HOUSTON — As White Sox manager Will Venable worked to protect a one-run lead over the Twins for four innings Saturday — with ace reliever Grant Taylor unavailable after working a career-high 2‰ frames the day before — there were no easy answers.
Unless the answer was a lot of Sean Newcomb.
“I was talking with [general manager Chris Getz about it — about how valuable these guys are,” Venable said. “[Newcomb] leads the way. That prototype of pitcher, where he’s really good — he takes the ball all the time and [is] giving me two or three innings when he does pitch. It’s special.”
For the third time this season and the second straight outing, Newcomb threw three scoreless innings, helping to push the Sox to 24-20 in one-run games. He has logged 11 outings spanning 20„ innings since last allowing an earned run, a streak that has dropped his season ERA to 2.19 as he has worked the third-most relief innings in the American League.
“[When] you come out of the game and you see him coming in, you feel good about it,” Sox starter Sean Burke said.
While an exciting young offensive core has powered the Sox to the lead in the AL Central, their pitching health has been a challenge. Jordan Leasure and Mike Vasil, both valuable setup men last season, were lost to season-ending elbow injuries. Free-agent signee Seranthony Dominguez washed out as closer before being flipped at the deadline. Fireballer Jordan Hicks spent most of the first half battling a strained lat and searching for the right arm slot.
Protecting leads for the AL’s best offense would be tricky without Newcomb, a 33-year-old lefty who signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal in December, putting together arguably his finest season.
“Numbers-wise, can’t argue that,” Newcomb told the Sun-Times. “I’d say it’s a continuation of what I started doing with the A’s when I got to a full-time bullpen job last year.”
Newcomb posted a 1.75 ERA in 51 „ innings for the Athletics in 2025 after being designated for assignment midseason by his hometown Red Sox, who had been using him as more of a spot starter and swingman. He credits that experience for giving him the stamina to maintain his performance even while on pace for more than 90 innings this year.
In his 10th MLB season with his fifth MLB team, after years dogged by injuries and other struggles, Newcomb is unfazed by anything.
“It’s been a new mindset I’ve had with pitching since I got back to playing consistently,” he said. “Just approaching every pitch the same way, no matter what it is.”
Throwing from a lower arm slot than earlier in his career, Newcomb, who’s 6-5, splits the plate horizontally with his slurve and a new sinker. That east-west dynamic has helped make the letter-high four-seam fastball he peppers in to change eye levels one of the most effective pitches in the sport.
Part of Newcomb’s excellence in relief comes from tools usually reserved for starters. When the situation calls for a ground ball or a strikeout, Newcomb can hunt for either. When he misfires a four-seamer, he gets back into the count with a sinker, or vice-versa. Forget about his curveball, changeup or cutter and that’s precisely when one might appear.
For all the problems he has solved in relief, maybe he would have done pretty well in the rotation job he competed for in the spring.
“I haven’t weighed that in my head,” Venable conceded. “You have the argument to make that case. At the same time, he’s been so good and helped us win so many games, we are utilizing him well.”
Newcomb is set to hit free agency again this winter. Surely he’s more convinced than ever in his ability to start?
“No, same as always,” he said.