Chicago White Sox Week in Review 8/12-8/18

So overall the Sox won 3 and lost four. Not a great week, but not tragic by any means. Who were the stars of the week? Well, it is hard to pick against a man with two grand slams in a week.

Mr. McSlam slashed .435/.458/.870 with ten hits, two of them doubles, one triple and hit two home runs. 11 RBIs in six games played is pretty good. Only three catchers in baseball have played 80 or more games and have a higher OPS than McCann’s .829 this season. These catchers are Yasmani Grandal, Carson Kelly and Willson Contreras. For anyone that likes the advanced numbers, only JT Realmuto has been a more valuable catcher in baseball this season per WAR.

This week’s best pitcher has to go to Ivan Nova. Nova pitched a complete game against one of the best teams in baseball. He hasn’t been striking many batters out, but he has been excellent at avoiding large run outbursts in the second half. According to Fangraphs, his ground ball rate is now over 50% in the second half of the season. He isn’t really striking out more men or walking fewer, he is just getting a ton of ground balls and giving up a bunch of soft contact. This is allowing him to get deep into games and avoid a lot of damage just because he is not allowing offenses to hit the ball hard.

It was a decent week on the South Side. Not great, and the most memorable moment may be a strange experience in the TV booth, but it wasn’t terrible either. Up next are two series as the White Sox will take on the Twins and Rangers.