White Sox bring back veteran infielder as important depth piece after strong spring

When the White Sox added Lamonte Wade Jr. on a minor league deal back in January, he felt like a longshot to crack the big league roster. The 32-year-old veteran suffered the worst season of his career in 2025, but had an above-average offensive season as recently as 2024. The White Sox crowded infield mix made it difficult to envision Wade making the roster, and that ended up coming true when he was released by the organization last week. In the days since, however, it appears Wade has quietly returned to the organization and is currently on the roster for Triple-A Charlotte. 

Lamonte Wade Jr's excellent spring wasn't enough to crack the roster

Just two-years removed from a 120 OPS+ season, Wade put together a strong camp with the White Sox. In 15 Cactus League games, Wade slashed .289/.429/.605 with a 1.034 OPS, including a two-homer game in the final Cactus League game before his release. These were easily the best spring training numbers of Wade’s career, and it started to feel like the White Sox needed to consider finding a spot for him on the roster. Instead, they elected to go with an extra outfielder, including both Derek Hill and Tristan Peters on the team and granting Wade his opt out. Unable to find a major league job elsewhere, Wade will return to the White Sox and join the Charlotte Knights, where he’ll serve as an important depth piece who could come to Chicago in the event of an injury. 

Wade has played outfield at times in his career, and he’s listed as an outfielder on the Knights roster, but his defensive numbers have been subpar, so he may be limited to first base at this point. First base in Chicago is obviously spoken for, so barring an injury, there wouldn’t really be an opportunity for playing time for Wade at the position. A left-handed bat that can get on base is a valuable commodity, however, and the White Sox could call Wade’s number to fill in the DH role should an injury to Benintendi or Sosa arise, and he’d be the natural choice to fill in for Murakami in the event of an injury there as well. 

If the White Sox bats continue the undisciplined approach that we saw in the season opener, the team may be looking for a veteran bat to help stabilize the group and set an example. Wade has always been known for his excellent plate discipline, with multiple seasons of an over .370 on-base percentage in his history. He may not provide much positional value on defense, but he could be a good example to help settle in the young hitters. 

Whether we see Wade at the big league level in 2026 or not is unclear, but it’s never a bad idea to have extra depth, and the White Sox brought back a guy with a track record of being an impact hitter in the lineup. Seems like a no-brainer to me.