The baseball season is over halfway over, and as it stands, the Chicago White Sox have a record of 28-58 sitting 25.5 games back of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central.
The White Sox have the worst record in the American League and the second-worst record in Major League Baseball.
That may sound awful...because it is. But the White Sox came into the 2025 season with such low expectations that they have actually done better than expected this year. Along the way, the prospects have shown growth and provided signs that the future will be bright.
Chase Meidroth, Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero, Shane Smith, and Grant Taylor all look like building blocks for the future, as they are all gaining valuable experience.
Colson Montgomery, Noah Schultz, and Hagen Smith are still waiting in the wings to join the big league club. Schultz and Montgomery could be the next two prospects to get the call as the White Sox shift their focus to the MLB Draft and trade deadline.
With the season crossing the halfway point, teams have received their first-half grades, and the White Sox received an head-scratching grade, which deserves to be higher.
White Sox get weird midseason grade
The White Sox have done about as well as the fans thought they would, but they are doing even better thanks to their young core. Fans expected the Sox to be one of the league's bottom dwellers, so when they received an “F+” grade by Bleacher Report's Tim Kelly, it was peculiar to me.
Here's Kelly's evaluation of the White Sox and why he gave them an "F+" for the first half of the Major League Baseball regular season:
“Can you get an F+? We're not sure, but since they haven't been quite as bad as the historically awful 2024 White Sox, we'll give first-year skipper Will Venable a bit of credit," wrote Kelly. "Don't get it twisted: The White Sox still have one of the worst rosters in baseball, and Luis Robert Jr. hasn't rebounded in a manner to make you think he'll deliver much of a trade return this summer. But the absolute worst of the latest rebuild on the South Side might be over.”
An “F+” is a harsh grade to give a team doing exactly what the fanbase thought they would do. This is only slightly better than the Colorado Rockies' grade of “F-,” which is deserved, since nobody could predict them coming close to surpassing the White Sox's loss record from last season.
The White Sox should get a “D+” or “C-" at best
A more suitable grade for the White Sox this season would be either “D+” or “C-" since they could potentially have at least two All-Stars in the American League. The White Sox also have a few notable names like Adrian Houser and Aaron Civale, who could be traded at the deadline, and who could help improve the roster.
Houser has done well since being acquired from the Texas Rangers organization, where he was trapped in the minor leagues. In seven starts with the White Sox, Houser sits at 3-2 with a 1.90 ERA in 42.2 innings. Since teams need starting pitching, Houser could get the White Sox a decent prospect or two.
Another case for the Sox to have an improved grade is that they sit in the middle of the pack in baseball in walks, having 278 walks, which is good for 16th best in the league. That's better than the Tigers, who sit at 17. The White Sox have also done well with stealing bases, tied for 18th best in baseball with the San Diego Padres at 58.
Even though Luis Robert Jr. has had a down year offensively, he’s still providing Gold Glove caliber defense and has been great on the base paths. Robert Jr. has 22 of the team's 57 steals and ranks in the top ten in baseball for that category. These two tools alone could persuade a team to take a chance on the 27-year-old outfielder in a trade. He is only two seasons removed from his best year in the big leagues.
There's still room for improvement
Thankfully, for the White Sox, there are still a lot of games to be played so they can improve their overall grade. With the trade deadline almost here, the roster could see a huge shakeup, which could also impact Chicago in the second half of the season.
If the White Sox want to have any hope of finishing the season with a win total over 50 and a final grade of a “C”, then winning at the deadline is imperative.