Chicago White Sox: It is time for Yasmani Grandal to shine bright

The Chicago White Sox need the most out of Yasmani Grandal going forward.

We all know how good James McCann was for the Chicago White Sox in 2019 and 2020. He really has become a great player during his time with the White Sox which followed a non-tender by the Detroit Tigers after 2018. The Sox made the decision to also add Yasmani Grandal ahead of the 2020 season, so it was clear that McCann’s time with the team was almost up. We know now that he is going to the New York Mets, so Yasmani Grandal is going to need to step up even more.

The awesome thing about Grandal is that in any given year, he can be the best catcher in Major League Baseball. There are some people that believe that McCann is better than Grandal, but that isn’t even close to true. Grandal is a better baseball player in every way and has been better for longer. He isn’t the type of player that would ever be non-tendered by a team at any point in his career. McCann was a little better during the 2020 60-game season, but that isn’t saying much because they were both awesome.

Grandal was nominated for a Gold Glove Award in 2020. He didn’t win it, but we know for sure that he is a fantastic defensive catcher. His ability to frame pitches is very good which should be of great help to the young pitchers that will be coming up soon. His chemistry with Lucas Giolito is something that will be a big story going into next season so they will have to put that issue to bed early on. As the season went along last year, Giolito showed that he was good no matter who was behind the plate.

The offense is also something that Yasmani Grandal is capable of excelling at. His bat is very strong and we know it can be even better. He came out of the gates slow in the short season but started to really pick it up towards the end. He also can hit for a bit of power which is really nice to have in the middle of the order. His walk rate is also very good and something that should help them offensively. It will be interesting to see how he hits for the Sox in a full season.

It is less than ideal that Grandal needs to handle the catching duties without McCann in 2021, but that’s the way the business goes sometimes. It would be nice to see Zack Collins come in and be a very good backup, but he might not be the only one who gets that chance. Either way, the White Sox really need a lot from Grandal next season.