Chicago White Sox Sign Veteran Reliever Dan Altavilla to Minor League Contract

The Chicago White Sox have signed right-handed relief pitcher Dan Altavilla to a minor league contract, the team announced Thursday afternoon.

Altavillla's deal includes an invite to major league Spring Training camp, which gets underway in February.

The 32-year-old righty spent 2024 with the Kansas City Royals, making five appearances at the MLB level and 37 in Triple-A. While he went 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA and 1.341 WHIP in the minors, Altavilla went 0-1 with a 14.73 ERA, 2.182 WHIP and -0.3 WAR in the majors.

That marked Altavilla's first taste of big league action since 2021, when he underwent Tommy John surgery as a member of the San Diego Padres. That procedure knocked him out for all of 2022 as well, and he didn't last long in the Boston Red Sox's farm system in 2023 either, so he only tossed 22.1 professional innings between those three seasons.

After battling his way back with the Royals, Altavilla suffered a right oblique strain in June and was designated for assignment upon getting activated from the injured list in September. He elected free agency after the season.

The #WhiteSox have signed RHP Dan Altavilla to a minor league contract which includes a non-roster invite to Spring Training.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) December 12, 2024

Before injuries derailed Altavilla's career, he was a promising young reliever with the Seattle Mariners.

Altavilla made his MLB debut in 2016, posting a 0.73 ERA, 0.973 WHIP and 0.5 WAR in 15 appearances as a 23-year-old rookie. Injuries and inconsistency meant he spent good chunks of 2017 and 2018 bouncing between the majors and minors, but he was still 4-3 with a 3.28 ERA, 1.268 WHIP and 0.8 WAR to that point in his career.

After a shaky 2019 and a spotty start to 2020, Altavilla was one of three players traded to the Padres in exchange for Ty France, Taylor Trammell, Andrés Muñoz, and Luis Torrens.

Altavilla may have not carried a ton of value on the open market, but Chicago could certainly use him in 2025. Justin Anderson and Jared Shuster are the only players returning to the White Sox's bullpen who recorded more than 35.0 innings pitched in 2024, and neither of them even had an ERA under 4.30.

Coming off a record-breaking 41-121 season, adding a wild card like Altavilla into the mix certainly can't make things worse, especially since he will have to prove himself in Spring Training regardless.

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