Gamethread: Diamondbacks at White Sox

Jordan Leasure will make his first career start as the opener for the South Siders after a brutal loss Monday

The White Sox (25-54) return to the South Side Tuesday in an attempt to redeem themselves after getting walloped in a 10-run shutout loss to the Diamondbacks (40-38) Monday night. With Davis Martin still not ready to return to the starting rotation, Chicago continues to scrape the bottom of the barrel for pitching support, which is why Jordan Leasure will be making his first career “start” as the opener today. And also why Chicago signed Thor himself, Noah Syndergaard, to a minor league deal Tuesday.

It’s truly a match made in heaven: a team specializing in collecting yesterday’s heroes and a pitcher hoping to prove he’s not entirely washed up. As reported, Syndergaard will head to Glendale with the ACL team as he hasn’t pitched in the majors in nearly two years. Thor was once an elite pitcher with his best seasons taking place with the New York Mets from 2015-2018, and qualified as an All-Star and finished ninth in Cy Young voting in 2016. After the 2019 season, he battled through injuries and a few disappointing seasons before eventually bottoming out. Syndergaard last was in the majors in 2023 when he split time with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Guardians, and accumulated a 6.50 ERA in 88 2⁄3 innings with a 1.387 WHIP.

It’s unlikely we get our hands on a resurgence similar to the likes of Johnny Cueto in 2022, but it seems the White Sox pitching staff is approaching their “all hands on deck” era.

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Now, back to today’s action. Leasure has posted a 4.23 ERA in 32 appearances thus far in 2025 and has been known to struggle in high-leverage situations. Perhaps getting the first inning of the game will help a bit, but overall, he tends to get into trouble with walks, posting a 12% walk rate on the season. Leasure also has a decent 27.2% strikeout rate and is second in Ks for White Sox relievers, behind only Brandon Eisert.

How the bullpen performs after Leasure’s one-to-two starting innings will be a surprise for all of us, especially with how the offense has been slumping as a team. Over the past two weeks, the South Siders rank last in batting average (.205), 27th in runs scored (39) and RBIs (36), and last in strikeouts (146) — exactly where you don’t want to be! The only players hitting moderately well over the last two weeks are Miguel Vargas (.797 OPS) and Edgar Quero (.303 BA), and Vargas has mashed eight of his 13 hits in this time period for extra bases.

Ryne Nelson is on the mound for the D-backs, making his seventh start of the season. Nelson is sitting at a 3.88 ERA and 1.078 WHIP in 55 2⁄3 innings and has racked up 45 strikeouts at a 19.8% strikeout rate. He’s a bit more efficient with walks than Leasure (and most White Sox pitchers) at a 7.9% walk rate, but he doesn’t really get batters to chase all that much, and has just a 20.2% whiff rate.

The same offensive struggles cannot be said for the Diamondbacks, as they rank third in MLB for team OPS over the past two weeks (.834), second in slugging (.494), and first in RBIs (74). Eugenio Suárez has also been insane at the plate, posting a 1.367 OPS with seven homers and a whopping .929 slugging percentage in his last 42 at-bats.

I’d be remiss not to mention Josh Naylor’s historical dominance over the South Siders, even if he no longer haunts us in the AL Central division. Naylor is batting .342 with eight homers and 36 RBIs in 190 at-bats, and two of those blasts still give me nightmares. However, it appears that Naylor has been scratched from Tuesday’s game, so maybe they will be free of his wrath this time.

The game will begin at 6:40 p.m. CT and can be viewed on CHSN or listened to on the radio at ESPN Chicago AM 1000. Let’s get a W?

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