The post White Sox sign LHP Anthony Kay to two-year contract appeared first on Sox On 35th.
The White Sox have made their first move of the offseason, and they went overseas to do so.
According to FanSided’s Robert Murray, the club signed left-handed pitcher Anthony Kay to a two-year, $12M deal with a mutual option for a third season. Kay, 30, will be making his return to the big leagues after spending the 2024 and 2025 seasons playing for Yokohama in the Nippon Professional League.
Kay is a former first-round draft pick of the Mets back in 2016 and has spent parts of five largely unsuccessful seasons in the majors with the Blue Jays, Cubs, and Mets. He has never thrown more than 33 innings in a professional season and is 4-2 with a career 5.59 ERA. Kay was supposed to be a staple in a big-league rotation, but injuries, bullpen stints, and surgery derailed his career before he hit 30.
This all changed when he went overseas, however, when he signed with the Yokohama Bay Stars and developed a two-seam fastball, which led to him leading the NPB with a 57.8% groundball rate in 2025. He also posted a 1.74 ERA in 155 innings last season, which opened the door for his return to the big leagues this season.
Kay features a two-seamer, four-seamer, cutter, sweeper, and change-up in his arsenal while being a pitch-to-contact pitcher (7.5 K/9 in 2025). He averaged 92-93 mph while in the big leagues, but posted velocities as high as 97-98 mph while overseas, although he still averaged about 94 mph.
This move is not too different than the White Sox’ 2024 signing – and eventual trade – of Erick Fedde after his success overseas. Both were signed on two-year deals with rather similar contract values (Fedde’s $15M guarantee just outpaced Kay’s $12M). The White Sox likely see Kay as Martin Perez’s most immediate replacement in the rotation, with the ability to keep or trade him at the deadline based on team outlook and his overall performance. His groundball rate will put the White Sox’ defense to the test this season, which should hold up in the middle but had – and still has – some concerns at the corners.
The White Sox moved Erick Fedde as part of their trade for Miguel Vargas at the 2024 Trade Deadline, so the White Sox would love to strike twice and turn yet another former big leaguer turned successful overseas pitcher back into a return for the organization. Hey, it worked once! At the very least, the team can at least count on Kay to deliver innings to a rotation that still features plenty of question marks.
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The post White Sox sign LHP Anthony Kay to two-year contract appeared first on Sox On 35th.