After touching 100 mph and flashing plus secondary stuff in his Cactus League debut, Tanner McDougal is emerging as a serious rotation contender for the White Sox.
After a late offseason signing of Eric Fedde to a one-year free agent contract, the Chicago White Sox seem to have their starting rotation set for the 2026 season.
But if there’s one player with the ability to upset the apple cart with a strong spring training, it’s probably right-handed pitcher Tanner McDougal.
Why McDougal over the other young starting pitchers in the White Sox organization? Chicago has plenty of depth and arms with upside that could turn heads with a strong showing in Cactus League play.
He made it to Double-A Birmingham by the end of the 2025 season. But among Chicago’s young pitching prospects, he was not the most productive in 2025, nor was he the closest to getting a big league call-up.
The first reason McDougal should be considered a favorite over other White Sox pitchers is the fact that he was added to the team’s 40-man roster this offseason. Chicago felt the need to protect McDougal from Rule 5 Draft eligibility by adding him to the 40-man.
That probably speaks to how highly the organization thinks of him — and possibly how highly other organizations think of him. MLB readiness is also a factor here. If the White Sox didn’t believe McDougal would be ready for a big league call-up by Opening Day, there would have been significantly less risk in exposing him to the Rule 5 Draft.
No, it’s because despite having only 55 innings of experience in Double-A, the White Sox know that McDougal is an explosive arm who can compete against big league hitters right away.
And he’s been showing that already in spring training.
McDougal made the first Cactus League appearance of his professional career on Saturday against the Milwaukee Brewers.
After a leadoff double put a runner in scoring position, McDougal retired the next six batters he faced — two innings pitched, one hit, two strikeouts, and a save.
But spring training stats by themselves are meaningless, especially when you consider the fact that McDougal did not face a single established big leaguer during his outing. It’s the data that means more. And that’s what got everybody’s attention.
McDougal threw 28 total pitches, and five of them registered over 100 mph. He topped out at 100.7 mph, which was the fastest pitch by anybody in baseball on Sunday.
And that wasn’t even the highlight of his arsenal. In fact, his fastball was his worst-graded pitch.
McDougal’s curveball had nearly 14 inches of induced vertical break and generated a Stuff+ rating of 113, putting it well above average.
His sweeper, which he threw 35% of the time, had 8.5 inches of horizontal movement.
That’s a pretty filthy combination of pitches, and it should absolutely play at the big league level.
At 6-foot-5 and 185 pounds, McDougal has always been a power arm with big potential. But it wasn’t until the 2025 season that he put it all together and found his identity as a pitcher.
And I’ll put him comfortably in the mix to compete for a rotation spot. If someone like Fedde or Sean Burke doesn’t look competitive, the White Sox may opt for the higher-upside option and let McDougal break camp with the team.
Either way, he’ll be someone to watch throughout 2026 and should debut at some point this season. He proved over the weekend that all of the hype surrounding his ascension is well warranted.