The one thing the White Sox must avoid at all costs in Spring Training

As the White Sox headed to Arizona last February to begin preparation for the 2025 season, the crop of young pitchers felt like a strength for the organization. By the time the season began six weeks later, it felt more like a weakness. The White Sox lost starters Ky Bush, Mason Adams, and Drew Thorpe to Tommy John surgery during the ramp up period, effectively wiping out all of their near big-league ready pitching depth. With 2026 Spring Training just getting underway, staying healthy and avoiding a repeat of this scenario should be the top priority for the team. 

The White Sox enter camp this season in a similar situation in terms of pitching depth. The group of Shane Smith, Davis Martin, Anthony Kay, Sean Burke, and Erick Fedde seems to the most likely Opening Day rotation, but the White Sox have a crop of young pitchers pushing for their big league debuts. Led by Tanner McDougal, Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith, Shane Murphy, David Sandlin, and Duncan Davitt, the White Sox have nearly an entire rotation waiting in the wings for an opportunity. They’ll most certainly be needed at some point this season due to injury and general wear and tear of a long season. Excluding openers, the White Sox used ten different starting pitchers in 2025, demonstrating the need for depth. 

It’s always possible that the White Sox can pick up pitchers on the scrap heap later if needed, but the development of young talent is the most important item on the agenda for the team this season, and having to turn to a veteran instead of a potential future piece isn’t ideal. Though not necessarily in 2026, the White Sox have aspirations of competing for a postseason spot sooner rather than later, and losing key pieces to long-term injuries would put a damper on the team’s plans. 

The White Sox 2026 progress will be defined by their young pitchers

Injuries, specifically to pitchers, are unpredictable. The White Sox could do everything right with offseason training and build up and still lose a pitcher to an arm injury. Historically, the ramp up period is the most dangerous time of year when it comes to these injuries as pitchers put more strain on their arm than they have in several months. It’s naive to think the team is going to go into the season 100% healthy. There are still six weeks to go and something is bound to happen, but the White Sox need to do everything in their power to prevent it from becoming the epidemic of last season. 

The development of Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith is, in my opinion, the most important development of the entire White Sox season. Both pitchers are coming off a 2025 season they’d rather forget and are looking to take the next step this year. Tanner McDougal broke out in a big way in 2025 and now finds himself on the cusp of the big league roster with his debut imminent. The White Sox took on Jordan Hicks’ contact largely to add David Sandlin, who has several plus pitches and could make his debut this season. Losing one or more of these arms for the season would be a complete disaster and ruin the good vibes surrounding this team. 

As fans, there’s not much we can do here except hope and pray for better luck. The White Sox meaningful step forward could suffer a big blow with a repeat of 2025’s injury luck. But a strong and healthy spring for the pitching staff could put the White Sox well on their way to better times.