The opening day starter has long been an honor held by the best pitchers on each team. While some teams do not have tough choices due to poor pitching depth or elite starters on their roster, it can be difficult for teams with great pitching depth or mediocre teams. The worst team in baseball last season had a conundrum when it came to this.
Early Sunday morning, the Chicago White Sox named young pitcher Sean Burke to be their opening day starter, a relative unknown to the baseball world and to White Sox fans alike. With more deserving pitchers on the roster, this was the wrong decision by manager Will Venable, and it sends an awkward message.
In 2024, the White Sox were the worst team in baseball, and one of the worst teams of all time. So why should we care that a relatively unknown pitcher got the nod to be opening day starter for the team? After all he isn’t the first pitcher with practically no major league experience to get the honor and he certainly won’t be the last.
Burke has just 19 major league innings to his name, making him the least experienced opening day pitcher in White Sox history. In this small sample size, Burke has compiled a 1.42 ERA. So why does it matter if he starts the first game?
Well for one thing, there were more experienced and deserving pitchers on the team.
While he hasn’t had a great spring so far with an 11.25 ERA, Jonathan Cannon had the most innings of any returning starter on the team with 124.1 innings in 2024. While it wasn’t exactly a steady progression for Cannon, he showed flashes of greatness towards the end of the season.
Martin Perez, an offseason acquisition by the White Sox, is the veteran presence in the locker room while also being a more logical option for opening day starter than Burke. Perez brings the most experience to the rotation with 269 career starts in 13 seasons and would’ve been an option if the White Sox had valued experience into this decision.
Davis Martin, another young pitcher on the team, had at one point the inside track on obtaining the high honor. Martin brings 113.1 career innings to the fold and shined during July and August of last season.
Drew Thorpe for note probably would’ve been the favorite for the honor if he wasn’t expected to miss opening day with an elbow issue.
With this decision comes an awkward message to both the team and White Sox fans that have stuck with this team through some horrible seasons of late.
With the aforementioned pitchers more deserving than Burke, it begs the question of how this will affect team chemistry as not being an opening day starter can be a downer for guys who were expecting the honor. With it being Will Venable’s first season managing the team, it might’ve been best not to poke the bear and go for a more experienced choice.
It also sends a message to White Sox fans that the team could lose 100 games yet again. However, with the ETA’s of highly-regarded pitching prospects Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith and Grant Taylor coming up, it is almost guaranteed that the complexion of the team will be very different by 2026 or 2027.
On the other hand, former White Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet became one of the rare pitchers to have never even started a game before starting on opening day in 2024. Crochet ended up having a breakout season resulting in an all-star game appearance, much to the surprise of many, and was traded for a haul to the Boston Red Sox.
Along with Crochet, Fernando Valenzuela started opening day in his rookie season and had one of the greatest rookie seasons from a pitcher ever, while captivating the baseball world.
Does the organization know something that we don’t? Is Burke primed for a breakout year like Crochet?
Maybe I’m just a traditionalist, but experience and high-ceiling potential matter when deciding on an opening day starter and I’m not sure that Burke has either.
