Chicago White Sox: Three early All-Star Game candidates
The 91st edition of the All-Star Game is scheduled for July 13th. The game was initially set to take place in Atlanta but was moved after a protest of Georgia’s restrictive new restrictive voting law that dialed back voting access. Coors Field now has the honor of hosting the Midsummer Classic for the second time. The Chicago White Sox would like to see lots of players make it this year.
The Chicago White Sox would love to have lots of all-stars in 2021.
The games best will head to Denver to showcase their talent in front of a nationally televised audience. A couple of Chicago White Sox will be included among this group. The Chicago White Sox are rolling. They are in the midst of a four-game winning streak and now sit atop of the AL Central standings. The White Sox have the lowest starting pitcher ERA in baseball as well as the best run differential.
With that type of success comes recognition. The All-Star game will soon be upon us and the White Sox are in line to have multiple All-Stars this season. In 2019 they had three when James McCann, Jose Abreu, and Lucas Giolito all earned bids. They represented the White Sox well with McCann slapping a single and Giolito throwing a scoreless inning.
The White Sox lineup is filled with former All-Stars. Jose Abreu has made three trips to the All-Star game while Yasmani Grandal and Dallas Keuchel each have a pair of appearances under their belt. Liam Hendriks, Lance Lynn, and Jake Lamb have also made trips to the All-Star game.
The White Sox still have some young talent itching to make their first All-Star. Players like Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Dylan Cease, and Michael Kopech are all in line to get the nod in the not-to-distant future. Here is who has the best odds to punch their tickets to Colorado on July 13th for the Chicago White Sox.
Yermín Mercedes has been one of the Chicago White Sox best hitters this year.
Yermín Mercedes is taking the baseball world by storm and for good reason. Not only is he an All-Star candidate but he is an MVP candidate as well. The 5-11, 245-pound catcher turned DH considered quitting baseball after spending a decade bouncing around the Minor Leagues, independent leagues, and the Dominican Summer and Winter League. He entered spring training in 2021 as a long shot to make the team and is now leading the MLB with a .380 batting average.
Mercedes was given the large task of filling Eloy Jimenez’s hole in the lineup and he has exceeded expectations. In April he won Rookie of the Month after he started the season a perfect 8-for 8 at the plate. That set a record for the most by a player in the modern era since 1900. Yermín proved it was no fluke either.
He finished April with a .415/.455/.659 slash line and a 1.113 OPS. He also launched five home runs and hit five doubles. Mercedes’ 34 hits in the month of April set a Sox rookie record, surpassing the mark of 31 set by his teammate Jose Abreu.
There are more accolades where that came from. On top of that, Mercedes became the first White Sox player with three hits or more in a game three times in his first four games of a season. He also had 12 hits in the first four games which are the most that any White Sox player has ever hit during the first four games of a season.
He surpassed Ducky Homes’s mark of 11 in 1904. Not only is he mashing baseballs but he is working good at-bats. Mercedes has shown an excellent two-strike approach and the ability to draw walks. He has a .420 OPB which is good enough for the seventh-best in the MLB.
Mercedes is arguably the best story in baseball this season. He has captured the heart of White Sox fans. He already has his own “Yerminator” T-shirts and a “Yerminator” sandwich. It is time to take Yermin Mercedes mania to Colorado for the rest of the league to see.
Carlos Rodón has been the best player on the Chicago White Sox this year.
If Yermín Mercedes is the best story in baseball, then Carlos Rodón is a close second. Rodón went from being non-tendered during the offseason to put up an All-Star-worthy season in 2021.
Rodón’s road to becoming a dominant starting pitcher was a long and winding journey. He was drafted third overall in 2015 with the hopes that he would develop into the future ace of the franchise. He showed flashes of potential but nagging injuries and surgeries seemingly derailed his career.
After the White Sox non-tendered him following the 2020 season they offered him a one-year $3 million dollar prove-it contract. Besides the money, nothing else was guaranteed for Rodón. He had to earn a spot in the rotation in spring training, which he did by outpitching Reynaldo Lopez.
Once the regular season commenced Rodón seemingly flipped the switch. The White Sox are undefeated every time Rodón has taken the hill. He is 5-0 with a 0.58 ERA. The left-hander threw five scoreless innings against the Seattle Mariners to open the season.
He then put his name on the national radar when he tossed a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians. He was only two outs away from a perfect game. Rodón also strung together two consecutive quality starts against the Tigers and Royals giving up just a single earned run in 12 innings.
Rodón became the second pitcher in American League history to win, striking out seven or more hitters, and allow five hits or fewer in each of his first five starts of a season. The only other pitcher to accomplish this feat was Pedro Martinez in 2000. Martinez would go onto win the Cy Young award that season.
Rodón’s numbers hold up against the game’s best pitchers. Hits have been hard to come by for opposing hitters. Opponents are a measly 8-89 against him this season. The .114 opponent batting average against Rodón ranks first in the MLB.
Opponents are also slugging .162 off of him which is also good enough for first in the MLB. He also ranks first in opponent OPS (.367), hits per nine innings pitched (3.48), and is tied for first in fewest extra-base hits allowed, with just 3 surrendered. If that is not enough, he ranks third in WHIP (0.68). Rodón has a legitimate case to be the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star game as well as making a convincing Cy Young case.
Tim Anderson looks like he could be an MVP candidate for the Chicago White Sox.
Tim Anderson is already emerging as one of the faces of Major League baseball. He already has his fair share of accolades. In 2016 he finished seventh in the Rookie of the Year race. In 2019 he really came into his own and posted a league-leading .335 batting average, earning him a batting title.
He followed that up in 2020 by .322, with 10 home runs and a league-leading 45 runs scored. His performance earned him a Silver Slugger Award and a seventh-place finish in the MVP race. On top of all of that his defense has steadily improved each season.
It may come as a surprise to people that Tim Anderson has yet to make an All-Star. That could all change this season. Anderson is quietly putting up very solid numbers. He has flown under the radar due to Yermín Mercedes and Carlos Rodón stealing most of the headlines.
Despite missing some time due to injury, Anderson is hitting .301, has 13 RBIs, four home runs, and six stolen bases. He has also been superb defensively with an almost perfect fielding percentage.
Anderson has also served as the vocal leader in the clubhouse and a spark plug at the top of the order. You could make the argument that Anderson was snubbed in 2019. It would not make sense to keep one of the game’s most exciting players on the sideline once again for the Midsummer Classic.