Davis Martin emerges as a lone bright spot for the White Sox rotation originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Chicago White Sox have come out looking like a completely different team this season. While many teams didn’t have to think much when playing the South Siders last year, they are a scrappy bunch in 2026.

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They currently sit in second place in the American League Central with their 19-21 record, but have the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, and Minnesota Twins breathing down their neck.

The offense has been solid, with Munetaka Murakami leading the way with his 15 home runs and 29 runs batted in, while Chase Meidroth leads the team with his .278 batting average. Now, if they could just get the starting rotation to follow suit.

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Davis Martin emerges as a lone bright spot for the White Sox rotation

The starting rotation has been the one thing holding this team back. They have multiple starters with an ERA of 4.00-plus that haven’t been all too helpful.

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However, they do have one starting pitcher who is looking the part, and that is Davis Martin. He leads the club with his 5-1 record and his 1.62 ERA on 50 innings of work.

With only Martin having success, Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller tags them as the No. 21 starting rotation across MLB.

“In Davis Martin, the White Sox have a breakout starting pitcher of the year. The 29-year-old had been a serviceable piece of a woeful rotation in recent years, but now he has a 1.62 ERA and six of this staff’s 11 quality starts. However, he is Chicago’s only pitcher with more than five innings pitched and an ERA below 4.44 as a starter.”

Now, it’s going to be on some of these other arms to step up if the White Sox really want to string some wins together. While it hasn’t been the best start, maybe Noah Schultz can get things going, or maybe the front office will give Hagen Smith a chance, who was the fifth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.

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