Former Northwestern Wildcat Playing Unique Role in White Sox Playoff Run

As the Chicago White Sox continue their postseason run, there is a familiar Northwestern face helping behind the scenes.

Former Wildcats catcher Bennett Markinson has gone from playing college baseball in Evanston to working alongside some of the best players in the world as a bullpen catcher for the White Sox.

And his role goes well beyond simply catching pitches.

Markinson is responsible for warming up White Sox pitchers during games, while also using his background in data science to help Chicago scout opponents and develop plans for attacking opposing hitters.

It is a unique role that seems almost perfectly suited for the former Wildcat.

Markinson double-majored in data science and economics at Northwestern while playing four seasons for the baseball program. He eventually developed into one of the Wildcats’ most reliable players, starting every one of Northwestern’s 104 games across his final two seasons. 

His breakout came during the 2024 season.

Markinson started all 52 games and led Northwestern with a .337 batting average, .408 on-base percentage, 68 hits and 20 multi-hit games. He followed that by helping Northwestern produce its most wins in a season since 2017 during his senior year. 

But even during his playing career, Markinson was thinking about baseball differently.

Northwestern head coach Ben Greenspan recalled Markinson asking whether he could write code to help the program analyze players in the transfer portal. It was an early example of his ability to combine his understanding of baseball with his interest in data. 

That combination is now helping him at the highest level of the sport.

After graduating from Northwestern in 2025, Markinson signed with the Philadelphia Phillies organization after going undrafted. He spent a season as a minor-league player before eventually receiving an opportunity to join the White Sox staff. 

Now, Markinson has several responsibilities with Chicago.

During games, he works in the bullpen and helps pitchers get ready to enter. Away from the action, he helps scout opposing teams and assists with developing pitching plans against different hitters.

He has also been involved in Chicago’s strategy surrounding MLB’s Automated Ball-Strike challenge system, using statistical models to help determine when challenging a call provides the most value. Northwestern Athletics credited that work as part of the White Sox’s broader data-driven approach this season. 

It is pretty remarkable considering where Markinson’s journey began.

He originally arrived at Northwestern as a preferred walk-on after committing late in his senior year of high school. At that point, Markinson was not even sure he would have an opportunity to play college baseball.

Five years later, he is working in a Major League Baseball bullpen during the postseason. And this is not just any postseason run for Chicago.

The White Sox swept the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series to earn their first postseason series victory since the 2005 World Series, advancing to face the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS. 

That means a former Northwestern catcher is now working behind the scenes as some of the best pitchers in baseball prepare for some of the biggest games of their careers.

It is also a great example of what Markinson was able to take away from Northwestern.

His baseball career gave him the playing experience needed to work directly with major-league pitchers. His academic background gave him another skill set that can help an MLB organization find advantages through data.

Now he gets to combine both.

Markinson’s playing career may have taken a different direction than he originally expected, but he has still found his way into a major-league uniform and onto a team competing in October.

For Northwestern, it is another former Wildcat making an impact at the highest level of professional sports.

And as the White Sox continue their playoff run, Markinson will be right there in the bullpen helping them along the way.