Former White Sox outfielder Daniel Palka has an MiLB home

For a little bit there, it looked like Daniel Palka was going to be a decent player for the Chicago White Sox. In 2018, he played in 124 games where he slashed .240/.294/.484 for an OPS of .778. He had 27 home runs and 64 RBIs to go with 56 runs scored.

He certainly wasn’t a superstar but he was a nice contributor. His average was okay but his on-base percentage was subpar. However, his OPS was decent because his slugging percentage was good. He demonstrated a lot of power which helped the Sox a lot. They weren’t a good team but he was fun to watch.

In that one season, he finished in fifth place for the American League Rookie of the Year. Shohei Ohtani, Miguel Andujar, Gleyber Torres, and Joey Wendle are the only four players to finish higher than him. From there, it was fair to think he would have at the minimum an okay MLB career.

One year later, he struggled mightily with the Sox at the beginning of the year. From there, he was sent down to AAA and never made it back up. He has bounced around from league to league since then as he has never been able to reach Major League Baseball again. COVID-19 probably didn’t make anything easier on his career either as he tried to come back.

Former Chicago White Sox outfielder Daniel Palka is getting another chance.

Luckily for Palka, he might be getting another chance. Major League Baseball is currently in a lockout so players can’t sign with teams. The MiLB, however, is doing just fine for now. They are able to sign players whenever they want. With that, the New York Mets have signed Palka to a Minor League deal.

It isn’t bad for someone that was in the KBO for the 2020 season followed by playing for the Washington Nationals AAA team in 2021. As mentioned before, he has bounced around which couldn’t have been fun but playing for the Mets AAA team should bode well for him.

Who knows. He might even get the call up at some point. The Mets plan on being a good team in 2022 as they have made some outstanding additions to their club. It might be a long shot for now but it is easy to root for this guy.

Hopefully, he is able to continue working towards his dream and is happy with his current state in the game. A lot of those players that played during the rebuild deserve credit for dealing with such a bad situation in terms of the team. Palka was one of those guys that just wasn’t able to stick around until the team was elite.