As the last week of games unfold and the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season comes to a close, I am going to be unveiling my regular season team awards for the Chicago White Sox.
The White Sox are unlikely to have any players taking home hardware after the season, but there are still a handful of players who deserve recognition for the great year they had.
What if we took all of the mainstream MLB awards and applied them just to the Chicago White Sox?
Let’s start with Reliever of the Year, which is otherwise known as the Mariano Rivera Award for American League pitchers. This award first debuted in 2014, and the only White Sox player to take it home is Liam Hendriks, who won in 2021.
White Sox Reliever of the Year - Mike Vasil
Runner-up: Jordan Leasure
Rookie swingman Mike Vasil is the clear choice to me for White Sox reliever of the year in 2025.
In 45 appearances the season, Vasil has pitched 98.2 innings. There’s a good chance he’ll get over the 100 inning threshold by the end of the season.
If he pitches 2.1 more innings before the season ends, Vasil will have thrown the most innings in a single-season of any primary White Sox reliever since 2000.
Since the year 2000 (lol).....Mike Vasil needs just 2 innings pitched out of the bullpen in the last 6 games to tie Tony Pena for the #WhiteSox most innings pitched by a primary reliever (90% of innings pitched in relief or more) pic.twitter.com/yZebu4BhU2
— BeefLoaf🥩 (@MrDelicious13) September 23, 2025
With a 2.37 ERA and solid overall metrics, Vasil’s ability to pitch as a long reliever, spot starter, or high-leverage arm has been invaluable. He might not have the 1.5 fWAR of Grant Taylor and he doesn't lead the team in saves like Jordan Leasure (7), but nobody in the White Sox bullpen has been as readily available or as consistent as Vasil has this season.
Acquiring Vasil off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays on March 23 remains one of the biggest acquisition wins for Chris Getz in his tenure as GM. He not only landed Chicago a player who can help them win in 2025, but a guy who still has contract control through 2030 and is only 25 years old.
The key to the White Sox getting back into contention is slowly checking off boxes of quality big leaguers who can be with the club long-term. Vasil is one of those guys.
It remains to be seen if he’s a long reliever, starting pitcher, or closer in the years to come, but he showed enough during his rookie season to make me confident that Vasil could do any of the three. He’s the runaway winner of Reliever of the Year for the 2025 White Sox.