My alphabetical-ish review of the White Sox 2025 roster —@SoxNerd style — continues with a look at GRANT TAYLOR:
*Taylor made his Major League debut on June 10, 2025 in Houston and became the first Sox pitcher to retire all three batters he faced in a debut since Bennett Sousa on April 8, 2022. Sousa pitched two scoreless for the Astros that day.
*Taylor’s 101.5 mph four-seam fastball during his debut was the fastest pitch thrown in the Majors that day.
*Taylor unleashed a 102.2 mph pitch on June 22nd, which was tied for the third-fastest offering by a White Sox pitcher in the Statcast era (since 2015) behind two Gregory Santos heaters in 2023.
*Taylor’s six saves in 2025 were the most by a Sox rookie since Juan Minaya’s nine in 2017 … His six saves led American League rookies and were tied for second among MLB rookies with St. Louis’ Riley O’Brien behind Colorado’s Seth Halvorsen’s 11
*Taylor averaged 13.3 strikeouts per nine innings in 2025 which ranks second in history among White Sox rookies (min 7.2 innings) behind Michael Kopech’s 13.4 in 2021 … Taylor led American League rookies in this department (min. 36.2 innings) and was second in the Majors to Cincinnati’s Chase Burns’ 13.9.
*Taylor was unscored upon in nine games in Sept./Oct. He is just one of 11 pitchers in Sox history to accomplish this. … His average of 16.88 strikeouts per nine innings in the season’s final month ranks second in Sox history (minimum eight innings) behind Joe Kelly’s 18.00 in 2022
*Taylor did not allow a home run in the 36.2 innings for the 2025 Sox. Those are the most homerless frames by a Sox pitcher since Jesse Crain’s 36.2 in his all-star season of 2013 and the most by a Sox rookie since Cisco Carlos’ 41.2 in 1967.
The last Sox pitcher to turn in more than the 36.2 homeless innings Taylor and Crain had was Terry Forster with 37 in 1975.
The Sox record for most homerless innings in a season is 108.1 by Sarge Connally in 1926.
*On June 28th, Taylor became the first White Sox pitcher with a two-inning save in a 1-0 win since Jake Petricka on July 6, 2014 vs Seattle
*NEXT: Michael A. Taylor