After he allowed a game-tying three-run blast to Michael Conforto for his third blown save of the season on May 17 -- which in 2026 White Sox fashion, was canceled out by Edgar Quero's stunning walk-off home run -- I asked Will Venable if Seranthony Domínguez's struggles had him pondering a reworking of the bullpen hierarchy.
"He’s our closer and sometimes that spot for the closer comes earlier in the game, and we’ll continue to use him the best spots late," Venable replied. "But he’s still our closer, for sure."
Since then, Venable's profession of faith in Domínguez has been rewarded. The 31-year-old right-hander been unscored upon in his last seven appearances, allowing just four baserunners in 6⅓ innings over that span, and he even touched 99 mph multiple times in his most recent outing.
Instead of bearing any ill effects from pitching for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, Domínguez's raw stuff seems unaffected, and he conveyed that he'd readily accept an offer to play in it again. It just appears that the first sentence of Venable's answer deserved as much, if not more attention than the second.
Four different Sox relievers have recorded saves since the Crosstown series, including a pair of Grant Taylor ninth innings that have offered unparalleled efficiency. Meannwhile, only two of those seven Domínguez appearances have even come in the ninth, and him pitching a scoreless eighth Wednesday night, before handing it off to towering southpaw Bryan Hudson to lock down his third save of the year against a lefty-heavy top of the Braves order, no longer scans as irregular.
"We're all kind of down there, just ready to pitch on any given night," said Hudson, who is having a resurgent season. "Matt [Wise] our bullpen coach does a great job of keeping us all locked in out there for certain pockets of hitters. Lefties versus lefties, righties versus righties, guys who have mixed splits, etc. He still keeps us locked in and does a great job of giving us an idea of what our pockets will be."
"[Wednesday] was a great example, where we have all the [Braves] lefties at the top of the order and all the righties at the bottom," said Venable, breaking down a decision tree that has become common for the Sox. "As you are mapping it out, you have [Sean] Newcomb and Huddy at the top and Seranthony at the bottom. If it happened in the eighth inning, we were at the top, it was going to be Huddy and Ser in the ninth. What is great about Ser and the rest of the guys is, Ser wants to close games, and he’ll continue to close. He understands for us to find our path to winning it might be best for him -- and other relievers, and for our club -- is to pitch in the eighth inning."
Strong makeup and relentless positivity were lauded qualities for Domínguez from across the league upon his arrival in free agency. Venable -- as well as staff ace Davis Martin -- have also made a point of praising him for his selflessness about his role. It reads as a necessary acknowledgment, because while Domínguez has spent most of his career as a setup man whose platoon splits would dictate his usage, he signed with the White Sox on the premise of becoming their closer and his role has been affirmed as such repeatedly in public.
But by Venable's own admission, his use of his closer "is more fluid," and diverts from the traditional expectations for that role in a manner that requires him to "be transparent and proactive" about communicating the differences.
"That surprised me a lot," Domínguez said of his usage. "Because when I signed here, I was supposed to be the closer full-time, and now it's just happened."
He also echoed Hudson in saying that the coaching staff regularly communicates to him about what pockets of the game and help set his expectations for where he's likely to appear. But especially in a world where Taylor's .487 OPS allowed to left-handers drives more platoon-neutral assignments, getting shifted to the eighth to face a pocket of righties at the bottom of the order is a departure that gets noticed.
"I have to do whatever they say at the end of the day, so if they need me to be early, there's nothing to do but just go out there and compete," Domínguez said. "I just try to be ready for things. I'm happy because we're playing well, everybody is doing a great job and we've got a really good team."
Winning is a proven effective lubricant for any friction about usage. Not only are the Sox in first place, but one clear source for their turnaround is a 14-6 mark in one-run games so far, after an unthinkable 47-95 record in such contests over the previous three seasons. Improving in this aspect was a large part of the motivation to sign Domínguez to a two-year, $20 million deal, and even amid in the unexpected conditions, his sharp recent work has his season ERA back in a normal place (3.60) despite allowing as many home runs (five) in the early going as he did in 62⅔ innings last season.
Taylor and Newcomb would both love to be starters rather than spend the rest of their careers as multi-inning bullpen Swiss Army knives, so it looks as though having a suite of guys who feel overqualified for their roles isn't the worst way to compose a back of a bullpen. Along with help from Hudson and Tyler Davis (one of the seven Sox relievers with a save this season), Sox relievers are fourth in baseball in Win Probability Added over the past two weeks.
Because of the Sox's use of openers, there are some starter outings mixed into those results, which is just a different chapter of the same story. The bats are banging and driving the bus of this surprising first-half success, but the White Sox are also finding ways to get outs with a pitching staff that could use some reinforcements. It's just the manner they're going about it will require them to talk their pitchers through it on a regular basis.
"The great thing about our guys is that they are all open, regardless of what their titles might be, to contributing in any way possible," Venable said. "Everyone wants to just do their part to help win the game, so it is a daily thing though to make sure the guys understand what's expected of them. And sometimes maybe that doesn't line up, in Ser's case, exactly with the traditional closer role. But he's been great being open to pitching in different spots."
