Seby Zavala has been much-needed injury relief for the 2021 Chicago White Sox.
When Seby Zavala was called up from Triple-A Charlotte he was batting just .178. It left many scratching their heads as to why Yermin Mercedes wasn’t called up to fill in for the injured Yasmani Grandal. Zavala quickly showed why he got the call.
After his first game in the year in Minnesota, Lance Lynn praised the work Zavala did behind the plate. Even though they have never worked together, Lynn said “he was on top of things, knew exactly what I like to do, how I like to do it and we had no issues.” This was a sign of things to come as Zavala has done an excellent job defensively behind home plate.
Zavala later thrilled White Sox fans with a three-home run performance against the Cleveland Indians that included his first Major League home run and a grand slam. Zavala became the first White Sox catcher to record a three-homer game. Since then, he has tacked on two more bombs to bring his home run total to five on the season.
With the way he has handled the pitching staff this little bit of pop he is showing offensively may be enough to take Zack Collins’s job when Yasmani Grandal returns. He has already seen the majority of time behind the plate since Grandal’s injury.
Regardless, Zavala should be commended for holding down the fort while Grandal was out. It is not easy to adjust to big-league pitching while simultaneously handling the best rotation in baseball.