Chicago White Sox: Jarrod Dyson brings great speed

The Chicago White Sox became a faster team when they acquired Jarrod Dyson.

The Chicago White Sox offense has been as good as advertised this season and the addition of Jarrod Dyson provides another way the Sox can do damage. While the White Sox have gone through their share of cold stretches, their offense is among baseball’s best in 2020. Coming into Sunday’s game against the Royals the White Sox rank 1st in the MLB in team batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS. They are also first in the American League in total bases and home runs.

The majority of the White Sox damage has been done with the long ball. Jose Abreu is third in the MLB in home runs, after peppering the Wrigley Field bleachers early this month while Eloy Jimenez is currently tied for 7th.  The team also became just the 9th in MLB history to hit four consecutive homers in a game when  Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, Jose Abreu, and Eloy Jimenez went back to back to back to back.

Home runs have been prolific off the White Sox bats in 2020. They have scored 171 runs this season with 91 coming courtesy of the long ball. That is 53 percent of the White Sox offense. While home runs are nice they cannot become your main source of income on offense. The Minnesota Twins led the MLB in home runs in 2019 while setting some records along the way only to be swept out of the postseason. When the weather gets colder and the pitching gets better. In the postseason you need to find other ways to score.

That is where Jarrod Dyson could be valuable. He has above-average speed with the ability to steal bases. In the 2014 Wild Card game, he swiped two clutch bases late in the game en route to an eventual Royals victory over the Athletics.  The Sox did not give up much to acquire Dyson and he could be an interesting weapon to use off the bench.

He has the ability to come into a game and stretch a single into a triple by stealing a couple of bases which is something that will help the White Sox manufacture runs. Along with being a terror on the basepaths, he can serve as a defensive replacement late in games. The less time Eloy has to spend in left-field, the better.

With a possible combo of Jarrod Dyson, Luis Robert, and Adam Engel in the outfield, the Sox arguably have the fastest outfield in the MLB. Dyson is not a flashy name that Sox fans were hoping for at the deadline but it is a low-risk trade that could prove to be beneficial.