ESPN believes this Chicago White Sox player will break out in 2026

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN wrote an article predicting which player on each team will break out this year. For the White Sox, he selected right-handed pitcher Grant Taylor and wrote the following about this selection:

“Taylor sits near 100 mph in short stints and has one of the best curveballs on Earth, along with a really good cutter and slider to bridge the gap between them. He’s going to be stretched out more this year and could be a lot of fun to watch.”

Taylor made his MLB debut last season, pitching a majority of his games out of the bullpen. He appeared in 36 games (two starts) and was 2-4 with a 4.91 ERA and six saves in seven opportunities. It appears throughout Spring Training that he will be primarily a bullpen arm, as he has pitched four innings throughout three games.

Chicago looks like he will be part of the late-inning bullpen with Jordan Leasure and Seranthony Dominguez. Taylor has a four-pitch arsenal (fastball, curveball, cutter, slider) and his fastball certainly plays at this level. His heater averaged 98.7 MPH last season and had 33 of his 54 strikeouts on that pitch. Just as McDaniel mentioned, the curveball has shown the ability to be a plus pitch as it breaks into right-handed hitters and away from lefties.

With the White Sox looking to have some young players play significant roles on the 26-man roster throughout the season, Taylor can be a massive factor. If he can develop into a strong reliever with multiple plus pitches, he could become one of the top relief pitchers in all of Major League Baseball. It will be intriguing to see how he does throughout the 2026 season.