White Sox's Mike Vasil throws first pitch since Tommy John surgery

Mike Vasil's 2026 season ended before it started. The right-hander tore his UCL during a Cactus League outing in spring training and went under the knife for Tommy John surgery in March, wiping out the entire year after he'd just turned in one of the better rookie seasons on the White Sox staff. On September 18, he finally threw a baseball again, and it turned into a team event.

Vasil described the morning nerves before his first throwing session at 45 feet, and it's the kind of thing only a pitcher coming off elbow reconstruction would even think to worry about. Dr. Keith Meister, the Texas Rangers' team physician, performed the surgery back in March after Vasil left a spring start with soreness that turned out to be a torn ligament.

The White Sox didn't just let him quietly play catch on a back field. Per Scott Merkin, the PA system introduced him as the "Windy City Wizard," and Vasil played along, acknowledging the crowd of teammates who'd turned out for what amounted to 20 pitches in an otherwise empty ballpark.

Vasil said the support meant more than the actual pitches did. "To have the support of my teammates too, it really made me emotional," he said, adding that he wanted to pitch in 2026 and it didn't happen — but seeing the whole roster out there watching him throw again clearly landed.

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Mike Vasil played catch for the first time since undergoing Tommy John and the whole team was loving it

It's easy to forget how good Vasil actually was before the injury. He'd bounced from the Mets organization to a Rule 5 pickup by the Rays to a waiver claim by Chicago, then went 5-3 with a 2.50 ERA across 47 appearances and 101 innings as a rookie — becoming the first rookie pitcher since 2016 to hit those innings and appearance marks with an ERA that low. A torn UCL is a brutal way to follow that up, but 20 pitches from 45 feet with the whole team watching is at least the first real step of a 12-to-18-month walk back.