Chicago White Sox: Backups can be Gold Glove nominees too

The Chicago White Sox have a couple of backups that are Gold Glove nominees.

The Chicago White Sox have five players who are nominees for Gold Gloves in the American League. It would be a tremendous honor for any of them to get the award but two of those nominees stick out above the rest as interesting stories. Both Danny Mendick and James McCann are backups at their respective positions and yet here they are nominated for Gold Gloves. It is truly a great story to see both of them thriving right now.

James McCann is on an expiring contract after having a glorious two years with the White Sox. He was the full-time starter in 2019 but took a back seat (for the most part) to Yasmani Grandal who came in the last offseason. He is probably going to be looking for starting money/playing time in 2021 but we can still hope that he comes back.

McCann’s offensive abilities are well known but his pitch framing and defensive catching are awesome. There is a reason that ace Lucas Giolito has had him as his personal catcher for two years now. Not only has he been his personal catcher but he has become one of the best pitchers in all of baseball in the process.

As for Danny Mendick, he is even more of a surprise. He only played in 16 games with the 2019 Chicago White Sox which isn’t a lot at all. He played in 33 games this season which is more than half because of the circumstances but it feels like an insignificant amount when talking about a Gold Glove. He backed up at every position but second-base was the primary spot. Normally, Nick Madrigal is expected to play that spot but he dealt with some injury issues.

One of the worst things that the White Sox did in 2020 was used Yolmer Sanchez at all but that is a story for a different day. Mendick was awesome when used properly and it would be awesome to see him get some playing time in the future. He is exactly what you want in a bench player as he can play every infield position pretty well and somewhat hit.

Neither may end up winning the Gole Glove award but it is awesome to see them nominated. He defends very well which is exactly what the White Sox need to see from him going forward. Those late-inning defensive replacements might really come in handy down the line. Both of these guys were awesome as backups for the Sox in 2020 and they are being recognized for it.