White Sox: 3 Players That Are Starting to Live Up to Their Potentials
White Sox are getting major contributions from young players that had yet to live up to their potentials before the start of the season.
Entering this season for the White Sox, many fans wanted to see improvements from younger players on the team. The veterans who remain on the team won’t be a part of the White Sox when they’re ready to contend, but the young players will.
Those young players include Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, Carlos Rodon and a host of other prospects in the minors currently. These three aforementioned players had yet to live up to their potentials before the start of the season.
Moncada nearly set the major league strikeout record last season. Anderson made improvements defensively last season and even finished the year with 20 home runs and 26 stolen bases but had a .240 batting average. Rodon didn’t make his season debut in 2018 until June and despite a strong summer, he ended the year poorly.
Each of these players is integral to the success of the White Sox rebuild. Despite neither of these players living up to their potentials before this season, they’ve each had good starts to this year and are starting to live up to what they can be as major leaguers.
Tim Anderson
Anderson is having the best start to any season in his major league career. Through 16 games, Anderson is hitting .422 with four home runs, 12 RBIs and seven stolen bases. He’s also becoming a fan favorite on the South Side.
After his recent suspension due to words exchanged after being plunked by a pitch, Anderson’s profile has gotten only bigger over the past week. Anderson’s bat flip in Wednesday’s loss to the Kansas City Royals has been a topic of discussion throughout MLB.
Although MLB celebrated his bat flip on Twitter, they still suspended him. Despite his one-game suspension, Anderson has the chance to truly become a hero for White Sox fans this season. In his fourth major league season, Anderson’s hot start to 2019 could put him in line to make his first All-Star game appearance.
Drafted in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft, Anderson’s emergence this season could also put him in rare company. There haven’t been many first-round draft picks that have been successful for the White Sox recently. If Anderson can continue his early success, he will join a short list of White Sox first-round draft picks that lived up to their true potential.
Carlos Rodon
Rodon was drafted third overall by the White Sox in the 2014 MLB draft out of North Carolina State University. He would make his debut in the 2015 season and finished his rookie year quite well. Rodon ended the 2015 season with a 9-6 record and a 3.75 ERA in 139.1 innings pitched.
This would be the only season that he finished with an ERA under 4.00. The following three seasons, Rodon would battle various injuries with 2016 being the only year where he pitched more than 150 innings, 165 to be exact, and the only season where he made 28 starts.
Rodon didn’t start the 2017 and 2018 seasons until after the beginning of June. Durability for Rodon would become a big concern for the young left-handed pitcher. Entering this season, he appears to have erased those concerns about his health and is having a great start to his 2019 campaign.
Through five starts and 28 innings pitched, Rodon has a 3-2 record with a 2.89 ERA, 35 strikeouts and a 1.11 WHIP. The White Sox need a true ace for their current rebuild and Rodon could certainly fill that void. However, he will need to remain healthy and durable in order to become the next White Sox ace. This could be the season that he does so and that would be very beneficial for this franchise.
Yoan Moncada
Moncada’s arrival to the White Sox after the 2016 season marked the start of their current rebuild. He was acquired along with Michael Kopech and Luis Alexander Basabe in exchange for Chris Sale. Moncada was once ranked as the top overall prospect in MLB.
In 2017, he would make his White Sox debut in July of that year to a standing ovation at Guaranteed Rate Field. Although he finished that season with a .231 batting average, he would struggle mightily in his first full season in MLB in 2018.
Through 149 games played, Moncada ended 2018 with a .235/.315/.400 slash line, 17 home runs, 61 RBIs and 217 strikeouts at the plate. He would become the subject of many White Sox fans scorn after his poor performance last season. However, many fans overlooked the fact that Moncada was still a young player.
Perhaps, a position change for Moncada is what he needed. Just before the White Sox failed to sign a certain free agent, they began to transition Moncada over to playing third base during Spring Training. This transition appears to have paid off to start this season as Moncada has a .321/.361/.628 slash line through 19 games with six home runs, 18 RBIs and a .989 OPS.
Next. Tim Anderson's Social Media Presence. dark
For Moncada, his success to start this season is a welcome sight for many White Sox fans. There were some fans who made the assertion that Moncada was a bust after his 2018 season. However, those same fans are unlikely to admit they were wrong. Moncada is starting to live up to his potential and that’s only going to continue to be good for the White Sox and their current rebuild.