You know you are a solid baseball team when Yoan Moncada is one of the less talked about players. He would be the very best player on most teams but he shares stardom on the Chicago White Sox with many other players. Since being acquired in 2016 with Michael Kopech for Chris Sale, the pressure has been on as the White Sox rebuild was focused around them.
Adding players like Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Lucas Giolito, and Andrew Vaughn along the way has absolutely taken the pressure off as they are all equally as important. Veterans like Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, and Yasmani Grandal have made things easier as well.
For Moncada, it is interesting. He isn’t as flashy (on the field) as some of his teammates. He doesn’t have the power of a lot of them but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have power. When he is at the plate, he is just clearly more concerned with reaching base more than anything else.
He is one of the best hitters in the league when it comes to reaching base. Having some of the power that comes after him makes it even more noticeable because it helps the White Sox score more runs. If the power is there, it is just an added bonus for the White Sox.
Yoan Moncada needs to be one of the Chicago White Sox best players every day.
People like to rip on Moncada when he is in a little bit of a slump but that isn’t fair. He is an elite hitter that just goes about things a little bit differently. Few in the league are as impactful as him even though he is a little bit quieter sometimes. You may never get 40 home runs but you will get an elite on-base percentage and someone who can drive in (or score) runs.
Then there is his defense. In 2019, Moncada made a change from second base to third base. With that move, he went from being an average fielder to an elite fielder. There are few third basemen that are better defensively than him. When a ball is hit his way, he makes it look easy. Honestly, he makes better throws on difficult plays than he does on routine ground balls.
The cool thing about Moncada is that he fits into a lot of different spots in the batting order. He can hit second, third, sixth, or pretty much wherever. That really helps Tony La Russa put together the best possible group for each game. Going into the postseason, there are few White Sox players as important as Yoan Moncada.