Thursday, April 03

CHICAGO -- Grant Taylor, the White Sox No. 7 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, wants to be a starting pitcher. Grant Taylor also wants to reach the Majors as quickly as possible, much like any other Minor Leaguer.

The White Sox want to keep the right-hander healthy. It’s the overriding goal for any of their young players, but the organization knows Taylor’s immense talent certainly will play at the highest level if he stays physically strong.

Could this combination lead to Taylor pitching out of the White Sox bullpen later in the 2025 season? It’s a possibility, but not in the literal way it might seem.

Think of the masterful manner the White Sox managed Garrett Crochet, moving from 12 2/3 innings in relief in ’23 to one of the best starters in the game over 146 innings in ’24. The 22-year-old right-hander obviously will be operating on a smaller scale, but it could entail Taylor building up as part of the Double-A Birmingham rotation and then decelerating but continuing to pitch, potentially as a White Sox reliever or very modified starter. Of course, the promotion would have to make sense at the time.

• Taylor finishes Rubik's Cube nearly as fast as he pitches

“In terms of this year, the conversations we have with the possibilities are kind of endless as to what ends up happening,” Taylor told me during a recent Spring Training conversation. “All I can really focus on right now is putting together good starts while I’m in the Minor Leagues, and make sure I’m healthy, and make sure I’m doing everything possible that when a spot does open up in any fashion, my name is at the top of the list.”

“There's something really special about him anatomically that allows him to do things that most pitchers can't do,” said White Sox director of pitching Brian Bannister of Taylor. “With that, we're very conscious of his health, and we want to do what's best for him. We'll keep working with him to put him in the best role and give him the best amount of innings where he can succeed and really get the most out of his ability.”

A right lat issue limited Taylor, who was coming off Tommy John surgery when he was selected in the second round of the ’23 Draft, to 19 1/3 innings during his ’24 Minor League campaign. He still posted a minuscule 1.13 ERA over 16 innings in four starts for Single-A Kannapolis and struck out 32 between stops at the Arizona Complex League and with the Cannon Ballers.

Those numbers were the appetizers to Taylor’s Cactus League showing. He hit 101.2 mph during an initial outing against the Royals in Surprise on Feb. 23 and struck out six in two innings to finish off the Dodgers at Camelback Ranch on March 8.

His work against a group of top Dodgers prospects was “a lot of fun,” according to Taylor. It also taught him a valuable pitching lesson.

“It was a pretty interesting outing, because I went 0-for-6 on fastballs for strikes [in] the first inning,” Taylor said. “So it was a little bit different for me to have to rely so much on cutter and curveball, where the first couple of outings it was a lot of fastballs: Fastball/cutter/curve [or my] fastball/cutter/slider mix.

“This was eliminating the fastball and get through this inning, get through the next inning. Getting outs, doing what I have to, and that builds a lot of confidence for when I do make it up there. Start of the season, and I don’t have a pitch that day? It showed me I have other pitches that can get the job done.”

Forget Taylor’s statistics, though. Forget the 100-plus mph fastballs and the plethora of strikeouts. There’s something about Taylor’s strident mound presence, which is somewhat akin to White Sox Opening Day winning starter Sean Burke, making him look as if he could pitch today against the Angels without a hint of doubt.

“A big part of baseball in general is just believing in yourself, and I like to think I believe in my ability to throw against anyone at any time and have good results,” Taylor said. “Whether you’ve thrown in Low-A, Rookie ball, Triple-A or the big leagues, there are a lot of guys in the clubhouse that their stuff plays at any level. It’s just a matter of whether they believe they can throw at any level.”

“We've talked about on our side being excited about him,” said White Sox director of player development Paul Janish. “It's about staying healthy with him. The stuff is not going to be the issue, and the competitor's not going to be the issue. We're going to do as good a job as we can to keep him on the mound with regularity this year. And the rest should take care of itself.”

• Opening Day always gets overanalyzed because of the excitement attached to the moment. But Thursday’s 8-1 victory was the most complete game the White Sox have played in probably two years. There were many smiles in the winning clubhouse, smiles absent for much of the ’24 season.

• The last five minutes of the 119-117 Bulls’ win over the Lakers Thursday was the best NBA game I’ve watched this season.

• Birmingham’s opening rotation features the top two left-handed pitching prospects in the game according to MLB Pipeline, in Noah Schultz (MLB’s No. 16 prospect) and Hagen Smith (MLB No. 34), joined by Taylor, making the Barons a must-see high-end prospects destination. The outfield trio of Braden Montgomery (MLB No. 54), George Wolkow (White Sox No. 10 prospect) and Nick McClain (White Sox No. 28 prospect) at Single-A Kannapolis also holds my early interest.

• Congratulations to my niece and nephew, Dana and Brett, on their collegiate commitments to the University of Illinois. They already have done great things in life, and their excellence is just getting started.

“The way it ended, it was bad. Who wanted to leave home? But how will we know what's out there if we never leave home?” -- Angels infielder Tim Anderson on departing the White Sox after eight frequently standout seasons

“Never been. Never been. I’ve heard great things. This offseason I was always saying I really want to go to Chicago and see what it’s like. I don’t know why I was saying that, and now I’m here. I’ll have to get familiar with the city.” -- right-hander Mike Vasil on his new home with the White Sox

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