White Sox can't give Seranthony Dominguez endless leash in closer role

Nothing will top the utter jubilation of signing Munetaka Murakami, but perhaps the most reassuring move the Chicago White Sox have made this offseason is their immediate reinvestment of the money they saved in the Luis Robert Jr. trade in closer-to-be Seranthony Dominguez.

At two years and a $10 million annual salary, one could argue that the Pale Hose can afford to sign another player of Dominguez's ilk to fill the full $20 million hole Robert is leaving on the payroll. Even without another marquee addition, though, the front office has wisely added a veteran leader to one of the weakest parts of the roster.

Jordan Leasure appeared to be the in-house favorite to handle the ninth inning after his impressive work down the stretch last season, but he was punching above his weight while recording a team-leading seven saves in 2025. He can now tackle a high-leverage role while entrusting the closer job to Dominguez.

At least, that'd be the ideal set up for Chicago in 2026. In truth, while the 31-year-old reliever has as much raw talent as any bullpen arm in baseball, the White Sox need to be careful with managing Dominguez's red flags.

Dominguez is a high-upside closer with a clear weakness

The best parts of Dominguez's game are obvious. He's got elite velocity, which he parlays into huge whiff and strikeout totals. In fact, he ranked in the 90th percentile or higher in each of those categories in 2025.

He's also got a much deeper arsenal than most relievers; his repetoire goes five pitches deep, including a sweeper and sinker that both forced opponents into batting averages below .140 last year. Hence, he's not just a one-trick pony who relies on strikeouts. He can generate weak contract and ground balls when he needs them, too.

The problem? He has prolonged stretches where he simply can't find the strike zone. He worked a problematic 14.0% walk rate down the stretch of the 2025 regular season, and that problem became exacerbated in October when that rate ballooned to 22%. In fact, Dominguez walked more hitters (11) than he struck out (10) during the Toronto Blue Jays' postseason run.

That's hard to overlook, particularly for a closer. The White Sox shouldn't give him too long of a leash to figure things out if the walk issues rear their ugly head again, especially since they have other ninth-inning options on the roster. Besides Dominguez, there are five other relievers on the roster who recorded at least one save last year: Leasure (seven), Grant Taylor (six), Mike Vasil (four), Brandon Eisert (two), and Tyler Gilbert (one).

Then again, after recording just 25 saves total last year, running another closer-by-committee group out there probably isn't Will Venable's idea of a good time. Dominguez wasn't signed to a multi-year deal just to to handle the seventh inning. The goal is for him to close, and we know he has the stuff to do it. But if walks are an issue early, the White Sox shouldn't hesitate to give Jordan Leasure or Grant Taylor their shot at the saves.

This will all come down to control — if he's living in the strike zone, Dominguez will be the closer for the White Sox in 2026. If he's not... well, that's what Venable is paid to figure out.