Chicago White Sox: 3 reasons to praise Tony La Russa

2. Jake Lamb, Billy Hamilton, and Yermin Mercedes

Tony La Russa deserves a lot of credit for Chicago White Sox depth players playing well.

Not many teams would be able to withstand injuries to two guys like Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert. Those two would more than likely combine for 70 home runs and 180 or more RBIs. They haven’t even scratched the surface of their potential yet either which is incredibly scary for the rest of the league. Tony La Russa, however, has found some diamonds in the rough when it comes to replacing them.

Jake Lamb, Billy Hamilton, and Yermin Mercedes have all played very well to get the White Sox to where they are. Of course, other stars like Yoan Moncada, Jose Abreu, and Tim Anderson amongst others play a big part in the offense but these depth players need to contribute.

In the case of Mercedes, it is nice to see that Tony giving him a spot as the DH while they use Andrew Vaughn in the outfield has paid off. He has also let him play through his first career slump and it ended in him producing the game-winning run over the weekend.

The same can be said for Billy Hamilton and Jake Lamb. Those two probably don’t make the team or stay without the injuries. We didn’t like seeing them in the lineup early but La Russa kept them in knowing what it might lead to down in the season. He knows that it is a long season and things can improve if you work at it. That has happened for both Lamb and Hamilton. It would be nice to see Tony keep rewarding these guys.