PHOENIX -- Midway through Erick Fedde's first bullpen session back in a White Sox uniform, senior advisor to pitching Brian Bannister stopped him with an observation. A difference in the timing of his hand break had Fedde already spinning away from home plate by the time he released the baseball
"He showed me a video right away and was like, 'Hey do you remember doing this?'" Fedde said. "It felt like I got really cross-body, stepping kind of toward the third base side and trying to think that was going to chase my sinker/sweeper. Talking with Banny today and he was like that’s who you are, when you stay more linear."
There's an implied mandate for the White Sox coaching staff to figure out how to get Fedde back to who he was, as he's returned on a one-year, $1.5 million deal after a 2025 season that saw him post a 5.49 ERA in 141 innings -- sub-replacement level work by both major WAR metrics -- and get designated for assignment by two separate teams. But it's also not being treated as a trial run, or just another candidate for a rotation spot.
"There's gonna be things that will come to life as we get through this spring training and figure things out, but he is certainly in the mix and someone we anticipate being in the rotation," said manager Will Venable.
Fedde's arm angle dropped a bit last year alongside all of his stuff playing even more sidewinding than his east-west orientation already has built in. That his results dove so precipitously from the 3.11 ERA in 121 innings with the White Sox that had him in line for All-Star consideration in 2024 speaks to the thin margins within which so many of the pitchers this team targets -- especially given the price tier they shop at -- are operating.
"For seam-shift guys, if the ball isn’t spinning perfect, it makes it really tough," Fedde said. "Just getting me back to where the ball is coming out of my hand clean and get the seams moving left and right."
A rotation spot staked out for Fedde, at least in this magical world of Feb. 11 when the White Sox are not reporting any injuries as of yet, puts a real crunch on a final spot beyond him, Shane Smith, Davis Martin and Anthony Kay.
"It will push all of us to be better," said Sean Burke, who reads as a healthy favorite at this juncture. "I don’t really think it changes the mentality, just approaching it kind of the same I approached it last year. I never feel like everything is given to you in this game. Every single year, you go out and earn it. It’s kind of a 'what have you done for me lately?' business. Everybody here knows you have to go out and earn your spot."
Jonathan Cannon, who like Burke saw his midseason struggles result in a demotion to Triple-A but with less of an in-season rebound, could potentially be an odd man out, to say nothing of Mike Vasil, Sean Newcomb and a host of other pitchers being prepared for multi-inning work. But Cannon developed a close bond with Fedde during the 2024 season and if anything is cheered to work with a friend on a similar project: revamping their respective seam-effects reliant sinker/sweeper attacks.
"It's kind of been beneficial for both of us because I think we had similar struggles last year," Cannon said.
"We can be each other’s test dummies and pass from one to the other on what’s working and what’s not," Fedde said.
Cannon has switched back to a two-seam grip on his sinker, which is not as metrically impressive as the one-seam grip he used last year, but a 5.82 ERA in 103⅔ major league innings in 2025 is more than enough of a sample size for the right-hander to conclude that hitters were providing more relevant feedback. Moreover, he's been working on throwing his sweeper at a higher velocity, which is another response to the game giving feedback that differs from metrics.
Statistical models to evaluate a pitcher's stuff, both public and internal versions, have given exceptionally high grades to sweepers over the past few years. But the pitch's explosion in popularity has led to hitters seeing more of them, and performing better against them as a result, leading to recent recalibrations in models to downgrade the hype around the pitch. For an individual pitcher like Cannon, he now knows his sweeper needs something more distinctive to perform how he needs it to.
"It's something I was talking to [pitching coach Zach] Bove a lot about was adding some velo to the sweeper, and Fedde was saying he thinks his wasn't playing as well because he wasn't throwing it as hard last year," Cannon said. "It's the whole cycle of baseball: Someone comes up with a new pitch or a new idea, everyone adopts it, hitters see it, hitters adjust and then you have to adjust back."
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The last round of bullpens on Tuesday saw Prelander Berroa, Ky Bush and Mason Adams all toeing the slab next to each other as they work back from Tommy John surgery. For Adams, it was his first time off a mound since getting hurt at the end of last spring. For Berroa, it was his third, and for the Dominican right-hander, working alongside the big left-hander from Utah felt natural.
"With Ky Bush, we're always comparing notes or feelings, after every time we throw it's 'How did you feel today? Did you feel this? Did you feel that?' We're always comparing and supporting each other. He's been one of the biggest supporters I've had throughout this process," Berroa said via interpreter.
"It's been a big help having teammates who are dealing with the same stuff. Sometimes you feel sore or tired and you wonder if there's something wrong here. But when you ask around, it's normal because other guys are having the same soreness or symptoms or whatever. You try to connect with each other, try to support each other."
It's hard to remember positive moments from the final days of the 2024 White Sox, but Berroa was one of them. His 26 strikeouts in 19 big-league relief innings with a 3.32 ERA down the stretch had him in line for a high-leverage role before his elbow gave way in the first Cactus League game last spring. He's still a ways away, but thinks he can return to that level, and with a new wrinkle.
"One of the things that is going to make me better that I've been working on is I'm going to have a third pitch now," Berroa said via interpreter. "It's going to be my changeup. I've been working a lot on my changeup. I'm feeling good with that and I think that's going to be an important pitch for me now when I come back."
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Venable described Hagen Smith as a week or two behind the rest of the pitchers in camp, but specified that it was simply due to him pitching in the Arizona Fall League and having a shorter offseason. Smith also threw a bullpen on Wednesday, so it's not like being "behind" equates to "inactive."
"He's in a good spot, and if it was up to him, he'd be full-bore," Venable said. "His ramp-up will be thoughtful, and we'll make sure that he's in a good spot to get going in his Triple-A season to be pitching every fifth day, and eventually with us in Chicago."
Drew Thorpe has yet to throw since camp began, and the White Sox are expected to provide an update on his TJ recovery progress soon.
