White Sox right-hander Grant Taylor’s MLB debut in 2025 was a bit overshadowed. Players like Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel, and Edgar Quero burst onto the scene and stole the headlines with their impressive rookie season performances. But Grant Taylor’s arrival marked another exciting development for the White Sox, and his goals for 2026 should get fans even more excited for his future.
Despite starting in college and beginning his professional career as a starter, the White Sox made the decision to move Taylor to the bullpen last season and expedited his big league arrival, calling him up straight from Double-A in June. At first, I didn’t love the decision. Taylor’s triple-digit fastball and excellent mix of breaking pitches gave him the pure stuff to compete with anyone else in baseball. But there are very valid concerns about his ability to stay healthy, and the organization believes he can be a top tier closer and maintain health better from the pen. White Sox GM even compared Taylor to Padres star reliever Mason Miller earlier this offseason.
Getz has reiterated on multiple occasions that the plan for Taylor is to pitch in relief in 2026, but hasn’t ruled out the possibility of him returning to the rotation in the future. Taylor, speaking to reporters at Soxfest earlier this offseason, set a goal for himself that could put him in an excellent position to attempt that transition soon.
“In the back end of the bullpen, it’s hard to get over 100 innings,” Taylor said. “The goal would be to get as close to that as possible. Shoot for that and come up short, still have a lot of innings”.
Taylor's 2026 workload could mirror Mike Vasil's 2025 season
Last season, White Sox righty Mike Vasil was able to surpass the 100 inning mark largely used as a reliever. Vasil frequently made multi-inning appearances and even started three games. Now, he’ll head into camp with an opportunity to compete for a rotation spot, and the transition to starting should be significantly easier with his inning workload last season. If Taylor’s able to reach the 100 inning threshold this season, he could make a similar transition much more easily in 2027.
Everyone knows what Grant Taylor is capable of doing with the stuff he has. He has a chance to be a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher in Major League Baseball if he can prove that he’s able to stay healthy over the course of a full season with a larger workload. But the White Sox want to extract as much value from Taylor as they can, and they’d certainly rather him pitch in relief than spend extended time on the Injured List.
It wasn't a matter of 𝙞𝙛 Grant Taylor was going to throw over 100.0 mph but a matter of 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4budnDLtTg
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) December 2, 2025
2026 will be a crucial season for Taylor, and reaching the 100 inning mark would be an excellent development for multiple reasons. 100 innings of Grant Taylor would certainly put the White Sox in a good position to win baseball games in 2026, and it could set them up to reap even more rewards in the future.