The Chicago White Sox have their rotation order set for the beginning of the season.
Following Shane Smith’s start on opening day, the team will go with — in order — Sean Burke, Anthony Kay, Davis Martin and Erick Fedde, manager Will Venable said Tuesday.
The Sox open their season on the road at Milwaukee on March 26. Following a three-game series in Miami against the Marlins, the team’s home opener at Rate Field will be on April 2 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Smith was named the opening-day starter on March 8. Burke had those duties last season.
“He’s attacking the zone,” Venable said of Burke. “Really good fastball, mixing it up. He continues to be creative in ways to get guys out and he’s done a really nice job.”
The Sox signed Kay to a two-year deal in the offseason. He returns to the big leagues after two seasons in Japan.
“Ready to go,” Kay said of getting the assignment for the finale of the Milwaukee Brewers series. “Tough challenge to start the year with the Brewers, they won a lot of games last year and I think it will be a good challenge to go right after these guys and kind of see what we’ve got.”
Martin was second on the team to Smith in starts and innings last season. Fedde signed a one-year deal on Feb. 10, returning to a club where he spent a portion of the 2024 season.
“There’s a lot of potential, for sure,” Kay said of the rotation. “These guys work really hard and I think we’re going to continue to keep working hard. You guys are going to see the progress that we’ve made.”
The sixth pitching option, Jonathan Cannon, was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday. Cannon has a 4.09 ERA in four Cactus League outings (one start) this spring. He has allowed five runs on 11 hits with 10 strikeouts and five walks in 11 innings.
He went 4-10 with a 5.82 ERA in 22 appearances (17 starts) for the Sox in 2025. He had 86 strikeouts and 38 walks in 103 2/3 innings.
“(Cannon) had a really good camp,” Venable said. “Some of the things we asked him to do with count leverage, getting ahead of guys — the race to 2Ks (two strikes) — did a really good job of controlling the running game, burying holds and did a really nice job of doing that.
“It just happens that we had five guys ahead of him. He’s kind of our number six guy and for us to maintain that depth it was important for him to be optioned and continue to be stretched out.”
