Lost in the shuffle of the White Sox’ wild victory over the Yankees on Wednesday night was the pure Houdini act from reliever Jordan Hicks. Pitching out of a jam with runners at the corners and nobody out, Hicks’ dominant performance set the White Sox up to cash in during the bottom of the 12th inning and take home the victory. Despite an inconsistent start to the season, Hicks is no stranger to dominance in recent days. Since his return from the injured list on June 21st, Hicks has fired 13.1 scoreless innings with 21 strikeouts. His emergence as a late-inning presence for the White Sox, along with some changes to the plan for some top prospects, should completely alter the White Sox priorities at the trade deadline.
Jordan. Hicks. Nails. pic.twitter.com/q0JPzLPMaT
— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) July 30, 2026
Before Hicks’ recent hot streak, a right-handed late-inning reliever was undoubtedly on the White Sox list of needs for the trade deadline. Now it seems far less pressing. Both Tanner McDougal and Hagen Smith have returned from injury and been relegated to relief roles, partially to expedite their call-ups to the big leagues and partially to save innings on their arms. Both have seen decent success with their transition and have the stuff to be quality big league relievers.
Rookie Tyler Schweitzer has floated between Triple-A and the big leagues and could be a candidate to head back to Charlotte to continue getting bulk innings. With the lefty Hagen Smith possibly taking his spot, and three lefties remaining in the bullpen, it seems like Chris Murphy could be the other candidate to be sent down. Outside of those two, the White Sox don’t have an obvious choice to be optioned should they bring in an outside addition.
Grant Taylor, Sean Newcomb, and Bryan Hudson have been a very effective trio in the back-end of the White Sox bullpen, and Trevor Richards, who the team acquired in a trade with the Phillies earlier in the year, has been a solid option for the middle innings. Seranthony Dominguez has struggled, but he’s owed $20 million over the next two years and has no minor league options, so he’s not going anywhere. That doesn’t leave room for an external addition unless the White Sox plan to hold off on adding Smith and McDougal to the big league roster.
Jordan Hicks has been exactly what the White Sox needed in the pen
While no team ever has enough bullpen depth, I believe that should shift the focus for the White Sox onto addressing the starting rotation and the catcher position. Kyle Teel’s injury has left Edgar Quero and Drew Romo with the primary catching duties, and the team could certainly use an upgrade there. Rentals like Tyler Stephenson, Jonah Heim, or Ryan Jeffers could make some sense.
Ideally, the White Sox would add two starting pitchers who can reliably provide six or seven innings a start to take some pressure off the bullpen. Whether they’ll shoot for costly controllable options like Reid Detmers or rental options like Clay Holmes remains to be seen, but a pair of additions to their rotation is the biggest need.
With another year on his contract after this one, Jordan Hicks has quickly become a player the White Sox can rely on in high-leverage situations, and it opens up new possibilities for building this team going forward. Credit to Brian Bannister, Zach Bove, and the entire pitching development staff for identifying and developing a pitcher that’s always had the talent to be great.
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