The White Sox and left-hander Anthony Kay are in agreement on a two-year, $12MM contract, reports Robert Murray of Fansided. The former first-round pick and top prospect, who’s represented by CAA, has spent the past two seasons pitching well for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
It’s a familiar page in general manager Chris Getz’s playbook: sign a former first-rounder to a two-year deal on the heels of a strong run pitching in one of the top leagues in Asia. That worked out well when Chicago signed Erick Fedde for two years and $15MM; Fedde was traded to the Cardinals in a three-team swap that summer, netting the White Sox Miguel Vargas and a pair of prospects. Vargas was a league-average bat for the South Siders in 2025 and is controlled another four seasons.
They Sox will hope for similar results in their similarly priced investment into Kay. The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation.
More to come.
