White Sox 2019 Season Preview: Infielders Analysis

All six White Sox infielders have come a long way in terms of development. The key is if they can capitalize on it and use the chip on their shoulders as an advantage

For a while, White Sox infielders have been subpar. Defensively, the team has had some studs like Juan Uribe, Alexei Ramírez, Joe Crede and Gordon Beckham just to name a few. Offensively, however, things have been difficult.

Not saying those three above and others have been consistently bad offensively, just saying it has been a while since a White Sox infielder has been in the top five for league MVP, excluding José Abreu’s fourth-place MVP run in 2014.

With a revamped youth movement, the infield has nowhere to go but up. Defensively and offensively, the team consists of players with high potential. Even in the farm system, things are looking bright. The team did miss out on signing a top-five-for-league-MVP type player in the offseason, but in the long-run, it may not matter.

In the farm system, the White Sox have players with high potential at almost all four positions. At first base, Matt Skole has surprised many. He struggled with Triple-A Charlotte last season hitting only .237, but he drew 61 walks, a 16.4 percent walk rate. He will start his 2019 with the Charlotte Knights.

Also at first is Gavin Sheets, ranked 18 in the White Sox Top 30 prospects. He is an all-around balanced player given the score 50 for hit, power and field with 55 run, according to the 20/80 scale. He will begin his season with Single-A Winston-Salem.

At second, and maybe the most anticipated (now that Eloy Jiménez made the team), is Nick Madrigal. He is a doubles machine that has some sneaky power and speed. Defensively, he is more developed than most prospects. Offensively, well, the sneaky power and doubles machine speaks for itself. He is expected to make the White Sox in 2020, but at the rate he has been playing at, he could potentially make the team in the September call-ups. He is expected to start his season with the Winston-Salem Dash.

Shortstop is a bit thin with only Laz Rivera, 17th in the Sox Top 30, is the most notable.  He hit .280 and stole 10 bases in 61 games with the Dash last season. Beginning his season with the Dash again, he could very well end his 2019 at Double-A Birmingham.

The White Sox, however, just signed former Milwaukee Brewer and Kansas City Royal Alcides Escobar to a minor league contract. He will start with the Knights. He will be looking to turn around his career low batting average of .231 with a .279 OBP last season with the Royals.

Finally at third base, Jake Burger, 13th in the top 30. He is a pretty balanced player, much like Sheets. He missed his 2018 due to the rupturing of his left Achilles in February. He began rehab, but re-injured it in May. The 11th overall draft pick in 2017 will start at Single-A Kannapolis.

Over the offseason, the White Sox missed out on free agent and now San Diego Padre Manny Machado. At first, it stung. The fanbase was fed hype and were confident in the signing, but he ultimately chose San Diego.

Now, after time to cool off, fans are sort of contempt by not signing Machado. It would have forced some position changes or the departure of some fan favorites. In a year or two, Madrigal will have the job at second. With Machado at third or potentially shortstop, this does not leave room for either Yoán Moncada and/or Tim Anderson. Then down the line, in two or three years, no room for Sheets, Burger or Rivera.

For Opening Day, the White Sox have a defensively improved infield with the ability to drive in runs. Getting on base seems to be the main problem, but, considering where the team is at this point of the rebuild, the infield is in solid shape.

First Base – José Abreu, Yonder Alonso

José Abreu

José Abreu and Yonder Alonso will primarily make the up 1B/DH spots in the lineup, with Abreu getting most of the starts at first.

Ever since he broke out in the league in 2014, Abreu has consistently produced the most offensively. With a career slash of .295/.353/.516 and an OPS of .869 with 146 home runs, the two-time All-Star is considered to be one of the best first basemen in the American League.

Last season, however, was a bit of an off year. He hit only .265 with only 78 RBIs and 22 home runs. All three of those stats were career lows for Abreu. A positive to take from his 2018, however, was his career low 109 strikeouts and second highest amount of doubles at 36. He also was selected to his second All-Star appearance and he won the Silver Slugger Award.

He did miss some time due to an infection on his leg during the late part of the season, but that should not slow down Abreu going into 2019. And he showed it has not when he hit .323 with four home runs in 70 plate appearances this Spring. Six of his 21 hits were doubles. He slugged .600 and drove in 18 runs. He could very well be the team’s 2019 MVP.

Abreu seems to be ready for 2019 and his third All-Star Game appearance.

Yonder Alonso

A case could be made that the main reason Yonder Alonso was signed was to draw the attention of Machado, but in actuality, the team needed a player like him.

In previous years, the 1B/DH role has been filled by names like Adam Dunn and Adam LaRoche. Matt Davidson and Daniel Palka sort of split that role last season, but Davidson primarily played third and Palka in the outfield. Alonso gives Palka the opportunity to play more in right field and give Abreu that off day ever so often.

Last season with the Indians, Alonso hit .250 with 23 home runs and 83 RBIs. He had an OBP of .317 and 51 walks. He also played his third highest amount of games, 145 compared to 156 in 2016 and 155 in 2012. If Alonso can bring those type of numbers with him to the south side, it will be very exciting.

Despite this, it will be very hard for Alonso to break the mold many have put him in. Many say he is only on the team because the Sox wanted Machado. Alonso will have to do better than .250 with 23 home runs and 83 RBIs. He will have to do better than the 8.9 percent walk rate and 21.4 percent strikeout rate. He will have to prove he is more than just Machado’s brother-in-law.

Second Base – Yolmer Sánchez and Leury Garcia

Yolmer Sánchez

Yolmer Sánchez has been on the White Sox for five years. In that time he has had a rough go. His career-best average is .267 in 2017. His best OBP was .319 also in ’17. He does not draw too many walks and has had a strikeout rate as high as 25 percent in 2016.

But what Sánchez lacks in offensively, he makes up for in his defense, versatility, and speed. In 2017, Sanchez had the seventh highest defense WAR in the American League with 1.8. In 2018 he hit the most amount of triples in the American League and in two previous seasons hit the top 10. He committed the fifth least amount of errors at third base with 13 last season. He also had 14 stolen bases in 2018.

Sánchez lacks the ability to contribute offensively on a constant basis, but that does not mean he cannot. He is showing improvement by steadily raising his average each year, except for 2018. But he did hit those 10 triples so that could even things out a bit.

If you are looking for Sánchez to be the second baseman to hit .300 or .280 for that matter, he is not. He will not hit 20 plus home runs and have an OBP of .360 or higher. But he is the type of player to drive in 50 or more RBIs, steal at least ten bases, play third, second and shortstop and has the capability to hit 10 triples.

Sánchez is essentially fighting for his job in the future. With Madrigal expected to make the team out of Spring Training next season, Sanchez’s time on the south side could be coming to an end. If he can record a slash of .270/.340/.400 or somewhere near there, hit five to 10 home runs and drive in 50-60 runs, he has a very good chance at keeping his job.

Leury García

Essentially Marwin González 2.0, Leury García can play seven, maybe eight of the nine positions in baseball. The eight exclude pitcher and first base. Although he does have two innings of pitching experience under his belt…

Once part of the infamous Tres García’s in the Outfield, Leury can play just about anywhere you put him. He is scheduled to be in center field Opening Day, but once Jon Jay comes back off the 10-day injured list, he could be moved as Sánchez’s back up at second and just alternate between shortstop and third for Anderson and Moncada’s off days.

García and Sánchez are very similar players, just García being a bit more versatile than Sánchez being that he can play almost everywhere. He, however, did have a solid year in 2018 hitting .271 with 12 stolen bases. But he only played 82 games, the second most in his career (87 in 2017).

Despite the lack of consistent offensive ability, a player that can play in seven or even eight of the positions is the type of swiss army knife you do not want to give up.

García is most likely going to play about 80 to 90 games this season, but his speed and defensive capabilities will keep him on the team for some time.

Third base – Yoán Moncada

Another man to have a lot of eyes looking at him will be newly transitioned from second to third baseman Yoán Moncada.

To say Moncada’s 2018 was a disappointment would be an understatement. The former number one prospect in all of baseball played his first full season in 2018 and hit an underwhelming .235/.315/.400 slash. I mean he lead MLB in strikeouts with 217.

He did, however, have a few silver linings to emerge from an otherwise subpar season. He hit 17 home runs and 61 RBIs. He stole 12 bases and walked 67 times. He also had 32 doubles and six triples.

For your average MLB player, his 2018 numbers were otherwise solid. Disregarding the insane amount of strikeouts, it was solid. But those numbers attached to the name of Moncada, or any player who was once the top prospect in baseball, or the player acquired in a trade that sent away arguably the best pitcher in baseball, those numbers are very concerning.

Before Sox fans begin to freak out, however, we must take into account that he is just a 23-year-old kid about to start his second full year in the league. It is easy to dismiss him and call him a bust, but the jury is still out on Moncada and any definitive thought like being a bust to be attached to his name would be immensely premature.

Sox fans should not particularly be too concerned about Moncada. If he strikes out 170 plus times then maybe a little bit of concern is warranted. But he was once the top prospect in baseball for a reason.

Moncada hit a fantastic .358/.439/.642 slash with an OPS of 1.110 this Spring Training. He hit three home runs, four doubles, and one triple while driving in nine runs. He struck out only 16 times and walked 11 times in 64 plate appearances.

The amount of strikeouts he had in Spring shows that he made adjustments and along with it came patience, and that shows in the 11 walks. Moncada needs to carry his momentum and low amount of strikeouts into the 2019 season. If he can, he could very well turn into the team’s leading offensive producer.