The Chicago White Sox bullpen has been detrimental with regularity during the 2025 season. The Sox lead the league in blown leads with 20. 13 of the team's 37 losses have come in one-run games.
It's not always on the bullpen, but Chicago's relievers are dead last in saves and are clearly a weakness of a roster that is otherwise intriguing.
They just do not have relievers who can get big-time outs consistently. While it would be nice for the offense to score more runs to hand the bullpen more comfortable leads, that's not always going to be the case, especially at this stage in the rebuild.
A huge task of a reliever is protecting one-run leads, and many of the arms are failing when it comes to meeting expectations in that area.
With Miguel Castro leaving Wednesday's game against the New York Mets with a knee injury, there may now be a spot opened up. Castro was helped off the field and is likely headed for the 15-day IL.
Needing to replace his velocity in the bullpen and try more hurlers in high-leverage spots, I'd like to see the White Sox call up one of these four prospects to the big leagues. They should all be up before the end of the season.
The White Sox have four prospects worth calling up
Grant Taylor
While it is not ideal that the organization has decided to develop Grant Taylor to his floor as a bullpen arm rather than his ceiling as a starter, the move to the pen can get him to the big leagues sooner.
Since he has moved to the bullpen at Double-A Birmingham, he has been nearly unhittable and is blowing his fastball by batters. Taylor has been consistently hitting over 100mph on the radar gun, but it's the command of his fastball that is really noteworthy.
With his velocity and his ability to throw strikes, I'd like to see Taylor in the Major Leagues as soon as possible. He no longer needs the minor league innings to build up arm strength to handle a starter's workload. His talent is currently being wasted in Birmingham.
In four relief appearances in Double-A, Taylor has done four innings, allowed one baserunner, and struck out 9 of the 13 batters he has faced.
He was so impressive during Spring Training that there was talk of him breaking camp with the team. Since he was being tried out as a starter, he was sent to the minor leagues to build up his arm. Now that the focus is on him being a reliever, I say we get him up to The Show, where he could be the team's multi-inning, high-leverage pitcher.
Peyton Pallette
Peyton Pallette is a former second-round pick that didn't work out as a starter in Winston-Salem last season, but has always had the stuff to be an intriguing prospect out of the bullpen.
Pallette has thrived in a relief role since he made the transition.
Pallette posted a 2.40 ERA last year for the Barons after going to the pen. He had one rough outing in April that ballooned his numbers, but since then, runs have been hard to come by for opposing clubs.
Pallette is also a hard thrower that the team should be using in high-leverage situations. He has swing-and-miss stuff, which has many Sox fans believing he could be the organization's future closer.
If the #WhiteSox actually care about winning these games, they should just call up Peyton Pallette and let him pitch in high leverage. Get him the experience for when it matters.
— James Fox (@JamesFox917) May 25, 2025
The best bullpens usually have a multi-inning closer and a traditional ninth-inning closer. Taylor could be the multi-inning, game-over reliever while Pallette handles the traditional closer role.
Pallette was recently promoted to Triple-A Charlotte, bringing him one step closer to the big leagues. While it is nice he got a promotion, I'm ready to see him in Chicago.
Adisyn Coffey
Adisyn Coffey feels like the pitching version of Tim Elko. The only difference is Coffey was drafted a bit higher. He was selected as in the third round of the 2020 MLB Draft as an underslot signing out of Wabash Valley College.
Coffey is 26, the same age as Elko. Like Elko, all he has done is produce in the minor leagues. But he still has not earned a call-up and is still not on the team's 40-man roster.
Last season, when the White Sox bullpen was atrocious, Coffey was dealing with a 2.04 ERA at Triple-A Charlotte. He had an ERA of 0.53 in Birmingham before then.
He should be getting a shot to see if he can replace Castro. If he is productive in the Major Leagues, the Sox could pencil him in as part of the team's "core." He's 26 years old, so there's no point in waiting any longer.
Wikelman González
Wikelman González is the team's 17th-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline. He was one of the four prospects the Sox got in the Garrett Crochet trade.
The front office recently moved González to the bullpen, and he has been doing a nice job in Triple-A ever since.
González can throw hard and provide the bullpen a desperately needed arm who can miss bats. Although he does have command issues, as he is still frequently walking guys, that sometimes translates to being "effectively wild."
While the White Sox have kept Jared Shuster on the active roster in order to retain three left-handed relievers, I'd rather see what González has.
González is 5-0 with a 1.42 ERA for the Charlotte Knights since being called up and moved to the pen. He could be similar to Mike Vasil in the big leagues and offer the White Sox another multi-inning relief option. That could come in handy given how inexperienced this starting rotation is.
Maybe González needs a few more weeks at Triple-A, but the Sox need more arms that can throw with some velocity, so it might be worth letting him go through the growing pains if he can prove he can get some much-needed strikeouts in the pen.