There is one thing for Yoan Moncada to get better at

(Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images)

Yoan Moncada is constantly one of the hot debates in the Chicago White Sox community. People love to debate his level of worth to the White Sox and it is really interesting every time it happens. He was the face of the rebuild at one point which is probably the biggest reason for debate.

There are groups that act like he is the next coming of Mike Trout. There are also people that act like he isn’t a very good third baseman that is a borderline All-Star. Both of those groups of people are wrong. Moncada is a very good player that could also work on a few things.

One thing that is very obvious is his outstanding ability to play third base on a defensive front. He is one of the best in that regard. He started his MLB career as a second baseman with both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox before making the transition to third.

Debating that is pointless. All you need to do is watch one game to realize that Moncada can make any play at third. In fact, he is even better at making throws to first base on hard plays than he is on routine ground balls. It is mesmerizing to watch at times.

The Chicago White Sox has a really good baseball player in Yoan Moncada.

His bat is where the debate comes in. In 2021, he had a pretty good slash line of .263/.375/.412 for an OPS of .787. The issue there is his OPS not being over .800 which is a result of a lower slugging percentage. He only had 14 home runs for the White Sox in 2021 which is a big reason why.

Moncada needs to add more power to his game. We know he has the raw talent to do so but he just needs to commit to it. His batting average or on-base percentage might come down just a little bit but he would become a more useful bat.

He had a 4.0 WAR for his “underwhelming” season in 2021 which speaks volumes. If you have a player that is disappointed with a WAR of 4.0, you have an extremely good player. If he adds a bit more power, we could be talking about a 5 or 6 WAR guy.

One thing that is often said about Moncada that is just lazy and untrue is that he is soft. Moncada played in 144 games in 2021 which is second on the entire White Sox team. This dude really wants to play and he really wants to win. Hopefully, both the White Sox and Moncada are able to push deep into October in 2022.

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