The White Sox came out of 2026 with plenty to feel good about, even if the finish didn’t land the way fans wanted. The season produced a handful of clear risers, a few bruised reputations, and a future that suddenly looks a lot more interesting than it did a year ago.
Miguel Vargas was the loudest breakout of the bunch. After a so-so year in 2025, when he posted a .717 OPS across 138 games, the third baseman took a massive step forward in 2026.
He played 159 games and hit .250/.363/.474 with 33 home runs and 93 runs batted in. The power showed up, the legs came into play with 22 stolen bases, and the overall package - defense, hustle, and production - made him impossible to miss.
Vargas earned an All-Star nod and put himself in the conversation as one of the better third basemen in the league.
Another big winner was the hard-throwing Taylor. After arriving in Chicago in 2025 and logging a 4.91 ERA over 36.2 innings, he flipped the script in a major way.
In 84.0 innings in 2026, Taylor delivered a 2.25 ERA with 106 strikeouts. The White Sox kept turning to him when they needed a shutdown inning or a key out in a pressure spot, and he kept answering.
He could get a look as a starter, but the most likely role is still the one he filled best this year: the club’s top high-leverage reliever.
Chase Meidroth also turned a corner. His rookie season after coming over from Boston in the Garrett Crochet deal was ordinary at best, with five home runs and a .253/.329/.320 slash line in 122 games.
In 2026, though, the offense came forward. He doubled his doubles total, tripled his home run output, and finished with a .276/.350/.415 line over 154 games.
Add in the defense, and Meidroth has pushed himself into the class of the league’s best second basemen.
Not every young White Sox story moved in the right direction. Colson Montgomery remains a major question mark after a season that swung between promise and pain.
He did clear the 30-homer mark, but he also struck out 227 times, an MLB record, and finished below the Mendoza Line. His defense still stood out, yet the offensive collapse in the second half was impossible to ignore.
With Roch Cholowsky and Caleb Bonemer closing in, 2027 looks like a pivotal year for Montgomery, and if the bat doesn’t come around, he may not be in Chicago by 2028.
Kyle Teel’s stock took a hit too, mostly because the injuries piled up. The catcher had shown something in 2025, hitting eight home runs with a .273/.375/.411 line in 78 games after making his debut.
But a World Baseball Classic injury pushed back his 2026 start until June 22, and another injury on July 20 kept him out until September 4. He ended up appearing in just 39 games and hit .210/.336/.361 with five home runs.
The production dipped, the availability dipped even more, and that’s what dragged his value down. Still, with the White Sox lacking catching depth, Teel has a clear chance to reset the narrative in 2027.
In Other News...
White Sox Must Fix A Costly Playoff Flaw To Truly Break Through
The White Sox spent the regular season looking like a team ready to take the next step, only to run into the same kind of postseason reality check that has tripped up plenty of promising clubs before them. Their divisional-round exit exposed the kind of weaknesses that are harder to hide in October, especially when the pitching is asked to carry too much of the load and the lineup is forced to grind for every run.
If Chicago wants to turn a strong season into something more lasting, the blueprint is already out there. Teams like the Rays and Brewers have shown how far a club can go with a deep, reliable pitching staff and a more disciplined offensive approach, and those are the kinds of traits the White Sox will need to lean into if they want to be more than a good regular-season story. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Face A Crucial Scouting Decision In Chris Getzs Rebuild
The White Sox are still in the middle of a rebuild that has leaned heavily on getting the draft and player development right, and that makes the vacancy in amateur scouting especially important. Chicago announced that amateur scouting director Mike Shirley is no longer with the organization, leaving another key front-office chair open as the club works to stabilize the pipeline of young talent.
The move comes after Shirley had been placed on administrative leave while the team conducted an internal investigation, and the search now turns to who will guide the next wave of draft decisions. An internal answer is very much in play, with crosschecker JJ Lally viewed as a potential candidate, giving the White Sox a choice between continuity and a broader reset in a department that matters plenty to Chris Getzs long-term plan. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Roster Crunch Could Force Tough Decisions Sooner Than Expected
The White Sox are already staring at a familiar offseason headache: a 40-man roster that is sitting at 46 players, with six more on the 60-day injured list who will need to be added back after the season. Even before winter business really begins, that means the front office is headed toward a squeeze, and the usual calendar markers are coming fast. The Nov. 17 Rule 5 protection deadline and the Nov. 20 non-tender deadline often force clubs to make decisions quickly, especially when they are trying to sort out who belongs on the roster and who does not.
Chicagos situation is made trickier by the number of pitchers still working back from Tommy John surgeries, leaving several futures hanging in the balance as the club plans its next round of moves. The added wrinkle is the possibility that a MLB lockout could freeze the market and complicate the normal flow of offseason transactions, which could leave the White Sox with even less flexibility than usual. For a team already facing a roster crunch, the timing of those decisions may matter as much as the decisions themselves. [Read more 🡒]