Yesterday, we took a look at the three most surprising success stories for the first month of the 2026 White Sox season. Even though the 2026 iteration of the team has shown significant improvement, a 16-17 start to the season leaves some room for improvement. Several White Sox players have been off to slow starts, and today we’re going to look at three of the biggest disappointments in the early season.
C Edgar Quero
Of the players underperforming for the 2026 White Sox, none have been more disappointing than Edgar Quero. The 23 year-old made his big league debut last season, posting a .268 average and .689 OPS in 111 games. He spent the offseason working at Driveline in an effort to add more power to his profile, and performed strongly in spring training. Once the games began to count, however, it was a different story for Quero. In 24 games, he’s slashing just .164/.271/.178 with a .449 OPS. He has just one extra base hit and has accrued -0.3 fWAR this season. With Kyle Teel on the shelf to begin the season, Quero was given the opportunity for regular starts behind the plate and has not taken advantage of it to this point. With fellow switch-hitting catcher Drew Romo now in the big leagues and hitting well, the clock could be ticking for Quero. If Kyle Teel returns and Quero hasn’t turned it around, he could find himself on a flight to Charlotte.
First MLB homer for Edgar Quero ‼️ pic.twitter.com/unJZEQnX45
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 5, 2025
LHP Anthony Kay
The first free-agent signing of the offseason for the White Sox brought lefty Anthony Kay from Japan to Chicago. Kay, a former top 100 prospect, spent time with the Blue Jays, Mets, and Cubs before heading to Japan in 2024. A pair of strong seasons overseas landed him a deal to return to the big leagues with Chicago and an opportunity to crack the starting rotation. Unfortunately, it’s been a rough return for Kay. In six outings this season, he has a 6.12 ERA and 14 walks to just 15 strikeouts. It was particularly rough in Kay’s last two outings, where he allowed 12 earned runs in 7.2 innings and had more walks than strikeouts. Kay’s fastball has sat at 95-96, so he’s throwing harder than he did in Japan, but he’s struggled to get any of his off-speed pitches over the plate consistently and it’s led to his fastball getting hit hard. Kay’s been effective against left-handers but has struggled to get righties out, which has led some to wonder if he’d be better suited in a lefty-specialist relief role. With pitching reinforcements on the way soon, Kay could be the odd man out in the rotation without a substantial improvement in his performance.
RHP Jordan Leasure
When the White Sox acquired Jordan Leasure in the 2023 trade that sent Lance Lynn to the Dodgers, they had visions of Leasure thriving in a late-inning relief role. He made 33 appearances in the White Sox bullpen in 2024 but struggled to a 6.32 ERA. The White Sox gave him more runway in 2025 and he seemed to turn a corner midseason after a rough start. While his 3.92 season ERA was unremarkable, he produced a scoreless outing in 13 of his final 14 appearances and finished as the team leader with seven saves. The White Sox hoped he’d be a reliable presence at the back-end of the bullpen in 2026, but he’s been off to a rough start. Leasure has allowed 11 earned runs in 14.1 innings and has already allowed five home runs. When at his best, his upper-90s fastball and sharp-breaking slider are tough to hit, but he gets himself into trouble with walks and often leaves pitches in hittable locations. The early success of Grant Taylor and Bryan Hudson plus the addition of Seranthony Dominguez could force Leasure into lower-leverage situations. It’s still early, but his 2026 season has looked more like 2024 than 2025 so far.
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