Despite a red-hot start in Triple-A and a clear need in the outfield, the White Sox are prioritizing Sam Antonacci’s development over a rushed call-up early in 2026.
The Chicago White Sox made two roster moves earlier this week to replace injured outfielders. With Everson Pereira and Austin Hays both landing on the injured list, the Sox called up Tanner Murray and then Dustin Harris to take their place.
That leaves the outfield — a group that was already a weakness for the White Sox — consisting of Andrew Benintendi, Dustin Harris, Luisangel Acuña, Tristan Peters, and Derek Hill.
That’s not exactly the group you draw up for a team looking to take the next step toward contention in 2026. And with a 4-8 record, it’s not giving White Sox fans many reasons to believe this team will be much better than it was last year.
Because of that, plenty of White Sox fans have been advocating for the team to give rising prospect Sam Antonacci an opportunity.
Antonacci is a fan favorite who has found success at every level of minor league baseball he has played. He’s currently in Triple-A Charlotte, where he has a .353 batting average, .522 on-base percentage, and 1.081 OPS through his first nine games. Not bad at all for a former fifth-round pick out of Coastal Carolina.
The White Sox have also been giving Antonacci some looks in the outfield during the first few weeks in Charlotte. It makes all the sense in the world. Antonacci is a talented athlete who should be able to hold his own with average defense in the outfield, and if he gets more comfortable there, the natural middle infielder could have a clear path to regular MLB at-bats before this season is over.
So one of the questions being asked right now is why the White Sox didn’t call Antonacci up when there was such a clear opening and need on the current roster.
He’s better than Murray or Harris, and he’s certainly more exciting. Calling up Antonacci would give White Sox fans another reason to watch and another reason to feel optimistic. The current lineup just isn’t doing that.
But in my opinion, the answer is really simple.
While Antonacci has had a ton of success in the minor leagues and is off to a great start in Triple-A, let’s not forget how little experience he still has in professional baseball. He played just 23 games in Low-A Kannapolis back in 2024. He began the 2025 season in Winston-Salem and was promoted to Double-A Birmingham for 49 games before the end of the regular season. This is Antonacci’s first experience above Double-A, and he’s only eight games in.
So why haven’t the White Sox called him up? Because they want him to get more comfortable in the outfield and gain more experience there before he’s doing it at the MLB level. And because they still want him to continue developing his overall game, given how little experience he has.
The White Sox would like to see Antonacci continue developing his power to go along with the impressive walk rate and reduced strikeout rate. They’d like to see how he handles a minor slump and makes adjustments. And at the end of the day, this is still a 23-year-old player with only nine games of experience above Double-A.
I have no doubt that by June, we’ll see Antonacci in Chicago with the White Sox. And maybe if he keeps playing like this, it’ll be much sooner than that.
But there’s no sense in rushing a prospect to help out a team that has no real aspirations of winning anything this year. The most important thing is making sure Sam Antonacci is well-positioned to hit the ground running once he finally gets the long-awaited call-up, even if that means going through a few weeks in April where enthusiasm around the roster and everyday lineup is lacking.