The White Sox farm system is one of the better systems in the major leagues, as they have five to six consensus top prospects. However, this doesn’t include players like Jacob Gonzalez or Colby Shelton, who are off to insane starts to the 2026 season. But, what differentiates this from the last rebuild is the fact that the farm system is much deeper, as they have some intriguing players outside of their top prospects.
This comes after many of the main guys on the roster have graduated off top prospect lists. Guys like Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery are no longer considered prospects, but are already making a contribution at the major league level. Despite this, the White Sox still have multiple top prospects, making this vastly different from the early 2020s, as once as the top prospects made their debut, the farm system was depleted.
As we sit about a month into the season, we continue our top prospect list, getting to know some of the depth in the organization. We started with our 20th ranked prospect, making our way to the best prospect in the system. We unveiled our 6th ranked prospect, Billy Carlson, in our last article. Here, we cover our 5th ranked prospect, Tanner McDougal.
McDougal was the White Sox 5th round pick in the 2021 draft, as a right-handed pitcher out of Silverado High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. After being drafted, McDougal made his way to the Arizona Complex league to start his minor league career.
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In 9.2 innings at the Arizona Complex league, McDougal had a 9.31 ERA over 9.2 innings. However, he did flash his strikeout ability, as he had 17 strikeouts in those 9.2 innings. Unfortunately, McDougal missed the entire 2022 season due to an injury.
McDougal came back in 2023 and had a great comeback with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. In 69 innings, he had a 4.15 ERA, striking out 80 batters while hitters only hit .218 off him. This was a great way to bounce back from an injury.
2024 didn’t go McDougal’s way, as after 26 innings with the Cannon Ballers, he was promoted to the Winston-Salem Dash. There, he threw 65 innings of 6.85 ERA baseball, striking out 80, but walking 44 batters. This wasn’t an ideal season, as McDougal struggled with command issues.
However, 2025 is where McDougal really broke out, as he turned things around with the Dash to start the year. McDougal had a 3.28 ERA over 57 innings, striking out an absurd 73 batters. This led to a promotion to Birmingham.
With the Barons, he threw 55 innings of 3.23 ERA baseball, striking out 62 batters. This is when he started to gain national recognition and find his way on to many top-100 prospect lists, as he has consistently shown he can strike batters out.
Now, in 2026 with the Knights, McDougal has a very good 3.13 ERA over 23 innings, striking out 26 batters. However, his 1.09 WHIP and his .159 batting average against are the most impressive statistics, as they are both career bests.
Tanner McDougal with a dominant outing on Saturday for the #Knights. He goes 6 innings, and allows 2R on 3H. He walks 1 and strikes out 8 on 51k/78p. He allowed a HR on a bottom in-zone FB, other than that pretty much perfect. He gets a ND in the 6-4 Charlotte loss. Full Recap: pic.twitter.com/rW6tFZ3QOi
— FutureSox (@FutureSox) April 12, 2026
It is good to see McDougal continuing to get better year after year, as he is now just one step closer to the major leagues. Once he gets healthy, I would imagine it isn’t long after that he finds his way to the major leagues. He will soon join a big-league rotation with Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, making up one of the most young and exciting rotations in the league.
McDougal has some heat on his fastball, as he can consistently hit 100 MPH. He projects as a frontline starter, especially if he can continue to keep his walks under control. The White Sox look good in terms of pitching prospects, as they just need to find a way to put it all together.
