicks’ contract over the final two years, and the real prize in the deal was supposed to be right-hander David Sandlin.
Now Hicks is starting to look like more than a throw-in.
Since coming off the injured list, the 29-year-old right-hander has turned into a real weapon in the White Sox bullpen. That’s a sharp turn from the start of his season, when he was doing what he has done for much of his career: walking too many hitters and carrying an ERA north of 4.00.
The early numbers were ugly. Before he hit the shelf with a right lat strain on May 20, Hicks had a 5.60 ERA and a 2.09 WHIP across 17.2 innings. But after returning to the major league roster on June 21, he has been nearly untouchable, throwing seven scoreless innings.
That run has included 1.1 scoreless innings against the Royals on June 28, when he struck out two, a strikeout-the-side outing against the Guardians on July 3, and 1.2 shutout innings against the Red Sox on Thursday, when he added two more strikeouts.
Over his last seven appearances, Hicks has struck out 12 batters while allowing only three hits and one walk. For a pitcher whose biggest issue has always been free passes, that kind of command jump stands out. His walk rate this season is still 16.8%, but the recent stretch has at least given the White Sox something real to work with.
The raw stuff has never been in question. Hicks has one of the hardest fastballs in baseball, averaging 97 mph, and over his eight-year career he has generated ground balls at a 56.8% clip. This season, his 98 mph fastball ranks in the top three percent in baseball, and he is still getting grounders at a 54% rate, which plays especially well in a park like Rate Field.
He is also making hitters look bad in other ways. If he had enough innings to qualify, Hicks would rank near the top of the league in opponent barrel percentage and hard-hit rate.
The White Sox believed there was still something to unlock when they made the deal. Chris Getz told MLB.com during the offseason that the club’s scouting evaluations and pitch data pointed to Hicks still having the raw stuff to become an effective reliever again. The organization also saw room to make adjustments to his arsenal.
Those changes have been clear. Hicks scrapped his slider and trimmed his pitch mix down to a four-seam fastball, split-finger, sweeper and sinker. The White Sox also lowered his arm angle to 33 degrees, his lowest arm slot since 2024, when it dropped to 29 degrees.
That slot change matters because a lower arm angle can add movement and deception. Still, Hicks’ track record shows it is not a simple one-size-fits-all fix.
In 2023, when his arm angle sat at 40 degrees, he had what was arguably the second-best season of his career, posting a 3.29 ERA and averaging 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings, both the second-best marks of his eight-year career. The next season, after dropping to 29 degrees while moving into the rotation, he posted a 4.10 ERA and missed 52 games with an injury.
Last season, his arm angle was back up to 35 degrees.
Now it appears he may have found a better fit at 33 degrees, and the White Sox are getting the version of Hicks they hoped might show up when they took the gamble on him. The team may still try to add help to the back end of the bullpen before the trade deadline, but Hicks has already started to carve out a role as a reliable piece.
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