White Sox moving relief ace Grant Taylor to the rotation, Hagen Smith will remain in the bullpen

LAS VEGAS – It’s unclear if he crossed the threshold specifically while he was throwing four innings in Game 1 of the American League Division Series, but Grant Taylor has shown the work capacity for the White Sox to believe he’s ready for a step up from the bullpen.

The Sox are moving their relief ace to the starting rotation for 2027 the season, which general manager Chris Getz first announced in an MLB Network interview on Monday night. Left-hander Hagen Smith will remain in the bullpen, where he impressed (1.29 ERA, 41 K in 28 IP) after being called up in August.

The 24-year-old Taylor was dominant in his first full year in the majors, striking out 106 batters in 84 innings of relief during the regular season and posting a 2.25 ERA. He logged another 8 ⅔ innings of work during a White Sox postseason run where the team relied on Taylor as their top option. The right-hander told the Sun-Times that workload put him squarely in the middle of the 85 to 100-inning range he and the team set as a preseason goal to build up toward starting.

With a high-90s fastball that features unique riding action and a suite of breaking balls, Taylor has the sort of impact stuff the Sox rotation lacked outside the best stretches of Sean Burke. But with Taylor’s past injury history and light track record for logging heavy innings, the team is still pursuing starting pitching as a top priority.

They now need someone to step up and replace their most trusted reliever of the 2026 season as well.