The White Sox announced that left-hander Tyler Gilbert has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a sprained left MCL. Southpaw Jared Shuster has been called back up to Chicago’s 26-man roster in the corresponding move, just a day after Shuster was optioned to Triple-A as part of another collection of roster moves.
This is the second time this season that a left knee issue has sidelined Gilbert, as he began the year with a 15-day stint on the IL due to bursitis. The MCL sprain arose yesterday, as the lefty made it two batters into a relief appearance against the Cubs before he had to be removed from the game. The length of Gilbert’s recovery timeline will depend on the severity of the sprain, and more details on that front should arise when manager Will Venable meets with the Chicago media today.
Acquired in a January trade with the Phillies, Gilbert has a 4.85 ERA over 13 innings and appearances for the White Sox this season. (Three of those appearances were “starts” as an opener, and the other 10 came out of the bullpen.) Five of Gilbert’s seven earned runs came over back-to-back rough outings against the A’s and Red Sox on April 16 and 18, as he has otherwise been pretty solid, allowing just two ER over his other 10 2/3 frames of work.
Gilbert has a strong 30.8% strikeout rate but control has been a problem, as the left-hander has a 13.5% walk rate. While acknowledging the small sample size, both statistics are far different from Gilbert’s career norms, as he had a 16.5% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate over his 100 career MLB innings heading into 2025. Of course, a good chunk of that prior experience came as a starting pitcher, and Gilbert has increasingly transitioned into being a full-time reliever over the last two seasons.