The White Sox agreed to a minor league deal with free agent outfielder Calvin Mitchell, as first reported by Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The Sports Management Partners client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee next spring.
Mitchell, 25, has spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues, logging 237 plate appearances with the Pirates from 2022-23. He hit .222/.284/.343 with five homers, 11 doubles, three stolen bases, an 8% walk rate and a 22.4% strikeout rate in that time. The former No. 50 overall draft pick (Pirates, 2017) spent the 2024 season with the Padres (his hometown organization) but didn’t get a call to the majors in spite of solid production with Triple-A El Paso: .277/.359/.512 (114 wRC+).
That was Mitchell’s fourth season with at least some time logged in Triple-A. He’s shown little difficulty hitting at that level, logging a career .287/.358/.487 batting line in 1067 plate appearances there. The lefty-swinging outfielder has typically had modest platoon splits but posted far more drastic numbers in that regard this past season, hitting .309/.397/.595 against righties but just .183/.239/.269 in 114 plate appearances against lefties.
Mitchell has played primarily right field but has more than 1000 innings in left field in addition to a tiny sample of 71 innings in center. He’ll give the Sox some left-handed depth behind a big league outfield mix currently including Andrew Benintendi, Luis Robert Jr., Dominic Fletcher, Austin Slater, Oscar Colas and Corey Julks.
