White Sox Try To Repeat Rule-5 Magic With Latest Roster Move

The White Sox had a ton of success last season when it came to the Rule-5 Draft, as they drafted all-star Shane Smith with the first pick and traded for Mike Vasil, who was also selected in the first round of the Rule-5 draft.

This year the White Sox will look to replicate that success, as they made two selections in the Rule-5 Draft. They selected right-handed pitcher Jedixson Paez with the second overall pick and right-handed reliever Alexander Alberto with the only pick in the second round.

Unfortunately, they won’t be able to quite replicate that success, as they have already returned Alberto back to the Tampa Bay Rays organization. I thought they would try and give him a shot in the majors, but the White Sox must have felt he wasn’t quite ready for the major leagues.

However, it has now been reported that their first pick, Jedixson Paez, has made the Opening Day roster. This is a great sign for Paez, as he will have plenty of opportunities to show he belongs in the major leagues. The White Sox also released a super cool video of Paez getting notified that he made the roster.

the moment Jedixson found out the news pic.twitter.com/RmDNlWNSvg

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) March 26, 2026

Paez had a pretty good spring outside of one outing. In total, he threw 11.1 innings of 6.97 ERA baseball. However, that was due to one bad outing where he gave up 6 runs in just 1 and 1/3rd innings. Outside of that, he was much better.

In the other 10 innings, he gave up just two runs and six hits, while walking five and striking out nine. This is a pretty good performance for a 22-year-old who has not pitched above high-A. With the rotation set, he will look to fill the void from Mike Vasil’s injury in a long relief and spot starting role.

Last season due to injury, Paez only threw 19 innings, but he had a very solid 2.79 ERA in those innings. He struck out 23 compared to just three walks. This was a pretty good season for Paez and if he was not injured, he would have likely gotten a promotion to AA.

Overall in Paez’s minor league career, he owns a 3.22 ERA with 307 strikeouts to just 49 walks in 307 innings. While he doesn’t have the gaudy strikeout numbers as some of the other top pitching prospects in the White Sox organization, he has elite control. This has constantly been one of the traits GM Chris Getz has targeted in his pitching acquisitions.

Due to Paez’s age and lack of time spent in the upper minors, there may be an adjustment period to start his MLB career. However, I could see Paez having a season similar to Vasil and carving out a role for the next good White Sox roster.