White Sox Prospect Season Recap: No. 20, Seth Keener

The 2024 season for the Chicago White Sox was one of the worst in modern day baseball history. They were 41-121 and the worst team in the league by far. The bright spots were few and far between, as the team was very hard to watch for many White Sox fans. 

However, down on the farm, the White Sox have some very intriguing players that can give fans a glimmer of hope for the future. We will be recapping the seasons of some of the best prospects in the White Sox system, starting from #30 and going in order to #1 as MLB Pipeline has them ranked. As you’ll see, there are some very intriguing prospects that can help bring the White Sox back to relevance.

Ranked at 20 on the White Sox top 30 prospect list is starting pitcher Seth Keener. The White Sox used their third-round selection on Keener in the 2023 draft and he has been impressive since joining the White Sox organization. 

In 2024, Keener started the season off with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, where he would start 14 games for them. Keener was outstanding, as he had a 3.36 ERA over 64.1 innings. In those innings, Keener struck out an impressive 75 batters, while walking 32. Hitters didn’t have much luck against him, as they hit just .202. His WHIP was 1.21, which is slightly elevated due to the number of walks. The White Sox took notice of this impressive performance and promoted him to Winston Salem to end the year. 

In five innings with the Dash, things didn’t go too well, but this was an extremely limited sample size. He finished with a 12.40 ERA, but he did strikeout seven batters in those five innings. He walked four, but he did get hit around in his first few innings after the promotion. Sometimes it takes pitchers some time to get used to the new level, as Keener only had the chance to pitch five innings. The stats in Kannapolis are much more indicative of who he is as a pitcher.  

Keener has electric stuff, as shown by the number of strikeouts he had. He was over a strikeout an inning, which is very good. If Keener can cut down on the walks, he will truly be an elite prospect, as he has a fantastic arsenal that features a fastball that can get up into the mid-high 90s.  

Since Keener was selected out of Wake Forest as a college arm, he has a chance to move through the system very quickly, especially if he starts the season off on a high note. It is likely that he gets to AA before the end of the 2025 season, which could set him up for a potential MLB debut in 2026.