To Start Or Not To Start: The Grant Taylor Dilemma

For the first time in what seems like forever, the White Sox may have more young talent in their position player pool than they do with their pitchers. However, the White Sox do have two consensus top-100 pitching prospects in Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz, but they seem to have more young bats that are viewed highly around the league.

While there are still some young exciting arms outside Smith and Schultz, like Tanner McDougal and Christian Oppor, the White Sox rotation isn’t one of their stronger positional groups. It certainly could turn out to be that way if Smith and Schultz are ace pitchers and McDougal becomes a top of the rotation arm, but outside of that, there are certainly some question marks.

This is where it gets interesting, as the White Sox have a very talented young arm already on the roster, that being Grant Taylor. While there have been reports about the White Sox stretching out Grant Taylor to get more innings, as he was a starter in college and in the minors, it seems like he’s going to be working mainly from the bullpen this year. That in itself begs the question, do you keep a 24-year-old hard throwing right hander in the bullpen if he is elite, or do you try and turn him back into a starter?

Last season Taylor had a 4.91 ERA over 36 innings. However, he struck out 54 batters, which is good for an elite 13.25 K/9 ratio. His ERA was a bit elevated, but that came from a few rough outings in July and August. He righted the ship, as he ended the season strong. In September, he threw 8 scoreless innings, striking out 15. He also looked lights out in his one appearance so far this Spring.

Grant Taylor was throwing triple digits in his spring debut. A perfect inning with two strikeouts. He gets Brenton Doyle looking on a 101mph fastball. pic.twitter.com/CsLBVkmpEA

— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) February 23, 2026

Taylor had success in the minor leagues when he threw multiple innings, but he never pitched more than just a few innings, as his pitch count was always capped. If Taylor pitches like he did to end the year, he is arguably a top-10 bullpen arm, as he has absolutely devastating offspeed pitches to go with a 100 mph+ fastball. Pitchers with that kind of arsenal don’t grow on trees.

Due to his rare ability, do you see if he can be stretched out and do that for six innings at a time, or do you allow him to be one of the best relievers in the game? I have always been of the opinion that you should make a starting pitcher a starter as long as possible, until they prove that they can’t do it. This is partially because starting pitching is more valuable to a team than relievers are.

However, it’s rare that we see a player become elite in the bullpen before getting a chance to start in his professional career. This makes for a tough decision for the White Sox brass.

At this point, I believe that decision comes down to the play of the other young pitchers in the White Sox organization. If Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith, Shane Smith, and Tanner McDougall pitch to their potential, Taylor stays in the bullpen. However, if one or more begin to falter, it might be worth checking out.

Regardless, Taylor will be a very important piece of the White Sox pitching staff this year and hopefully could earn an all-star appearance out of the bullpen. This is a good problem to have, but it certainly is an interesting dilemma and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.