Saturday, August 02

GLENDALE, Ariz. – One year ago, Sean Burke was part of Minor League Spring Training with the White Sox, without an invite to big league camp.

And he wasn’t happy.

“I was pissed,” Burke told me during a Monday morning interview at the team’s Camelback Ranch facility. “It’s tougher too when you go from being in big league camp [in ‘23] to not [there]. Going back to that is tougher. It just kind of helped me work harder on what I need to do and give me more motivation to get back here.”

“Here” is being named the White Sox Opening Day starter against the Angels on March 27 at Rate Field in a move surprising many people, including the right-hander. But don’t take Burke’s surprise for a lack of confidence.

Quite the opposite. He’s ready for the moment, just as he was ready for his Major League debut last September after battling through an injury-plagued, injury-shortened 2023 campaign with Triple-A Charlotte and uneven results over 16 starts with the Knights in ’24. His colleagues also believe.

“Dude, I’m pumped,” said right-hander Davis Martin of the Burke choice. “Talk about a guy who comes in and does the right things every day to be able to compete every five days. I could not be happier for Sean.”

“When he’s on the field, he’s in his own world. He’s a dog on the mound,” said shortstop Colson Montgomery of Burke. “It’s just from playing multiple sports. He’s a basketball player. You have to have that swagger.”

Montgomery and Burke have been linked since the 2021 White Sox Draft class, with Burke’s third-round selection following Montgomery’s first-round pick at No. 22 overall. They lived together during the offseason in Nashville, Tenn., where Montgomery now has a home, and trained together through their Bledsoe Agency.

They live together now in downtown Phoenix, along with their friend Johnny Ray, who was a 12th-round selection by the White Sox in the ’21 Draft and is now part of the Angels organization. So, it only makes sense Montgomery and Ray were two of the first to know the big news when Burke received it from manager Will Venable and pitching coach Ethan Katz.

“He texts us and he’s like, ‘Dude, they just said I’m the Opening Day starter.’ We were all electric and happy for him,” Montgomery said. “He’s kind of my brother at this point. We’ve been best friends for almost five years, since I was like 18 years old. So, I mean, he earned it. He deserved it. He’s also been through a lot, just through shoulder issues and things like that. For him to come back and really not affect him at all and kind of keep a calm, cool mindset, I'm proud of him.”

There won’t be a Montgomery/Burke Opening Day big league tandem, with Montgomery optioned to Charlotte one week ago. Burke said the two discussed Montgomery’s temporary return to the Minors for a day or two, but nothing more with Montgomery knowing what he needs to do to reach the Majors.

“I’m sure he’ll be back here soon,” said Burke of Montgomery.

“I’ve played with him a lot too,” Montgomery said. “I like being at shortstop while he’s pitching.”

The White Sox two through four starters should be made up of Martin, Jonathan Cannon and Martín Pérez, although neither Venable nor Katz were ready to divulge the order on Monday. All three of those veterans were in consideration for Opening Day.

Martin got the news of not being the choice before Burke was informed of becoming the team’s fourth Opening Day pitcher in four years, following Garrett Crochet (2024), Dylan Cease (2023) and Lucas Giolito (2020-22). Martin was in the training room hot tub and started clapping for Burke when he saw him, quickly realizing Burke was unaware.

“He’s like, ‘What are you clapping about?’ And I was like, ‘Maryland, baby, they look good this year. They’re in my Final Four,’” said Martin, referring to Burke’s alma mater. “But we’re pumped for Sean.”

All the starting pitchers were going to the Suns game Monday night, prior to Tuesday’s off-day, and Martin told Burke they weren’t bringing their wallets. Burke’s friends and family have echoed the pitchers’ support, as he got “a million texts from people coming out” to Opening Day.

“This might be the most people I’ve had for myself at a baseball game since maybe high school,” Burke said. “It will be cool.”

• Left fielder Andrew Benintendi potentially being ready for Opening Day is a testament to his quick recovery powers after suffering a non-displaced fracture in his right hand on Feb. 27.

• Good luck to coach Dusty May, Vladislav Goldin, Danny Wolf, and the rest of the mighty Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball team. They were under-seeded at No. 5 and have a brutal first-round matchup vs. UC San Diego, but they are just six wins from a national title. And best wishes to the talented Michigan women’s hoops team, as well.

• Happy birthday on March 18 to Chicago broadcasting legend Rich King, one-time White Sox players Scott Podsednik and Leury García, actress Lily Collins and … me. I always thought March 18 should be a national holiday.

• Kudos to my good friend Sara, who not only drove me to Sky Harbor Airport this past Tuesday night, but waited for an hour as I tried to get a new rental car. Kudos to Billy Russo, who picked me up in the city of El Mirage after my first rental car suffered a back right tire destruction and stranded me there. And kudos to the Enterprise airport workers, who managed the situation professionally despite my slight level of agitation.

“We have a great group of guys that are hungry to learn, experiment, try some new things and then are going out there and applying it. It's fun to see.” – Katz with a partial overview of camp

“It was cool. Some of these guys you’ve never seen play. I’ve never really seen Hagen [Smith] or [Noah] Schultz throw. It was cool to see them do what they do. It shows how dominant they are.” – Montgomery on Sunday’s Spring Breakout contest

To subscribe to White Sox Beat, visit this page and mark "White Sox Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the White Sox or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2025 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.