CHICAGO — At 32 years old, and with parts of nine seasons and 223 games of Major League experience, left-hander Sean Newcomb immediately becomes the old man, or at least the true veteran, of the 2026 White Sox staff.
To take that idea one step further, Newcomb will have the Spring Training chance to feature that same unofficial position as part of the White Sox rotation.
“He’s going to come in and compete for a starting job, a job in the rotation I should say, which we are really excited about,” said manager Will Venable during a Wednesday Zoom. “We know he had some success in both the starting role and the reliever role, so he is capable of doing both, but he’s going to be in that mix for a starting-rotation job, and we are excited to help support him.”
“I’ve always been a starter, starter mentality,” said Newcomb on the Zoom call. “Over the past few years up in the big leagues, I’ve done a lot out of the ‘pen, but even those outings I’ve had a lot of three-, four-plus innings outings. So, it’s kind of the same mentality for me, just be ready to attack a lineup once or twice, three times through if it gets to that point with five or six innings.”
Newcomb joined the White Sox via a one-year, $4.5 million deal as a free agent after posting a 2.73 ERA with two saves, four holds and 91 strikeouts over 48 combined appearances (five starts) and 92 1/3 innings with the Red Sox and Athletics in 2025. His success came primarily out of the bullpen, ranking fifth in the Majors among left-handed relievers with a 2.19 ERA and tied for seventh with 70 innings pitched.
After joining the Athletics on May 27, the southpaw finished 2-1 with a 1.75 ERA, a .214 opponents average and 50 strikeouts in 36 relief outings covering 51 1/3 innings. His 1.75 ERA since May 29 was the seventh-best mark among MLB relievers with at least 45 innings pitched. The first-round pick of the Angels in the 2014 Draft has a career 4.41 ERA in 65 starts and a 3.84 ERA over 158 games out of the bullpen.
Working as a starter allows Newcomb to better employ his six-pitch mix — including a sinker employed with success in 2025, and what he described as a slurve. But it’s more basic than starter or reliever for Newcomb, as he discussed with Venable on Tuesday, and his role goes beyond on-field responsibilities.
“Just looking for some good quality innings to be eaten up,” Newcomb said. “I’ll kind of be one of the older guys on the staff, kind of coming in and being one of those kinds of presences for the younger guys.”
“His flexibility is great,” Venable said. “Having been successful in different ways, he can help our players, which is something that we’ll look to him to take a little bit of that role.”
The native of Boston joins the Northeast White Sox nucleus — featuring Shane Smith, Mike Vasil and Sean Burke, who all hail from the same geographic area. Newcomb works out with Vasil and Smith during the offseason, while Burke and Smith will be battling with Newcomb to fill out the rotation’s front five.
Newcomb had White Sox questions for Vasil and Smith during this free-agent process. They had nothing but good things to say, according to Newcomb, who becomes the latest bona fide elder statesman of this developing young core.
“They kind of seem like they’re on the up, on the climb right now, just as far as all the young guys and some of the changes they made all the way around,” Newcomb said. “It kind of was the perfect storm. It’s pretty similar to what I had done with [the A’s]. It was a spotty couple of years, then I had a good year last year with them.
“But it was pretty similar as far as just kind of, I guess, the rebuild or just the next wave of the prospects and everyone kind of coming into their own. So it’s definitely something I like to be a part of. Obviously the goal is to go out there and win, but these dudes are all, it seems like, in their mid-20s just getting going. So it’s an important time for them and the organization. It’s definitely going to be fun to be a part of it.”
