Of the many questions facing the Chicago White Sox this offseason, none are more pressing than what the organization will do with its starting rotation for 2027.

I’ve already taken some time to preview that very discussion. Chicago’s surplus of internal options, combined with its desire to upgrade the rotation, creates an interesting dilemma for the front office. But there’s another debate entirely to be had when discussing right-handed pitcher Grant Taylor.

For lack of a better term, Taylor was Chicago’s closer in 2026.

While the White Sox hardly had defined roles in the bullpen, and Taylor’s 10 saves weren’t even the team lead, he ultimately emerged as Will Venable’s most trusted arm.

That distinction belonged to Seranthony Domínguez, who was traded to the Seattle Mariners at the deadline but still finished the year with 12 saves in a White Sox uniform.

During the home stretch of the regular season and Chicago’s playoff run, however, Taylor was the pitcher Venable turned to in the highest-leverage situations.

He was closing out games, even if that meant stretching himself out to throw multiple innings at a time. Taylor was Chicago’s best arm, and he was the guy the White Sox chose to live and die with.

That, however, may not be the case moving forward.

As is often the case with an electric arm like Taylor’s, there’s an argument to be made that he could provide even more value in the starting rotation. That’s assuming he’s capable of successfully making the transition.

Of course, such a move would create a domino effect for the rest of the pitching staff, including a newfound need for a closer that the White Sox would likely have to address this offseason.

So, what should the White Sox do with Grant Taylor?

To answer that question, we first need to evaluate three factors that could ultimately determine his role moving forward.

Not that it would be wise to question Grant Taylor’s ability. He’s already shown in his short MLB career just how special of a pitcher he can be. But there’s no denying how significant of a transition this would be.

While the White Sox love Taylor’s ability to throw multiple innings and likely believe he could be stretched out even further, the reality is that he hasn’t been asked to handle anything close to a traditional starter’s workload.

Taylor threw two or more innings in 17 of his 60 appearances during the 2026 regular season. He also threw 30 or more pitches in only 13 outings.

Those numbers illustrate just how much of an adjustment it would be to transition Taylor into a starting role, where he’d eventually be expected to throw 80 to 100 pitches every fifth day.

And as we started to see during the ALDS, Taylor became less effective as his workload increased and fatigue appeared to set in.

That’s not necessarily his fault. Fatigue is real, and it’s not uncommon to see pitchers have significantly different stuff depending on the role they’re asked to fill.

White Sox teammate Jordan Hicks is an excellent example of this.

During the early stages of Hicks’ career with the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays, he established himself as an electric relief pitcher with an explosive arm capable of overpowering opposing hitters.

As his career progressed, teams began to wonder whether they could maximize Hicks’ value by transitioning him into a starting role.

When Hicks was stretched out by the San Francisco Giants, making 29 starts from 2024 to 2025, he posted a 4.83 ERA and experienced a significant decrease in velocity.

The same situation may not play out with Grant Taylor. But for the White Sox, it’s at least worth considering the possibility that stretching him out could change his stuff and ultimately make him a less effective pitcher.

There’s a real risk involved, especially when you already know Taylor is capable of being one of the best relief pitchers in baseball.

While Taylor has been clear about his desire to be a starting pitcher, there’s another element to this conversation that can’t be overlooked, and it’s something the White Sox organization has been concerned about for quite some time.

Grant Taylor’s delivery is unique. And while it’s part of what makes him such an uncomfortable at-bat for opposing hitters, it also raises legitimate questions about his ability to handle the workload of a starter.

Taylor generates an extraordinary amount of extension in his delivery, releasing the baseball between 7.2 and 7.4 feet in front of the pitching rubber. That’s among the highest marks in Major League Baseball (96th percentile in 2026), and it’s particularly impressive considering Taylor stands just 6-foot-3.

For reference, some of MLB’s leaders in extension in 2026 with comparable numbers to Taylor were Jacob Misiorowski (6-foot-7), Logan Gilbert (6-foot-6) and Paul Gervase (6-foot-10).

Extension gives hitters less time to react to pitches, making already overpowering fastballs appear even more explosive. But Taylor’s extreme extension also places significant physical demands on his body, something White Sox director of pitching Brian Bannister has previously identified as a potential concern.

In June 2025, Bannister discussed Taylor’s mechanics with Sox Machine, using Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Vitruvian Man drawing to explain the physical demands of his delivery.

Bannister compared operating at the extremes of the body’s natural range of motion to turning a car’s steering wheel as far as it can possibly go. His point was that movements within the middle of a joint’s range of motion are generally more natural, while repeatedly pushing toward its limits can create additional physical stress.

And when it comes to Taylor, Bannister has been particularly cautious about what that could mean for his long-term health.

During a June 2025 appearance on 670 The Score, Bannister compared Taylor’s mechanics to pitchers such as Tyler Glasnow and Kenley Jansen. He pointed out that pitchers with similar characteristics who have worked as starters have often struggled to stay healthy.

“They tend to be very injury-prone, and we’ve already gone through that with Grant a little bit,” Bannister said.

And these injury concerns aren’t entirely hypothetical. Taylor has already dealt with significant injuries during his young professional career.

He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023, which contributed to him falling to the White Sox in the second round of that year’s MLB Draft. He then missed a substantial portion of the 2024 season with a right lat strain, limiting him to just 19.1 innings in the minor leagues.

Bannister has previously connected that lat injury to Taylor’s unusual extension, explaining that the physical demands of releasing the baseball so far down the mound could help explain why a pitcher with his mechanics experienced that particular injury.

And when the White Sox attempted to develop Taylor as a starting pitcher at Double-A Birmingham in 2025, he was pitching well, posting a 1.56 ERA before his final start on May 9. But he was experiencing soreness after starts, prompting the organization to move him into a relief role.

“We started him out as a starter last year, flipped him to the pen because he was getting sore as a starter,” Bannister said in April 2026.

Taylor’s velocity jumped from the mid-90s back into triple digits after the transition.

Just because the topic hasn’t been discussed as frequently over the last six months doesn’t mean the White Sox feel any differently. These aren’t concerns that are simply going to disappear.

None of this means Taylor can’t eventually become a successful starting pitcher. Every pitcher’s body is different, and the organization has continued to leave that possibility open.

It would be foolish, though, to assume Taylor can make that leap in 2027 without first addressing these questions.

Before asking him to handle 150 or more innings in a starting rotation, Chicago needs to be confident that the physical demands of that role won’t jeopardize what makes him so special in the first place.

If Grant Taylor transitions to the starting rotation, maintains his level of dominance over a 150-inning sample size and joins the conversation with Jacob Misiorowski and Paul Skenes as one of the best young pitchers in baseball, it goes without saying that the White Sox would be a better team for it.

But if Chicago is choosing between Taylor being a good starting pitcher and a great high-leverage relief pitcher capable of throwing multiple innings, when exactly does the juice become worth the squeeze?

You can use San Diego Padres right-handed pitcher Mason Miller as an example.

Miller was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the third round of the 2021 MLB Draft as a starting pitcher. He continued in that role throughout his minor league career, making 15 starts with a 2.52 ERA before being called up to join the Athletics in 2023.

During his first season in Major League Baseball, Miller posted a 3.78 ERA over 33.1 innings, making 10 appearances, including six starts. By 2024, the Athletics had transitioned him to the bullpen, where he quickly won the closer job.

The rest is history.

Miller was an American League All-Star in 2024, was traded to the San Diego Padres for a package of elite prospects in 2025 and is now widely considered the best relief pitcher in baseball.

He recorded 38 saves with a 1.67 ERA for the Padres in 2026, striking out 16.6 batters per nine innings while posting a remarkable 0.90 WHIP.

If you fall behind the Padres late in a game, you might as well chalk it up as a loss. And that’s why Miller is one of the most valuable arms in the sport.

The White Sox could have something similar brewing with Grant Taylor, and we saw glimpses of that potential during the postseason.

In fact, Taylor’s ability to throw multiple innings could make him even more valuable in certain situations. If the White Sox have a lead after seven innings, Taylor is capable of recording the final six outs. And when he’s at his best, there’s a strong argument to be made that Chicago should simply hand him the baseball and let him finish the job.

If Taylor’s ceiling is truly that of one of the most dominant closers in baseball, is it even worth risking that by attempting to move him into the starting rotation?

As I previously mentioned in my offseason preview regarding Chicago’s pitching depth, there are plenty of options within the White Sox organization that could help fill out the starting rotation in 2027.

That includes the young arms already under contract, along with potential additions through free agency and the trade market.

Rather than robbing Peter to pay Paul, weakening the bullpen in an attempt to strengthen the rotation, why not leave Taylor as the team’s full-time, multi-inning closer while acquiring starting pitchers who won’t require such a significant transition?

There’s no denying the potential upside of turning Taylor into a frontline starter. But the White Sox also have to consider what they’d be giving up in the process.

Sometimes, maximizing a pitcher’s value isn’t about asking him to throw more innings. It’s about putting him in a position to be as dominant as possible when his team needs him most.