The White Sox offense has exploded for 19 runs against the Indians after being shutout by the Royals. Something this team has struggled with all season.
The Chicago White Sox have struggled on offense all season. So imagine what has to be going through their heads after tagging Cleveland pitching for 19 runs through the first two games of their series. They scored seven runs in one inning on Tuesday. That’s not something we’re accustomed to seeing.
This has really been an achilles heel for this team all season long. This team would have won so many more games had they had a consistent offense. Most likely they would at least be over .500. That’s not getting them to the playoffs, but at least they wouldn’t be on pace for yet another losing season.
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Now, if we were to name an offensive MVP for the Sox, Adam Eaton would get the nod. Eaton is the guy that makes this offense go. It seems like when he’s getting on base, good things are always happening for this team. Not only is he third on the team in home runs and fourth in RBIs, but he leads the team in OBP [.368] and stolen bases with 12. To top is all off, he is second of the team with a .285 batting average.
The re-emergence of Jose Abreu has also been a key to their success. Abreu drove in two runs on Tuesday and now has 94 RBIs this season to go along with 23 home runs. In September, he is hitting .400 with four home runs and 18 RBIs. To put this in perspective, in the month of July he hit .269 with eight RBIs. He has already matched his total RBIs for last month as well. The first baseman got off to a really slow start and finally has heated up towards the end of the season. Going forward he will be key in the Sox offense and they can’t afford him to have another slow start next year.
Avisail Garcia is another guy that has played well and hasn’t been getting the credit he deserves. Garcia has hit .294 over the past 30 games. In August he hit four home runs and drove in 10 RBIs while missing 13 games. It may not seem like much but he is getting on base and driving in runs when there’s runners aboard. At 25, he’s still young and he’s drawn comparisons to Miguel Cabrera. By no means does he play like Cabrera but he could still develop. The difficult thing for the coaching staff is he is a below average defender but he seems to hit better when he plays the field. He is most likely a DH but they need to keep him or engaged in games or his offense suffers.
There are some obvious holes in this offense which plays into why they haven’t been consistent all season. If not addressed, we can see this team struggle offensively next year. Tim Anderson seems to have plugged a hole. He’s a guy with a ton of speed who gets on base. The biggest void left is a power hitting left handed bat. Justin Morneau has played well in limited action but he’s coming off an injury. It seems like a bit of a risk putting faith in a guy with injury problems to be your only left-handed threat.
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The front office needs to invest in bringing someone in who can fill that void. It’s a little too early to tell who will be available this offseason but a left-handed bat is a must. Melky Cabrera is a decent option but he by no means will strike fear in a pitcher. A more consistent offense will go a long way to winning more games and getting this team back in the playoffs.