{"id":500265,"date":"2026-01-08T01:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500265\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T01:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:56:13","slug":"sean-newcomb-to-compete-for-rotation-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500265\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Newcomb to compete for rotation spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sean Newcomb wants an opportunity to eat up innings and get the ball as much as possible.<\/p>\n

The left-handed pitcher sees a chance to accomplish those goals with the Chicago White Sox.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seemed like a good fit all around,\u201d Newcomb said during a video conference call on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Newcomb and the Sox agreed to a one-year, $4.5 million contract on Dec. 23<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old is 30-30 with a 4.20 ERA, four saves, 25 holds and 529 strikeouts in 223 appearances (65 starts) during nine major-league seasons with the Atlanta Braves (2017-22), Chicago Cubs (2022), the Athletics (2023-24, 2025) and Boston Red Sox (2025). In 2025, he had a 2.73 ERA, two saves, four holds and 91 strikeouts over 48 combined appearances (five starts) with the Red Sox and Athletics.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis flexibility is great,\u201d manager Will Venable said on Wednesday. \u201cI think that his having been successful in different ways, he can help our players, which is something that we\u2019ll look to him to take a little bit of that role. But for him, he\u2019s going to come in and compete for a job in the rotation, which we are really excited about. We know he had some success in both the starting role and the reliever role, so he is capable of doing both.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is going to be in that mix for a starting rotation job and we are excited to help support him and go out and win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the offseason continues, here are three takeaways from Wednesday\u2019s sessions with Newcomb and Venable.<\/p>\n

1. Newcomb has several connections with the White Sox.
\n\"BostonBoston Red Sox pitcher Sean Newcomb throws against the Detroit Tigers in the third inning during a game on Monday, May 12, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo\/Paul Sancya)<\/p>\n

Newcomb is a native of Brockton, Mass., and has had the chance to work out with fellow Boston-area White Sox pitchers Mike Vasil and Shane Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hitting them with a bunch of questions during the whole process,\u201d Newcomb said. \u201cThey had nothing but good things to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newcomb is also reconnecting with White Sox adviser to pitching Brian Bannister.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was another part of the appeal, getting back to working with him,\u201d Newcomb said. \u201cI worked with him pretty briefly. I was like half a season with him on the minor-league side over there with the (San Francisco) Giants (in 2023) before I had gotten traded to Oakland the first time. Like I threw one bullpen with him, he touched base on a few of my pitch grips. And I was like, all right, well that\u2019s where they\u2019re moving the best, where I can control them the best, and I just kind of rode that through some success in \u201923.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn \u201924 I was dealing with a little recovery on some stuff, but then \u201925, I was still using the same grips and everything and those pitches were getting a bunch of success, and I just got confident with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Venable is excited about the rotation\u2019s \u2018healthy competition.\u2019
\n\"ChicagoChicago White Sox starting pitcher Shane Smith delivers to the New York Yankees in the first inning of a game at Rate Field in Chicago on Aug. 30, 2025. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Newcomb\u2019s addition came two weeks after the Sox and left-handed starter Anthony Kay<\/a> formally agreed to terms on a two-year, $12-million deal.<\/p>\n

Kay spent the last two seasons with the Yokohama BayStars in Nippon Professional Baseball\u2019s Japanese Central League, and has five years of major-league experience.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll join a rotation that includes Smith, who was an All-Star as a rookie last season. Smith and Davis Martin are the team\u2019s top two returning pitchers in terms of innings, followed by Sean Burke and Jonathan Cannon.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally excited about creating some healthy competition amongst the guys and seeing who can go out and go grab it,\u201d Venable said. \u201cAs far as what the actual names in the rotation will look like, we\u2019re obviously a long ways away from that and really want to have it be an open competition and have these guys go earn it.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. On the offensive side, the buzz continues for Munetaka Murakami.
\n\"WhiteChicago White Sox executive vice president and general manager Chris Getz claps after Munetaka Murakami gives a speech during a news conference at Rate Field on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

While most of Wednesday\u2019s discussions centered on pitching, Venable did field a few questions on recently acquired Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first baseman, a two-time Nippon Professional Baseball Japanese Central League Most Valuable Player, signed a two-year deal with the Sox on Dec. 21<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very excited,\u201d Venable said. \u201cHe talks a lot about defense. He talks a lot about competing. I know he\u2019s really excited to get going. Going to be a big spring for him, coming over and starting his debut in the states. Also has the (World Baseball Classic). So a lot of good stuff for Mune. Excited for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venable\u2019s family has ties to Japan, where his father, Max, played in 1992-93.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball has a huge place in that country and it comes out in the way these guys go about their business, the way they play on the field, the way that fans come and support them,\u201d Will Venable said. \u201cThe energy in stadiums. It\u2019s similar to winter ball to me, in which every play is impactful, every play is important. You get energy in these buildings. It\u2019s awesome to be around.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt in the little that I\u2019ve heard from Mune and communicated with, it seems very clear that he\u2019s cut from that same cloth. He\u2019s excited to go out and play hard and compete. Excited about what that looks like for him in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sean Newcomb wants an opportunity to eat up innings and get the ball as much as possible. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":500266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1274,5386,1818,1822,150026,190363,212420,13250],"class_list":{"0":"post-500265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-chicago-white-sox","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-mlb-baseball","13":"tag-munetaka-murakami","14":"tag-nippon-professional-baseball","15":"tag-sean-newcomb","16":"tag-will-venable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115856997432710902","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}