It’s hard to say whether the 2025 Chicago White Sox are playing below, at, or above expectations.
It’s nearly impossible to play worse baseball than the 2024 team did, which led to a 41-121 record. But there are still plenty of areas the White Sox are deficient and you still get plenty of headaches from watching them play.
The 2025 squad, however, has a few more bright spots that give fans a reason to watch.
With Wednesday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks marking the halfway point of the 2025 season, here’s a look at three players who are surprising the most.
1. Lenyn Sosa
Out of all the young middle infielders competing for a job during Spring Training, Lenyn Sosa is probably the one Sox fans were the least excited for.
We’d seen three years of Sosa struggling to figure out Major League pitching after dominating in the minor leagues. He seemed to be nothing more than a “AAAA player” that would never be an MLB regular.
To the surprise of many, Sosa has continued to improve in 2025 and has the best offensive numbers of his career. He has six home runs, 31 RBIs, and a career-high .714 OPS.
I’m not a fan of the White Sox trying him at first base. But if Sosa is playing second base everyday, his offensive output actually plays.
2. Shane Smith
When you think of breakout White Sox players in 2025, you think of right-handed starter Shane Smith.
Smith went from the Rule 5 Draft and competing for a rotation spot to getting All-Star and Rookie of the Year buzz.
Smith's emergence gives the White Sox another young, controllable arm to pencil into the starting rotation for years to come. If he continues to pitch like an All-Star, it will expedite the rebuild tremendously.
Most White Sox fans didn't know Shane Smith's name on Opening Day. But by the end of the 2025 season, there's a chance he'll be the most popular player on the South Side of Chicago for his breakout performance.
3. Mike Vasil
Like Smith, not many White Sox fans knew anything about Mike Vasil when the season started. The White Sox claimed him on waivers from Tampa Bay just a few days before Opening Day.
The 25-year-old right-hander started as a complete unknown quantity and has morphed into a pillar of the White Sox pitching staff. Vasil is on pace to throw 108.2 innings this season with a 2.82 ERA. That's valuable enough as is, but it's additionally hard to quantify the value he brings by having versatility to be a starter or reliever.
The White Sox have used Vasil in just about every situation you could imagine in 2025. He has started games and closed games. he has been in high leverage and low leverage. He gives manager Will Venable the ability to be a little more creative on how he deploys his bullpen pieces.
I now consider Vasil a member of the White Sox "core" that should be on the roster for a handful of years. He has been a really pleasant surprise.