White Sox: More than one good thing in the first month of baseball
As a fan of baseball, I love reading about all of the teams in the MLB, including the Chicago White Sox.
And, it’s fun to get White Sox news from a wide range of sources to see how the team is viewed outside of Chicagoland.
One is MLB.com. And, when MLB.com shared a post titled “1 piece of good news for every team”, I had to take a look at what Joe Posnanski had to say about the White Sox and the rest of the league.
Posnanski’s one good thing about the White Sox in the first month of baseball was Reynaldo Lopez. Yes, Lopez has been good, but there are several other good things on the team.
Other strong pitching performances
Lopez has been the strongest starting pitcher on the team. But, the bullpen, as a whole, has been a good thing, too. Five of the strongest arms in the pen have ERAs 4.50 or under. Most importantly, the closing pitchers Joakim Soria and Nate Jones have ERAs of 1.64 and 2.70 respectively. These are outstanding. Also in the pen, Hector Santiago, Chris Volstad, and Luis Avilan have been reliable.
Notable numbers at the plate
The team has also had plenty of batters with positives to share in the first month of the season. Matt Davidson is worth discussing with his nine home runs and OPS of .987. The guy can hit. Yoan Moncada has also been good in April with his OPS of .922. Remember, an OPS of one means that players average landing on one base for every at-bat. Anything close to 1.000 is outstanding. For comparison, the best OPS in the league belongs to Didi Gregorius at 1.286 and his 10 home runs. Davidson has the 17th best in the MLB.
Discombobulating on the basepaths
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It is also worth looking at stolen bases on the Southside. Tim Anderson should be noticed for his eight stolen bases in the month of April. He has been caught stealing once. The most stolen bases in the MLB belongs to Ender Inciarte and Trea Turner who each have 10. Starling Marte also has eight stolen bases, so he and Anderson are tied for the third most in the MLB. Baseball players do not steal bases at the same clip that they once did, so getting this many in one month is a good thing happening with the Sox.
High numbers of extra-base hits
Another noteworthy stat is extra-base hits. Yoan Moncada leads the team with 14 of them. Next in line is Davidson with 12. The player with the most is Didi Gregorius, who is simply dominating in nearly every offensive statistic. But, Moncada is a young player who is only in his second season. He is comfortably fitting in and his seven doubles, one triple, and six home runs prove he is an asset to the Pale Hose.
Next: What if Babe Ruth wore White Sox?
Yes, Lopez has been a solid performer on the bump, but he is not the only good thing that is happening with the White Sox as April comes to a close.