White Sox Pitcher Grant Taylor Eyes Return From Injury

CHICAGO –– White Sox rookie pitcher Grant Taylor is pushing to return from a groin injury for the home stretch of the 2025 season.

The hard-throwing right-hander completed a 20-pitch bullpen before Monday's 6:40 p.m. CT game against the Baltimore Orioles at Rate Field. It was the first time he had thrown off a mound since suffering the injury during Wednesday's 6-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

"It went good. Kind of tested, tried to get after it today. And it felt great," Taylor said. "I feel really good considering I threw a pretty high intensity pen today, I might be down today. Try to be available tomorrow. Depends on how I feel."

Taylor said he didn't feel any pain today, but the team will wait to see how he recovers before determining the next steps. He's going to test it out again Monday, and he thinks he'll be ablt to return as long as there's no pain while throwing and running.

"He threw really well. It was as close to game speed as you could get. He really let it loose," manager Will Venable said. "So came out of it feeling good. Now we'll see how he recovers today and make a decision on him tomorrow."

Taylor is in his first Major League season after being selected by the White Sox in the second round of the 2023 MLB Draft. Making 29 relief appearances and opening twice, he has a 5.68 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP with 44 strikeouts, 14 walks and four saves across 31.2 innings.

Among pitchers with at least 30 innings, this season, Taylor ranks No. 1 in MLB in Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), "which focuses solely on the events a pitcher has the most control over -- strikeouts, walks, hit-by-pitches and home runs. It entirely removes results on balls hit into the field of play," per MLB.com.

General manager Chris Getz explained earlier in the season how that statistic suggests Taylor could be getting unlucky, as well as a few areas of improvement.

"The separation between his actual ERA and his FIP is pretty wide. I think that's a pretty strong indication of, there's just batted ball luck," Getz said. "Now, there are some areas that can be improved in getting ahead and attacking the zone and you look at his ability to go north-south with this fastball and his curveball, obviously."

"He's got the slider and cutter too as weapons. It's really just getting him attacking. And we've put him in some really — he's facing the best hitters on the opposing team in moments that are big. But if you look underneath the hood, the quality of stuff and the performance is there.  I know last night we didn't get the results that we would like, but the process was right."

The 57-93 White Sox have just 12 games remaining, and they could play it safe by resting Taylor for the remainder of the season. But Venable sees value in ending the year on a positive note with Taylor contributing in key moments.

"We want to finish strong, and he's a big part of us finishing strong and playing well and he's a big part of our success," Venable said. "When we have games that we have leads, he's someone obviously in the backend that helps us finish those games. So absolutely we want him back out there and pitching. And of course, like all our players, we're not gonna put anyone in a position where we're gonna do long-term damage and jeopardize their health. So that's a balance that we consider every day."

Taylor shares a similar mentality at the tail end of his first season in the big leagues.

"Energy level, arm feels amazing. Unfortunate a little hiccup with my groin. Overall body feels good," Taylor said. "... I think there’s been some highs and lows this season. Definitely want to end the year on a good note. Definitely want to get back out there and finish strong."

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