The Chicago White Sox Fountain of Youth for their Starting Rotation

The Chicago White Sox have a good foundation with the young core they currently have in their starting rotation for 2025 as well as a solid group of prospects coming down the pipeline.

Even though the Chicago White Sox had a disaster of 2024 season the outlook for the future is actually kind of bright with all the young talent the White Sox have coming. The one area where the White Sox are plentiful in with their youth is their pitching. Currently the pitching staff that the White Sox will have for 2025 will be anchored by a group of three young arms that will be entering only their second year in the Major Leagues. Those young pitchers are Jonathan Cannon, Drew Thorpe, and Sean Burke.

Jonathan Cannon

Jonathan Cannon according to FanGraphs is set to be the anchor of the starting rotation for 2025. The 24-year-old Cannon had a decent freshman campaign for the Chicago White Sox in which he started 21 games (appeared in 23), had a record of 5-10 with a 4.49 ERA, 91 strikeouts, had a WHIP of 1.327, in 124.1 innings pitched. Given that the White Sox were the worst team in baseball and ranked at or near the bottom of every offensive category this was an impressive showing by Jonathan Cannon.

Cannon has an impressive five pitch mix in which he has a four-seam fastball, a sweeper, a cutter, a changeup, and a sinker. The key to Cannon having success in 2025 and what the White Sox will need if he will in fact be their number one guy, is to be able to locate his sinker east and west against hitters getting them off his four-seam fastball. Given that his four-seamer tops out at 93.6 mph according to Baseball Savant Cannon being able to work is off-speed and breaking pitches off his sinker, with occasionally using his four-seamer up in the zone to change the hitters eye level will be vital to his success in 2025.

Drew Thorpe

The 24-year-old Drew Thorpe is another guy the Chicago White Sox need to take a big step forward in 2025 for them to have success. Thorpe, who was Drafted by the New York Yankees in the second round of the 2022 MLB June Amateur Draft from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Thorpe was traded by the New York Yankees with Jhony Brito, Kyle Higashioka, Michael King and Randy Vásquez to the San Diego Padres in the Juan Soto deal which also netted the Padres Trent Grisham. Thorpe was then acquired by the Chicago White Sox when the sent Dylan Cease to the Padres in exchange for Thorpe as well as Samuel Zavala (minors), Jairo Iriarte and Steven Wilson.

Thorpe for his efforts did okay in for his first year in the big leagues. Starting nine games in which he logged 44.1 innings pitched, with a record of 3-3 with a 5.48 ERA, 25 strikeouts, and a 1.263 WHIP. Thorpe who is another five pitch mix guy is primarily a fastball/changeup guy utilizing both at a 35.5% (changeup) and 32.2% (fastball) clip respectively. As well as having a slider and cutter in which he uses both at the same amount (roughly 15%) with a sweeper in which he uses as a “show-me” pitch Thorpe has a solid array of pitches.

The key to Thorpe having success in 2025 is to be able to work down in the zone with both his four-seam fastball and his cutter that way he can effectively use his changeup off them as his strikeout pitch. I think if Thorpe also gets more comfortable with his sweeper and makes that into his primary breaking pitch instead of his slider, I think he will find success.

Sean Burke

Sean Burke is an interesting case for the starting rotation coming into 2025. Having a really good showing in his appearances in the big leagues in which he made three starts (four games total), Burke went 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA, collecting 22 strikeouts, having a 1.000 WHIP, in 19.0 innings pitched. Not bad for another rookie who looks to replicate, or at the very least get near those numbers in 2025, Burke figures to be a solid number three option for the Chicago White Sox in 2025.

Burke has the standard four pitch repertoire of a fastball that can reach up to 97, as well as having a slider, curveball (he uses a knuckle-curve), and a changeup giving Burke a solid pitch mix. The one knack on Burke is his ability to throw strikes which could cause a problem for him if he wants to be a consistent everyday starter. In order for Burke to have success he will need to show the ability to throw consistent strikes, and he does he figures to be a solid middle of the rotation piece. If not, then the Chicago White Sox have a solid multi-inning reliever on their hands.

Prospects in the Pipeline

I already wrote a piece detailing both prospects Hagen Smith (#3) and Noah Schultz (#1), so I’ll link that here. Both Smith and Schultz figure to start in Triple-A to start the season and if both find success than they will not have a hard time finding their way into the rotation by either May or June of next year.

Jairo Iriarte (Number 7 overall Prospect)

Iriarte was also acquired in the Dylan Cease trade along with fellow pitcher Drew Thorpe. Iriarte had just a cup of coffee with the Chicago White Sox in 2024 appearing in relief for just six games where he threw just 6 innings where he had a 1.50 ERA. Iriarte

With a fastball that can reach a 100 mile-per-hour and having a devasting breaking ball with a decent changeup Iriarte does figure to be a solid middle of the rotation piece if he can master controlling his pitches. Having a bad strike/ball ratio in which he threw more balls (26.7%) than he did strikes (20.0%) it’s crucial that Iriarte finds his command if he wants to be a starter at the least a late inning reliever with his level of stuff.

Wikelman Gonzalez (Number 14 overall prospect)

Acquired in the Garrett Crochet deal Gonzalez having a fastball that grade out at a 60/80 and having a mix of a curveball, slider, and a changeup Gonzalez figures to be a top of the rotation like starter if he can figure it out. Gonzales biggest problem is being able to repeat his delivery in order to have his plus stuff be effective. If he can figure out how to do that than the Chicago White Sox have a solid number two to even a possibly ace on their hands for the future.

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