The Chicago White Sox are going to sport a little bit of a new rotation in 2023 thanks to a new addition to the team made this offseason.
Pitcher Mike Clevinger is going to be available this season (he was dismissed from the domestic abuse allegations against him) and will figure to be part of a rotation that should be somewhat solid this season.
The White Sox have the usual handful of guys that they can use in their rotation this season. In addition to Clevinger, the White Sox have Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito, and the quite talented Dylan Cease.
A possible sixth member of the rotation is Davis Martin. But for the purposes of this, we are going to bring up the five that are guaranteed to be in the rotation and how they are going to fit into it this coming season.
The Chicago White Sox could have a very solid rotation in 2023.
I think that you start the rotation with your best pitcher and that pitcher is Cease. Everyone knows what he could do last season and there is no reason to think that he isn’t going to do the same thing in 2023.
I look for him to be the best of the bunch and to earn himself and the Sox a lot of wins this season.
The next person in line in the White Sox rotation should be Lynn. He, for now at least, is the second-best pitcher on the team and should go behind Cease.
The reason that he is the second-best, for now, is because I believe that Kopech is going to storm up the rotation and be the second-best starting pitcher the White Sox have. Lynn is solid, has been an All-Star, and is consistent but Kopech is going to overtake him.
The starter at the third starting pitcher spot should be Kopech. Granted, his spring training hasn’t started off fast and he’s still a little behind recovering from knee surgery but he’s the third-best pitcher on this roster.
Kopech showed flashes of stellar play in his time starting last season. With good health, he should be able to do the same and even better in 2023.
Clevinger comes in at number four in our look at the ideal starting rotation for the White Sox. As mentioned, Clevinger is a go for this season.
He should be able to fill in nicely in the fourth spot. He comes to the White Sox having pitched 114.1 innings of baseball for the San Diego Padres last year. His ERA was 4.33 and his win/loss record was 7/7. Don’t be surprised if Clevinger ends up being a really good fit for the Sox in 2023 and a solid starter.
Finally, the fifth spot in the rotation belongs to Lucas Giolito. Giolito’s 2022 season is one he would like to forget. His ERA was 4.90 as he pitched in 161.2 innings. His win/loss record was kind of respectable as he won 11 and lost nine. But he still struggled at key points in the season.
Giolito comes in lighter and ready to make up for what happened last year. Can he turn things around and be an ace on the White Sox pitching staff? We shall soon see.
The White Sox head into 2023 with a solid pitching rotation. As long as no one gets seriously injured and misses a lot of time, this can be a high-end Major League lineup and help earn the White Sox a lot of wins in 2023.