Sitting upper 90s with a pair of hard, diving breaking balls, Tanner McDougal has long looked the part of a meaningful prospect. But in putting together a minor league season of a 3.26 ERA, with 136 strikeouts in 113 ⅓ combined innings and ending his campaign as the rotation anchor for the Southern League champion Barons, the 22-year-old made himself an “automatic” selection for 40-man roster protection by White Sox GM Chris Getz’s description.
Since senior advisor to pitching Brian Bannister–who has a whole theory about how barrel-chested righties like McDougal can hide the ball behind their torsos in their delivery–was talking about adding the former fifth round pick to the 40-man back in September, McDougal had reason to suspect this news was coming, but was still “antsy” waiting for the official call. Even if cracking the 40-man roster felt like a “long-tem goal” to McDougal at the start of 2025, he’s already pivoted toward the next checkpoint ahead of his first spring invite to major league camp.
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