Anonymous MLB player polling reflects the White Sox' old reputation more than the organization they've become under Chris Getz in 2026.
By outperforming expectations and establishing a young core with tremendous clubhouse culture, the Chicago White Sox are beginning to change their league-wide perception as a franchise.
Some of this progress dates back to 2025, when veteran left-handed pitcher Martin Perez raved about the organization, praised it to friends around the league, and predicted that the 2026 White Sox would contend for a playoff spot. Perez appears to have been right and well ahead of his time.
This year, we've seen that sentiment continue with more veterans, such as Derek Hill and outfielder Randal Grichuk, saying this White Sox team is the most fun they've ever had playing baseball. But of course, change doesn't happen overnight, and it was just two years ago that the White Sox recorded the most losses in MLB history with a 41-121 record.
Former White Sox players such as Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn have criticized the organization behind closed doors and subtly thrown shade at Chicago through the media at times.
So it should surprise nobody that the White Sox still have work to do. And the latest anonymous poll released by The Athletic is a reflection of that. 100 MLB players were asked about the best and worst organizations in the league, with anonymity allowing them to share their unfiltered opinions.
The results clearly didn't favor the White Sox.
73 of the 100 players responded to a question about which organizations in Major League Baseball have a bad reputation among players. With 21 votes, the White Sox were the third most-mentioned team behind the Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies.
Here's a look at some of the quotes The Athletic included from MLB players about the South Siders:
"From teammates who've played there, they're like, 'The video room is one laptop in a closet.' They're just behind on that stuff."
"Love Will (Venable). It's not a bad reputation for the manager. It's a bad reputation from the top. Refusing to spend but also refusing to, like, care for families and players, to do the little things right."
"They fail a lot of players."
None of this is all that surprising. And frankly, a lot of it is based on outdated information. It's no secret that the White Sox were behind the curve for many years when it came to using technology and analytics to help their players. But that has changed pretty drastically under the new front office regime and the guidance of GM Chris Getz.
The White Sox have brought in assistant GMs, pitching and hitting directors, and player development staffers from outside the organization. Chicago is more analytically driven and better equipped in that area than it has ever been.
Yes, there's still the ongoing reputation surrounding ownership. The elephant in the room remains Jerry Reinsdorf's unwillingness to spend on free agents, which will always rub agents and players the wrong way. That much is inevitable. And it won't go anywhere until Reinsdorf changes his ways or ownership changes entirely. For now, it's a pretty fair criticism that's hard to dispute.
As far as failing players is concerned, do they? That feels like another outdated concern tied to the failed rebuild under the previous front office. Not every player is going to work out, but when you see stories like Colson Montgomery, a prospect who wasn't batting his weight in Triple-A, working with White Sox coaches on his swing before reaching the big leagues and hitting 41 career home runs in less than a year, it's hard to argue the White Sox aren't putting him in a position to succeed.
The reason the 2026 team is playing winning baseball is because of the way Chicago has gotten the most out of its talent this season. Young prospects and rookies are contributing. Players have taken another step in their development. They've found discarded veterans from other organizations and helped them succeed at the MLB level. They don't have a perfect track record. No team does. But it's hard to argue that the White Sox are failing their players when you look at what they've built over the last two seasons.
That brings me to my final point. This poll from The Athletic was conducted in February, when the White Sox were coming off a third consecutive 100-loss campaign and before they had become one of the stories of the 2026 Major League Baseball season. And while I still think there's a portion of the league that hasn't fully woken up to what's happening with the White Sox, I don't believe this reputation as a bottom-feeder organization would hold up if the poll were conducted today.
So while the results should surprise no one, and while many of the criticisms are fair, moving forward, the White Sox need to be judged by the new regime, the new core, and the new standards being put in place for what White Sox baseball is all about.
