Erick Fedde looks to regain his 2024 form — and help White Sox keep improving from theirs

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The White Sox don’t want to revisit much of anything from their historically bad 121-loss season of 2024.

But they’ll make an exception for Erick Fedde, who might be the only person at Camelback Ranch this spring with any nostalgia for that slog of a campaign.

“It just reminds me of times when things were good,” Fedde said Wednesday after his first bullpen session since the Sox announced a one-year, $1.5 million deal to bring the right-hander back to the South Side.

“In ’24, we weren’t the best team in the world but had some guys who were just breaking into the league,” Fedde said. “Seeing their excitement and seeing guys like [starter Jonathan] Cannon and [catcher Korey] Lee — threw to Lee today — it was like old times.”

It’s a new era of competence that general manager Chris Getz is aiming to help usher in with Fedde, who turns 33 later this month and whose veteran presence should help fill out a young rotation.

While the Sox took a step forward in 2025 around a budding core of infield talent, Fedde has mostly struggled since Getz dealt him at the ’24 trade deadline, when he arguably was the lowly team’s best player with a 3.11 ERA in 21 starts.

Last year, Fedde went 4-13 with a 5.49 ERA during stints in St. Louis, Atlanta and Milwaukee, where he showed late-season improvement out of the bullpen.

Sox senior pitching adviser Brian Bannister came prepared with video and adjustments to suggest to Fedde how to get back in form on his first day back.

“It was a little mechanical thing,” Fedde said. “Just a few things to work on in catch every day and try to, brick-by-brick, get back to being good. They know what I look like when I’m at my best.”

Manager Will Venable praised Fedde’s ability, “but also as an example to these young guys about how to go about their business and build the things on a daily basis that can lead to long-term success.”

Fedde said his style is similar to Cannon’s, “so it’s fun to pick each other’s brains and we can be each other’s test dummies and pass from one to the other on what’s working and what’s not.” But there will be other younger guys looking up to him, too.

“It’s crazy. You blink and you go from the young guy to the old guy really quick,” Fedde said.

Prelander’s long road back

Right-hander Prelander Berroa threw off a mound for the third time Tuesday in his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

Berroa, 25, showed flame-throwing promise during a brief stint with the Sox in 2024, when he struck out 29 batters in 20⅔ innings with a 3.05 ERA. He figured to play a key bullpen role last year before his elbow gave out in spring training.

“In my mind, there’s no doubt that that’s the level I’m going to get back once I start pitching in the majors again,” said Berroa, who has shared his TJ journey with lefty Ky Bush, who was similarly sidelined in ’25. The Sox put Bush on the 60-day injured list this week.

“We’re always comparing and supporting each other,” Berroa said. “He’s been one of the biggest supporters I’ve had throughout this process.”