CLEVELAND – White Sox manager Will Venable praised the energy that rookie outfielder Sam Antonacci brought to the top of the lineup during the Wild Card Series in Houston. But with the 2026 White Sox, energy does not come before platoon matchups, and Antonacci had a .604 OPS against left-handers this season.
Facing Guardians’ left-handed ace Parker Messick to start the American League Division Series, the White Sox are hoping this Chase Meidroth fellow can provide a spark of his own. Hagen Smith will be the first man on the mound of a likely bullpen game for the Sox.
- Chase Meidroth, 2B
- Randal Grichuk, LF
- Miguel Vargas, 3B
- Munetaka Murakami, 1B
- Tommy Pham, DH
- Brenton Doyle, CF
- Kyle Teel, C
- Braden Montgomery, RF
- Colson Montgomery, SS
“Antonacci setting the tone and pounding his fist on his helmet is great,” said Venable. “Certainly he embodies the spirit of the club and is a good representative of the identity of the club. But there’s other guys that feed into that too.”
The presence of Murakami and Braden Montgomery (rather than Luisangel Acuna and Tristan Peters) are only changes in personnel from the lineup the Sox threw at Messick on Sept. 16 in this same ballpark. Pham launched a three-run homer that briefly put the Sox ahead, but those were the only runs Messick allowed in six innings, en route to a 6-3 Guardians victory.
Right-handed pitchers
Sean Burke, Tyler Davis, Erick Fedde, Jordan Hicks, Davis Martin, David Sandlin and Grant Taylor
The only change on the ALDS roster from the Wild Card series is the Sox swapping out Huascar Brazoban and adding rookie right-hander Tyler Davis. Brazoban made a single appearance against the Astros and retired one of the three hitters he faced, but Venable said the decision was driven by Davis profiling as more platoon-neutral against a lefty-heavy Guardians roster.
Left-handed pitchers
Bryan Hudson, Anthony Kay, Sean Newcomb, Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith
No one in this group is likely to make a traditional start, or even work longer than three innings. But with only three true right-handed hitters on the Guardians roster (Austin Hedges, Jo Adell, David Fry), every Sox southpaw should be plenty busy throughout the ALDS.
Catchers
Jake Rogers and Kyle Teel
As his presence in the starting lineup against Messick indicates, Teel should catch every inning of this series unless something surprising happens.
Infielders
Luisangel Acuña, Chase Meidroth, Colson Montgomery, Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas
Vargas and Murakami scuffled to a combined 1-for-17 showing in Houston and it’s a testament to the Sox roster that they put up 13 runs on the Astros in two games in spite of it. They almost certainly cannot top the Guardians with a repeat of such a performance.
Outfielders
Sam Antonacci, Andrew Benintendi, Brenton Doyle, Randal Grichuk, Braden Montgomery, Tristan Peters and Tommy Pham.
Doyle is the only one of four players the White Sox acquired at the trade deadline to make their ALDS roster, and coaches are encouraged by how his remodeled swing has looked recently. Before going 1-for-2 with a single in the Wild Card series, Doyle had a .927 OPS in September.