Despite a rocky 2025, Grant Taylor's elite metrics and triple-digit fastball hint at a dominant 2026 breakout, potentially dominating Chicago's bullpen.
The Chicago White Sox will enter the 2026 season as one of the youngest teams in the Major Leagues.
The White Sox have a lot of up-and-coming players on their roster, including those who could break out this upcoming season. Players like Colson Montgomery, Miguel Vargas, Shane Smith, and Kyle Teel have the potential to really break out this year.
However, the biggest breakout player for the South Siders this season will be pitcher Grant Taylor.
Taylor began the 2025 campaign down at Double-A Birmingham. There, the right-hander was electric, maintaining a 1.01 ERA and 37 strikeouts across 15 appearances (six starts) for the Barons. He had a 0.86 WHIP in those 15 games and struck out multiple batters in 13 different appearances.
His strong pitching performances at Double-A earned him a promotion to the big leagues in early June. Considering Taylor completely skipped Triple-A, it shows just how talented Taylor really is.
The talent is definitely there for Taylor to break out in his first full season in the Majors, especially after enduring some struggles in his first taste of the big leagues last year. The 23-year-old had a 4.91 ERA across 36 appearances in 2025.
While Taylor finished with a relatively high ERA, he pitched much better than his numbers suggested. That’s why he is really a rising star for this White Sox team. His 2025 metrics support a potential breakout campaign in 2026.
For starters, Taylor’s expected ERA (2.91) was 200 points lower than his actual ERA (4.91) last year. That’s the biggest indicator that the former second-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft is due for some massive positive regression this season.
He also ranked in the upper half of the league in expected batting average against (.213), whiff rate (30.7%), strikeout rate (34.4%), barrel rate (5.7%), and groundball rate (51.1%). Those are elite metrics for a pitcher who is just getting started in the Majors.
So, the expectation is that Taylor rounds into a more dominant reliever in 2026. His average fastball velocity (98.7 mph) placed in the 98th percentile last year, and that fastball is going to carry him out of Chicago’s bullpen.
His four-seam fastball consistently hits triple digits on the mound. Opposing hitters had an expected .199 batting average against that pitch in 2025, and Taylor’s fastball had an impressive 32.1% whiff rate across his 36 ⅔ innings pitched.
There is a world where Taylor really emerges as a dominant reliever for this White Sox team this year. He has the stuff out of the bullpen to keep hitters off balance, led by his fastball/curveball combination.
There is real potential for him at the backend of Chicago’s bullpen. He can strike batters out at a high level and could eventually overtake Seranthony Dominguez for that closer role. Taylor is just that nasty on the mound.
He has the makings to be the White Sox's biggest breakout player in 2026.