White Sox: Four little known players who’ll make a big impact in 2021
On paper, the Chicago White Sox are among the best teams in the American League, if not the entire MLB. The rotation is stacked with multiple Cy Young candidates and the lineup is a merciless carousel of MVPs. The team that stands out is the team with the lesser-known players who step up throughout the year and make an impact.
The Chicago White Sox could see some lesser-known players step up big in 2021.
These players are important for two reasons. They keep the team’s flow going by standing in for potential fatigued or injured starters. Any positive momentum needs to keep going regardless of if the lineup takes a hit or two.
The second reason is these depth players are useful in situational baseball and give an edge in an evenly matched series. For example, a southpaw needed against three left-handed hitters or a defensive replacement late in a game. These players come into the game and are expected to make an impact directly so trust in execution is important.
A big concern about the 2021 White Sox is the lack of depth in both the pitching and hitting departments. If any of the three aces were to go down, the rotation would struggle. If more than two position players are down for a significant amount of time, things would look pretty bleak.
Despite not being the faces’ of the franchise, the White Sox do have depth players who have special skills helpful in giving an edge, can provide an impact, and have the potential to become another Cy Young or MVP candidate on this already stacked team. These are four potential depth players who can make an impact on the 2021 season:
Adam Engel is going to be a huge part of the 2021 Chicago White Sox.
With probably one of the coolest nicknames on the team, Adam Engel earned ‘Man of Steel’ by saving the day multiple times at the warning track. For as long as we have known him, Engel has been a reliable fielder. We also have known him to be the anchor weighing down any momentum in the lineup.
He is still solid with the bat and shows signs of improvement but a career .222/276/.343 slash is not one you want in a starting outfielder on a World Series contender. That player on that team is an excellent depth piece, though. In case any of the three outfielders go down due to an injury, Engel is the type of player that can let fans sleep a bit easier until the starter returns because of his defensive abilities.
Considering the White Sox’s loaded offensive talent, he does not have to be above average with a bat in a temporary starting gig. To be a run-saver in the field is just as valuable as being a run producer in the box for a depth player and Engel has that value.
He does struggle offensively historically but his bat has been heating up. In his first three years in the MLB, Engel has not recorded an average higher than .245 and hasn’t posted an OPS higher than .690. However, he finished in the 2020 season hot. It was a shortened season, but he finished with a .295 average and a .811 OPS. The coaches and scouts have pointed out Engel’s offensive progression and have hyped up the secret weapon.
He sustained a leg injury last week which is said to keep him out for at most another two weeks so hopefully, his flow is not killed by this setback. Following the left shoulder injury to Eloy Jiménez, that outfield needs as much help as possible.
Danny Mendick is going to be tremendous in the infield for the Chicago White Sox.
Danny Mendick was a Gold Glove finalist in 2020. Hidden behind the silky-smooth middle-infield combination of Tim Anderson and Nick Madrigal is a reliable player in Mendick. With the ability to play anywhere in the infield besides first, Mendick provides depth that could keep the team afloat in those unpredictable situations.
He made his debut during the September call-ups in 2019 and he put together a solid start to his career. In 16 games (40 plate appearances), Mendick recorded 12 hits and drove in four while hitting two home runs. His .787 OPS and 107 OPS+ was a promising start.
In 2020, he played in a little more than half of the games in the 60 game season. Mendick put up a .243/.281/.383 slash with .664 OPS, taking a bit of step back compared to the season prior. His 2020 was not a total disappointment as he earned a Gold Glove finalist spot at second base.
Offensively, Mendick is a middle-of-the-road hitter who probably will not hit any higher than .280, but he won’t fall under .200. Despite struggling with the bat, he is skilled offensively. He doesn’t have Engel speed but he can be sneaky quick. Mendick has the tools to be an impactful player. He just needs to use them.
In 2021, Mendick will have an important job in being the number one backup infielder. Leury García is an option in both the infield and outfield but the Engel and Jimenez injuries leave the infield to Mendick. The pressure will be on him to live up to this role. He does have the ability to be impactful when he is on the field. Mendick just might give the Sox the edge late in the season when fatigue in starters comes into play.
Jace Fry’s arm could prove to be very valuable to the Chicago White Sox.
Hidden in the bullpen behind big names like Liam Hendricks, Michael Kopech and Aaron Bummer is Jace Fry, a southpaw that could impact the 2021 season.
Fans know Fry to be a mediocre pitcher who does not give up the long ball too often but tends to walk hitters. In 2019, in 55 innings of work, Fry walked 43 hitters.
The three pitches Fry relies on the most, cutter, sinker, and curve, are movement pitches that rely on swings and misses outside of the zone. With all of the strikeouts he has in his career, Fry has shown that he has the command capable of racking up the K’s. What is holding him back?
While his off-speed command is superb, batters hit for a .500 average when seeing his fourth-most used pitch last season. Improving his fastball command gives him an excellent set-up pitch to draw more swings-and-misses which would bring down the walks. However, there is another pitch in Fry’s arsenal that could be a difference-maker.
His third most used pitch, the curveball, was used about 17% of the time. On average, his curve is about ten miles per hour slower than his other pitches and is an excellent pitch to make hitters look off-balanced if executed well.
His curve spin rate in 2020 ranked in the 12th percentile, making it essentially a beach ball if hung anywhere in the zone. Hopefully, with Ethan Katz as his new pitching coach, the two can improve his spin rate and command. Fixing just one of these pitches could make him impactful and reliable when his number is called.
You might find Codi Heuer to be one of the best pitchers on the Chicago White Sox.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Codi Heuer was an important piece of the bullpen that helped drive the White Sox to the playoffs last season. In 23 innings of work last season, Heuer was lights-out with a 1.52 ERA along with 25 strikeouts. He was drafted in the 6th round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Wichita State. So far, that’s looking like a steal.
Heuer dominated in 2019 with a combined 67.2 innings between Winston-Salem and Birmingham. With a 2.39 ERA and 65 strikeouts with only one walk, it helped number 65 make the team in 2020.
With a four-pitch arsenal, Heuer is primarily a sinker-baller. He throws it about 63% of the time. Opponents hit a mere .196 and swung and missed 24% of the time in 2020. His sinker is a setup for his best pitch by far in his slider. With a 66.7% whiff percent, opponents hit an abysmal .056 against it last season. That slider helped the White Sox late in the season.
In nearly 13 innings of work in the entire month of September, Heuer allowed only five hits and struck out 15, not allowing a single run. While the team cooled off late in the 60-game-season last year, Heuer stayed dominant.
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They say hitting is contagious and that is true. The same goes for pitching. If the team is cooled down, Heuer showed that he could be trusted to carry the bullpen and trusted in tight situations late in the game. He can be that impactful player to help carry the Sox to the playoffs just like last season.