An early letter grade for every Chicago White Sox starting pitcher

The Chicago White Sox are one of the worst teams in the major leagues right now and it's not a coincidence due to the performance of their starting pitching staff.

Pitching wins baseball games and starting pitchers need to do their job regularly if their club wants a chance to see postseason baseball.

The White Sox are 13-25. While there have been other issues than just the rotation, that still gets heavily targeted simply because they were supposed to get significantly better results than they have through 38 games of the regular season.

Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech, and Mike Clevinger are the starting rotation for the Chicago White Sox this year. Here is a letter grade for each of them through a month and a half into the 2023 MLB season:

Dylan Cease - D+

What many thought was going to be the best season of Dylan Cease's career has turned out to be a dramatic drop-off from his 2022 runner-up Cy Young season.

Cease isn't throwing as hard, his off-speed arsenal isn't being commanded, and the opposing team's lineups have taken advantage of that.

On top of his mechanical issues, his walk rate has caused damage throughout his eight games started.

Cease had quality start after quality start last season but this year, he only has one which was all the way back on Opening Day.

A D+ is an appropriate rating for Cease not only because of how high his expectations were but also because he has yet to find a way to get through five innings of baseball without a lineup squaring up everything he throws their way.

He is a much better pitcher than he has shown in 2023 and if he continues to play how he has, the White Sox will have to look toward another player as a true ace in their rotation.