Tanner McDougal among young pitchers providing hope for White Sox
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Tanner McDougal saw the numbers. Excited observers on social media noted them, too.
The big right-hander, pitching in relief for the first time in five years, unleashed five pitches at 100 mph in his Cactus League debut against the Brewers on Sunday.
“It’s great, but they don’t mean everything,” McDougal said. “You want to put the best out there that you can and the numbers are great but the results are better. It’s great I can do this or do that but am I getting outs? That’s your job as a pitcher.”
McDougal pitched two scoreless innings with two strikeouts and earned a save, so all was well. The White Sox are projecting the 2021 fifth-round pick to land a spot in a near-future starting rotation, which wasn’t the case after he went 0-11 with a 6.04 ERA between two levels of Class A in 2024.
“A punch in the mouth” and a wakeup call, McDougal said.
He would bounce back with a strong season at High-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham in 2025, boosting his ranking among Sox prospects to No. 7, according to MLB Pipeline.
And while the 2026 rotation is anything but set or close to formidable as of now, a stable of young arms, including first-round left-handers Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, right-hander Grant Taylor and McDougal provides hope. All are in the ears-open learning phase of their promising careers.
“I’m trying to be a sponge, trying to learn as much as I can from these guys who’ve done it,” said McDougal, in his first big-league camp after getting added to the Sox 40-man roster in November.
He earned that after posting a 3.26 ERA over 28 starts evenly divided between Winston-Salem and Birmingham last season, with 136 strikeouts and 49 walks in 113 1/3 innings last season. “Guys who maybe broke a camp or got called up in the middle of the year, listening to them and trying to get my bearings for how to go about things because you need to be prepared for that big jump from the minor leagues to the big leagues.”
When it happens is to be determined for McDougal, who also features a curveball, slider and changeup. The slider is a pitch to land for a strike and the curve, he said, is a bigger breaking pitch.
The fastball, though, is what caused the commotion Sunday.
“People talk about it, for sure but it’s not something we’re super homed in on,” McDougal said of the triple-digit achievements. “It’s great, it’s awesome, but it’s also February, you know what I mean? We have to sustain that for two weeks, for eight months. It’s not a goal. The goal is to get outs, roll the batting order over.”
Pitching out of the pen “was kind of wild, it was a rush and it’s like you have the freedom to go out there and let it eat,” McDougal said.
It’s believed to be safe.
“Everyone is different,” McDougal said. “Some people can do that, others it takes time to get into their velo ranges. But the biggest thing is never to baby it, try to be someone you’re not. And allow your body to do what it wants to do, that is probably the healthiest thing you can do.”
Manager Will Venable has seen numerous pitchers airing it out already, including Grant Taylor who touched 100 multiple times his first time out. Jordan Hicks hit 100 three times against the Reds on Wednesday.
It’s fine by Venable, who expects to see pitchers in competition-for-jobs mode.
“I’m not sure anything I can say can help regulate that,” Venable said. “You get out there between the lines and these guys are going to do what they do.”
Envisioning the 6-5 McDougal doing what he does as a starter “is really attractive,” Venable said.
“Great stuff. Very competitive and a lot of energy and competitive spirit on the field, which is great to see. With him, it’s about throwing strikes. When he’s in the zone, what that looks like, want to encourage him to stay in the zone because he has great stuff.”