Chicago White Sox Call Up Journeyman Outfielder Tommy Pham, DFA Kevin Pillar
The struggling Chicago White Sox made a change to their outfield depth chart Friday, bringing recent free agent acquisition Tommy Pham up from the minors.
The Chicago White Sox have selected the contract of outfielder Tommy Pham, The Chicago Sun-Times' Daryl Van Schouwen reported Friday afternoon.
Pham signed a minor league deal with the White Sox back on April 15. During his time with Triple-A Charlotte, the 11-year MLB veteran was batting .294, prompting his return to the big leagues.
According to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Chicago is designating outfielder Kevin Pillar for assignment to make room for Pham on the 26-man roster. Pillar, a 12-year MLB veteran in his own right, was batting .160 with a .650 OPS and -0.1 WAR.
Pham, 36, was once a late-blooming prospect who came up through the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system. After getting picked in the 16th round of the 2006 MLB Draft, Pham finally made his big league debut in 2014 and exhausted his rookie eligibility in 2015.
In 2017, Pham placed 11th in NL MVP voting after batting .306 with 23 home runs, 73 RBI, 25 stolen bases, a .931 OPS and 6.2 WAR. The Cardinals eventually dealt him to the Tampa Bay Rays at the 2018 trade deadline, and then the Rays flipped him to the San Diego Padres at the end of the 2019 campaign.
That began the journeyman phase of Pham's career, even if he remained an everyday player through it all.
Pham appeared in 84.2% of his teams' games between 2017 and 2023, suiting up for the Cardinals, Rays, Padres, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks. In that span, he was a .260 hitter with a .785 OPS, averaging 17 home runs, 57 RBI and 16 stolen bases each year.
Just last year, Pham played a key role for the D-Backs in their surprise run to the World Series. He hit .279 with three home runs and a .772 OPS during the playoffs, earning a spot in Arizona's starting lineup in 16 of their 17 games.
Now, Pham is set to join a last-place White Sox squad off to one of the worst starts in MLB history. With All-Star Luis Robert Jr. on the injured list, Chicago's outfield depth chart is currently made up of Andrew Benintendi, Gavin Sheets, Robbie Grossman and Dominic Fletcher.
Pham is in a position to start right away, considering Sheets is the only one in that group with a batting average over .203 and an OPS over .548.
The White Sox open up a home series with the Rays on Friday, with first pitch scheduled for 7:40 p.m. ET.
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