Chicago White Sox: Comparing 2021 players to 2005 players
Infielders
The Chicago White Sox currently has some superstar talents on the infield.
Willie Harris – Leury Garcia
Per baseball reference, Leury Garcia‘s 2nd most similar player through his age-30 season (this year) is Willie Harris, the man who scored the game-winning run for the Chicago White Sox in game 4 of the 2005 World Series which was the series-clinching game. With his ability to play many positions and pinch-run, maybe Garcia will do something similar to Willie Harris this year?
Juan Uribe – Tim Anderson
Through his age-26 season, Tim Anderson’s third most similar batter was Juan Uribe and his 9th was Barry Larkin. There was a question about which player he would end up more like. Fortunately, he’s become much more like Larkin than Uribe but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any similarities still. Both Uribe and Anderson played a pretty good shortstop for the White Sox and Anderson has hit 16 home runs this year, exactly the same amount as Uribe in 2005.
Joe Crede – Andrew Vaughn
For the first half of the season, Andrew Vaughn’s offensive abilities were similar to 2005 Joe Crede, which is pretty solid for a rookie. Unfortunately, he’s looked lost at the plate in the second half. Still, you have to remember this is his first fully professional baseball season (he was drafted in 2019) and his offensive ceiling is still higher than Joe Crede’s and possibly Paul Konerko’s. Vaughn is no Joe Crede at third base but you can still put him there.
Tadahito Ichuchi – Yoan Moncada
Yoan Moncada in 2021 so far: .264/.377./.405 .782 OPS 13 HR
Tadahito Iguchi in 2005: .278/.342/.438 .780 OPS 15 HR
Though not a perfect comparison, Moncada is like Iguchi in that he is a player who can do a little bit of everything. Nick Madrigal was probably more similar to Tadahito Iguchi as a player but we’ve sadly seen the last of him in a White Sox uniform.
Paul Konerko – Jose Abreu
What’s more to say? First basemen Paul Konerko and Jose Abreu were both the de facto leaders of their respective teams and they were actually teammates themselves for one year in 2014. That was the year Konerko passed the torch to Abreu where he’s had a similarly great career. In 2005, Konerko lead the White Sox in home runs and RBI just like Abreu is doing this year.