White Sox add Pham, McDougal as rosters expand

HOUSTON — Tanner McDougal recalled a recent conversation he had with fellow pitcher Davis Martin, who was on an injury rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte.

“He kind of gave me some good insight on when he struggled, when it feels like it’s speeding up on him, what he does about it,” McDougal said on Tuesday. “That helps me a lot.”

McDougal is hoping to make the most of that type of information going forward. The White Sox recalled the prospect from Charlotte as MLB rosters expanded on Tuesday. The Sox also selected the contract of outfielder Tommy Pham from Charlotte. The Sox announced a third move Tuesday, designating pitcher Tyler Gilbert for assignment.

The Sox acquired Pham from the Philadelphia Phillies for cash considerations on Monday. The 13-year major-league veteran played for the Sox during a portion of the 2024 season.

“(Phillies general manager) Preston (Mattingly), he did a really good job of giving me a heads-up, we communicated really well this past week,” Pham said before Tuesday’s game against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. “He told me there were a few teams trying to trade for me and he mentioned the White Sox were one of them.”

Pham’s road back to the Sox included several minor-league stops this year. He saw time with Single-A St. Lucie (New York Mets), the Florida Complex League Orioles, Triple-A Norfolk (Baltimore), the Florida Complex League Phillies and Triple-A Lehigh Valley (Philadelphia). Pham also played nine games with the Mets from April 13-27.

“This is my third team (in my career) that’s brought me back,” Pham said, referring also to the St. Louis Cardinals and Mets. “That says something to me. (And) baseball’s different when you’re in the hunt in September. And we’re in a city where they really love this team, they love the South Side team here in Chicago. It’s a young team, a lot of energy, Chicago. It’s good to be back.”

This is McDougal’s second stint with the major-league team this season. The right-hander — rated the No. 7 prospect in the organization by MLB.com — allowed one run, walked three and hit a batter in one-third of an inning during his major-league debut on Aug. 13 against the Cincinnati Reds at Rate Field.

“As a kid and growing up, you build it up to be this big, grand thing,” McDougal said. “And then stuff like that happens and it’s like, ‘Wow, I failed myself.’ But it’s not that way, you know what I mean. In the grand scheme of things. When you pull yourself out of that and you understand this is your lifelong dream that you just achieved and nobody can take away the fact that you’re a big-leaguer, I think it helps settle a little bit.

“Obviously you never want to go out and have a bad one. Obviously it sucked, but I felt like I got over it relatively quick compared to other ways I could have handled the situation.”

There could be more moves in the upcoming days. Wednesday’s starting pitcher has yet to be announced by the Sox. All signs point to Martin, who has been on the injured list since Aug. 14 with a blister on his right middle finger.

And while there is no timeline in terms of a return to the majors, Sox manager Will Venable said on Monday that catcher Kyle Teel continues to make progress during his injury rehab assignment.

“I think the plan for him moving forward is just to continue to add volume and make sure he’s recovering well,” Venable said. “We’ll kind of make sure that he’s in a good spot, get him built up and get him with us when the time is right.”

The catcher is working his way back from a left ankle sprain suffered on July 20.

Venable said there wasn’t a particular target Teel had to reach to indicate exactly when a return might happen.

“You look at his year and this guy has not had any kind of build-up,” Venable said, referring to various injuries that have limited Teel to 19 games. “Whether it’s defensively or at-bats, he has not had the right build-up and so when we add him, we want to make sure we are not rushing it, we are not putting him in a spot where he’s trying to catch up at the big-league level.”