White Sox give vague and scary injury update about starting pitcher Davis Martin

The Chicago White Sox got hit with a couple of big pitching injuries on Friday.

Chicago placed right-handed starting pitcher Davis Martin and left-handed reliever Cam Booser on the Injured List ahead of a weekend series in Toronto.

26-year-old Jake Palisch and 23-year-old Wikelman González were both called up from the minor leagues to make MLB debuts in a series of roster moves.

Davis Martin's scary injury

Booser is on the Injured List with a left shoulder strain. It's nothing to be too concerned about. Given the way that he pitched against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, it's probably a good thing that Booser will have some tie to get healthy and reset himself.

But for Davis Martin, his injury is far more vague and scary. Martin is headed to the Injured List with a "right forearm strain." Forearm discomfort or pain is sometimes the first sign of an elbow injury.

There's no reason to panic just yet, but the vagueness surrounding Martin's injury scares me a little bit. I never like to hear anything regarding a pitcher's elbow or forearm. Martin is the one guy the White Sox absolutely cannot afford to lose, especially for the 12+ months it would take to rehab Tommy John surgery if there's a serious elbow issue.

Martin has already done TJS once during his big league career. Another one at this stage would be a devastating setback to both his development and Chicago's rebuild.

Martin has been consistent and reliable in the White Sox starting rotation this season. In 14 appearances, he has a 3.79 ERA over a career-high 80.2 innings. While he's already 28 years old, Martin is under contract through the 2030 season. He has established himself as part of the White Sox "core" that should be around for the next contention window.

While some people have been advocating for the Sox to cash in on Martin's reliability and team friendly contract with a trade, I think his value to the Major League roster is too significant at this time to move him.

The White Sox have been ravaged this season by pitching injuries throughout the organization. Young big league arms Ky Bush and Drew Thorpe are both going to miss the entire 2025 season with Tommy John surgery. The same thing can be said of pitching prospects Mason Adams (No. 10), Blake Larson (No. 17), and Juan Carela (No. 19).

Young pitching was the organization's greatest strength coming into 2025. That's still probably the case, but the injuries are really starting to add up. If the White Sox were to lose Martin too, it would be catastrophic.

Hopefully this is more precautionary that anything. The Sox have been trying to protect their young arms as much as possible. Maybe Martin felt a little discomfort and the White Sox sent him to the IL just to be safe. A similar thing happened with top prospect Hagen Smith earlier this year.

I'm just hope it's nothing too serious and Martin will be back on a big league mound before too long.