The White Sox released right-hander Corey Knebel earlier this week, as reported by Sox Machine’s James Fegan and other members of the team’s beat. MLB.com’s profile page for Knebel lists the transaction as an “elected free agency,” which implies that Knebel exercised an opt-out clause in the minor league contract he signed last winter.
Knebel suffered a capsule tear in his right shoulder almost two years ago. After missing the 2023 season entirely, he returned to action in June as part of a rehab assignment with Chicago’s rookie league affiliate. After being officially activated from the IL in July, Knebel moved up the ranks to high-A and then to Triple-A. Knebel has a 5.91 ERA over 10 2/3 innings this season, though five of his seven earned runs were surrendered in one rough outing at high-A ball.
At Triple-A, Knebel had a perfect 0.00 ERA across 5 1/3 innings, with a 44.4% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate. Despite that impressive work in the small sample size, it doesn’t seem that the White Sox intended to bring Knebel up to the majors. While it can certainly be argued that the 27-85 White Sox (losers of 18 straight games) need all the help they can get, it would appear that the team is prioritizing innings for younger pitchers the rest of the way, and thus Knebel likely chose to go elsewhere.
The 32-year-old Knebel last pitched in the majors in 2022, when he had a 3.43 ERA in 44 2/3 innings out of the Phillies’ bullpen. The shoulder capsule tear is the latest in a series of long-term injuries — he missed all of 2019 due to Tommy John surgery, and a lat strain limited him to 25 2/3 innings as a member of the Dodgers in 2021.
Knebel has a 3.26 ERA in 306 2/3 innings over parts of eight seasons in the bigs, highlighted by his 2017 All-Star season as the Brewers’ closer. This track record means that he’ll likely catch on with another team on a minor league deal, and more good numbers in the minors will give him a shot of making his MLB debut before the 2024 season is out.