White Sox Grade Book: Looking back at the 2018 outfielders

The White Sox outfield had a mixed bag of nine players throughout the 2018 season and most of them had a struggle at some point during the 162 games.

Of those nine White Sox players who manned a position in the outfield, only Adam Engel played more than 100 games. He was followed by Avisail Garcia, who only started in 85. Nicky Delmonico finished with the third most starts.

There were a few constants with the White Sox outfielders: injuries, low batting stats, and below average fielding percentages.

Not one White Sox outfielder was considered a qualified player in 2018. According to the MLB list of sortable players:

“A batter must have 3.1 plate appearances per team game played (1.86 PA during spring training) to qualify for league leadership in AVG, OBP or SLG.”

None of the outfielders had enough plate appearances. The White Sox are the only team in the AL without a qualified outfielder in 2018. Even teams like the Miami Marlins and the Baltimore Orioles had at least one qualified outfielder. The San Francisco Giants do not show up on the qualified outfielder list, but only because Andrew McCutchen ended the season with the Yankees. He did, however, become qualified when he was a Giant.

Since the White Sox did not make any outfielder trades in 2018, there are not any hidden figures like McCutchen. In the Sox defense, only 53 outfielders were qualified and that averages 1.77 players per team, if 30 teams are taken into consideration.

Let’s take a look at the outfielders and score them on their performances both defensively and offensively.

Even though six Sox spent time in right field, there are only three men who spent more than 20 games up against the Craft Kave. They include Avisail Garcia, Daniel Palka, and Trayce Thompson.

Defensively, all three of them performed well. Palka and Thompson had 1.000 fielding percentages. Garcia had a slightly lower fielding percentage of 9.90, but his range of 2.20 was much better than Palka’s 1.40 and Thompson’s 1.48. Garcia’s lower fielding percentage was due to two errors, but he also spent 727 innings compared to Palka’s 333.1 and Thompson’s 225.1.

When looking at innings spent in right field and players’ fielding percentages, Garcia is better than most players. He ranks 21st in innings played and of the eight players on either side of him (four above and four below), only three have better fielding percentages: Randal Grichuk (.995), Brian Anderson (.994), and Christian Yelich (1.000). And, Yelich had only 557.1 innings in right field, the rest were in center field.

More impressive is Garcia’s range factor when looking at other right fielders. When looking at right fielders with 700 or more innings, his range factor is the best. Better than Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, and Brian Anderson.

Defensive Grades:

• Avisail Garcia: B+
• Daniel Palka: C-
• Trayce Thompson: C

When it came to offense, the most exciting outfielder was Palka. His home run drive at the end of the season put him on par with the top rookies in the NL and AL. In fact, Palka’s 27 home runs tie him with Aaron Judge as the right fielder with the second most home runs in the AL. Mookie Betts finished the regular season with 32.

Trayce Thompson only had 121 at-bats and finished his time with the Sox with a slash of .116/.163/.215 with three home runs and nine RBI. He had 14 hits and 14 runs, nothing worth writing home about.

Garcia, like Thompson, could have had better batting stats, but his injuries repeated got in his way. He finished the season with a slash of .236/.281/.438, just slightly under Palka’s .240/.294/.484. Garcia had fewer at-bats than Palka, simply because Palka often was tagged as DH. Garcia had a slow start and a slow finish, but in the first week of July, he looked ready to go knocking in 5 home runs in 32 at-bats. Sadly, he was unable to keep up the pace.

Offensive Grades:

• Avisail Garcia: C-
• Daniel Palka: A-
• Trayce Thompson: D

Center field was dominated by one player: Adam Engel. Defensively, he proved to be one of the best in the MLB.

The 26-year-old outfielder played in 1118.1 innings and started in 124 games. Of players with 700 or more innings in center field, only two players had better range factors. Of center fielders with over 1000 innings, Engel’s range of 2.57 was the best. Better than Mike Trout. Better than Lorenzo Cain. And, better than Kevin Pillar.

That’s saying something.

And, there’s no doubt that his kid can jump. Remember these three catches that robbed three home runs in one week?

Now, if he could only get his bat going. His slash was only .235/.279/336, which ranks him 39th. He hit 6 home runs, which ranks him 29th. For comparison, Trout hit 39 dingers with at least one of them flying out over Engel’s head at Guaranteed Rate. If Engel could get his bat going, he could be one of the elite center fielders in the game.

Leury Garcia had the second most appearances in center field, with 164.1 innings roaming that large expanse. His range one out less than Engels and his fielding percentage was slightly lower, despite only having one error. Engel had seven errors in his 367 changes for outs. Of the center fielders with 1000 or more innings, Engel’s fielding percentage was at the lower end of the scale, but was the same as Cain’s. Along with getting that bat going, Engel does need to lower his errors. But when an aggressive outfielder really goes for the outs, more errors will be made.

Garcia did not have enough innings to earn a grade.

Engel’s grades:

Offensive: C-

Defense: A-