White Sox Sign Outfielder After He Clears Waivers
The White Sox agreed to terms on a minor league contract with outfielder Joey Wiemer, who will report to Triple-A Charlotte.
Wiemer had been placed on release waivers by the Washington Nationals earlier in the week and cleared unclaimed after the standard 48-hour window, meaning no team was willing to add him to their 40-man roster before Chicago picked him up as a free agent instead.
A Scorching Start That Completely Unraveled
Wiemer's 2026 season with Washington was a roller coaster.
He opened the year by reaching base in all eight of his plate appearances and went 10-for-17 with two home runs over his first five games. That hot stretch was so strong that his overall major league line still finished at .286/.398/.514 with a .912 OPS across 32 games, numbers that look excellent on paper.
The Chicago #WhiteSox have agreed to terms with OF Joey Wiemer on a minor league deal. He will be assigned to Triple-A Charlotte, per @scottmerkin pic.twitter.com/V881Enxjqw
— FutureSox (@FutureSox) August 8, 2026
The problem is what happened after the hot start. Over his final 61 plate appearances in the majors, Wiemer hit just .189/.295/.340 with a 41 percent strikeout rate, and the collapse continued once he was optioned to Triple-A Rochester in mid-May, where he slashed just .189/.271/.250 across 166 plate appearances before his release.
Why Chicago Took The Flier
The move fills a hole created by a departure elsewhere on the roster.
The White Sox lost outfield depth Thursday when the St. Louis Cardinals claimed Everson Pereira off waivers, and with Junior Perez and Rikuu Nishida both already optioned to Charlotte, Wiemer gives the organization another right-handed bat with more major league experience than either of them.
White Sox have agreed to terms on minor league deal with OF Joey Wiemer. He will be assigned to Charlotte #whitesox
— Brooke Fletcher (@BrookeFletcher) August 8, 2026
Wiemer, 27, was a fourth-round pick by Milwaukee in 2018 and has always paired premium raw power and speed in a 6-foot-4 frame with real swing-and-miss issues, striking out at a 31 percent clip in the majors and 26 percent in Triple-A, where he's a .221/.326/.351 hitter across more than 1,000 career plate appearances.
This marks his sixth organization since last November alone, following stops with the Reds, Royals, Marlins, Giants, and Nationals.
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