After retiring abruptly during the 2025 season, former White Sox left-hander Trey McGough is returning to professional baseball on a minor league deal with the New York Mets.
Just one month into the 2025 season, it caught me by surprise to learn that Trey McGough — a left-handed pitching prospect in the Chicago White Sox organization — was voluntarily retiring from baseball.
It had been less than a year since the White Sox acquired McGough in a one-for-one trade with the Baltimore Orioles that sent Eloy Jiménez out the door.
Sure, Chicago was selling low. But getting anything of value for Jiménez felt like a win, considering how far he had fallen during the 2024 season. That’s been further evidenced by Jiménez’s continued struggles since leaving the White Sox.
And for what it’s worth, McGough did have some value — albeit with a limited ceiling.
In 86 career appearances with Baltimore’s minor league affiliates, McGough posted a 2.98 ERA across 238.1 innings. He had been dominant at Triple-A Norfolk in 2024 before the trade and continued that strong run with the Charlotte Knights afterward.
Between the two organizations, he compiled a 1.98 ERA over 81.2 innings with a 1.02 WHIP as a 26-year-old. Quite frankly, it surprised me that the White Sox didn’t call his number for a late-season look in the big-league bullpen.
The 2024 season was a disaster. The White Sox lost 121 games, and the final stretch featured cameos from Jake Eder, Jairo Iriarte, and Gus Varland at the big-league level as the organization — rightfully — played the lottery with young arms.
Chicago even brought Sammy Peralta and Matt Foster back up for brief September stints. I expected McGough to get his opportunity. Perhaps he did too.
When the 2025 season began, it felt like only a matter of time before he broke through in the White Sox bullpen.
He opened the year with 6.1 scoreless innings, but then surrendered 15 earned runs over his next 8.2 innings across four outings. As the calendar flipped to May, he abruptly retired.
Former Charlotte Knights manager Sergio Santos admitted he was caught off guard by the decision.
“He had thought about it for a while. He didn’t discuss that with any of us. He’s a left-handed pitcher. He still has some good stuff. But this is such a difficult game, and if your heart’s not in it and your mind’s not fully committed to it, it’s a little tough,” Santos told Jeff Cohen of FutureSox.
Apparently, those feelings didn’t last long.
Will Sammon of The Athletic reported last month that McGough was coming out of retirement and joining the New York Mets on a two-year minor league contract.
He enters a bullpen mix that features just three left-handers on the 40-man roster — Brooks Raley, A.J. Minter, and Bryan Hudson, whom the White Sox recently traded to New York for cash considerations.
By all accounts, McGough was a well-liked teammate and respected by the media during his time in the White Sox organization. It’s not as if I — or Sox fans — will be rooting against him.
He reached a place where he felt comfortable returning to the game. That, in itself, is worth celebrating.
Still, it would sting a bit to see him thrive with the Mets, knowing he could be pitching — and helping win games — on the South Side.