As former White Sox players continue struggling to establish themselves elsewhere, Chris Getz and the organization are beginning to show real progress in talent evaluation, player development, and roster construction.
There seems to be a common belief among Chicago White Sox fans that the organization’s discarded players always find success once they land with a new team.
Recent examples like Andrew Vaughn, Romy Gonzalez, and even someone like Tim Hill only reinforce the idea that talented players reach their potential when they land with a different organization.
Bad luck? It’s possible. Bad player development and coaching by the White Sox? Slightly more possible.
But a handful of examples don’t make this a steadfast rule. For as many White Sox players in recent history that have left the organization and found more success elsewhere, there are examples of Sox players who peaked in Chicago and have not been the same since leaving.
A contingent of White Sox fans were outraged when the club traded Lenyn Sosa to the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this season for next to nothing.
The White Sox got an 18-year-old outfielder back in the deal named Jordan Rich, who was a 17th-round pick and had never played a professional game. Rich is currently in the Arizona Complex League with the White Sox and is 0-for-8 to start his professional career at the plate.
Does that mean this was a bad trade for the White Sox? Not exactly. They got next to nothing for Sosa because he was worth next to nothing, and that's proving to be the case with his play for the Blue Jays since the deal.
In 16 games with Toronto this season, Lenyn Sosa is batting .245 with one home run, six RBIs, and a .607 OPS. The main concern is that, once again, his on-base percentage is somehow lower than his batting average. In 28 games and 84 plate appearances in 2026 between Chicago and Toronto, Sosa has not taken a walk. He has just 36 walks in more than 1,200 career plate appearances, and he still lacks a defensive home.
Eloy Jimenez is the exact type of player who felt destined to leave the White Sox and finally live up to his superstar potential. We've seen Jimenez hit 31 home runs in a season while playing only 122 games.
He has light tower power, so much so that a 40-home run season felt inevitable at some point in his career. Largely due to injuries, it didn’t work between Jimenez and the White Sox, but I think Sox fans everywhere were bracing for impact when they saw Jimenez getting opportunities with other MLB teams.
In 33 games with the Baltimore Orioles back in 2024, Jimenez had one home run and a .586 OPS. He did not make an MLB roster in 2025 and got another shot with the Blue Jays this season.
In 12 games with the Jays, while batting .290, Jimenez did not have an extra-base hit and had a .633 OPS before being designated for assignment. So much for that.
Take Adrian Houser as another example. Houser played the best baseball of his career with the White Sox in 2025, posting a 2.10 ERA and a 6-2 record through 11 starts. He was then traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, where he had a 4.79 ERA the rest of the way, and he has a 6.19 ERA with the San Francisco Giants so far this season after signing a two-year, $22 million contract in free agency.
The White Sox got value out of that trade, bringing Duncan Davitt and Ben Peoples into the organization. They also got Curtis Mead, who they later flipped for minor league catcher Boston Smith. All in all, it was a player development and baseball operations win.
You're starting to see the culmination of everything Chris Getz and this White Sox front office are building.
They are discarding players who never latch on elsewhere, and sometimes those players play the best baseball of their careers in a White Sox uniform. That's definitely the case with Sosa, who hit 22 home runs in 2025.
You're also seeing a new wave of players contributing to this iteration of the White Sox roster. Erick Fedde is back in the starting rotation and pitching really well. Tristan Peters has actually been a surprising contributor in the outfield. And Drew Romo could have some value as a backup catcher.
All of those players were unwanted and discarded by other teams, but the White Sox found them and knew what it took to get the most out of them at the big league level. Slowly but surely, that change will start to lead to MLB results, an improved record, and a growing reputation for what White Sox baseball is all about.